Becky Hill, an applied biology and microbiology research scientist who ‘transitioned into the corporate world’ – developing her knowledge skills and expertise in water treatment and purification – before founding performance improvement and strategic advisor company, Solutions 42, outlines her ‘holistic approach and measurable solutions to learning and development interventions in healthcare’.
My first thought on joining the world of water purification was ‘that sounds boring’ So, you may instantly be thinking, ‘Why take the job then?’ My reasoning was simple; I wanted to learn about the process of selling, and this new job connected the academic world of a research laboratory that I was leaving behind with my desire to learn all about business. When I started, my training was focused on getting to know the products, the technology behind the products, and the different qualities these technologies achieved. I began making connections between my laboratory work and the water I had used. When I started making field visits, I went back to my old laboratory site, and asked the engineers who looked after the building if I could see the water purification system. This is the point when I realised that the plant room really is the pumping heart of a building. I also recognised the value of the technical knowledge of water in the context of the work experience I’d already had, and found the impact of different water qualities on various applications fascinating.
A raging hunger to know
My initial ‘that sounds boring’ reaction to the subject soon turned into a raging hunger to know and understand more. I made meaning and connections of technical and engineering aspects, with the multitude of applications. I discovered an enormously wide range of markets and industries, each with their own set of legislation, standards, regulations, and guidance for best practices – each requiring human beings with different job roles, pools of knowledge, skills, and expertise, to come together and collaborate in achieving the desired water specifications. So, how could I get people to not see water treatment and purification as boring? What could I do to engage people’s curiosity? How could I break down the invisible barriers to sharing and learning caused by assumptions?
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