Describe the Project Management Organization (PMO) team and its culture.
The PMO team is great, we’re all very like-minded, we get along well, and we also have a lot of fun. Our team consists of a director, project managers, program managers, business analysts, and project analysts. Project management is a very social and collaborative discipline, and we enjoy what we do, collaborating with each other and other departments within Medxcel to manage and implement big projects, finding efficiencies and improving processes to ensure success for the organization.
Describe the responsibilities of your role as a project manager.
Every day is different; sometimes we joke that our main role is herding cats. As project managers, we work with a wide variety of associates and departments, bringing them together to accomplish large projects. We may have ten to sixty people working together depending on the project size and scope. I work with both strategic projects (focused on internal efficiencies), as well as new client implementations. I spend a lot of time in meetings, talking to people, collaborating, ensuring everyone assigned to the project is on the same page, then working through the project steps. Each project is unique, so there are not cookie cutter ways for us to approach them. We’ve also been working on educating the Medxcel organization about the value we bring as a PMO team, helping to make things easier, not complicating things. That has resulted in more associates reaching out for help with projects, letting us look at a project and seeing how we can make it better. Our team spent most of the pandemic refining and rewriting our project management processes and now we have living, breathing documents that change as we mature and move to further implement Agile methodology.
Describe the path you took to arrive in your current role.
I grew up in a family of physicians, so I always wanted to work in healthcare in some capacity. After two years studying pre-med, I switched my major to psychology. I am fascinated by the inner workings of the mind and I’m a very empathetic person. After graduation I took a job as a marketing director in a skilled nursing facility and was soon promoted to admission director. I moved to an admission director position at another organization where I also had some responsibility for clinical and psych assessments and worked with health insurance. I decided to leave the skilled nursing industry and put some thought into my next career steps, knowing I still wanted to work in healthcare in some way. Project management felt like a good fit for me, I thrive on putting order to chaos. I began preparing for my Project Management Professional (PMP) certificate and joined Medxcel as a project manager. I loved the Medxcel corporate culture and was determined to join the company. I received my PMP certification about six months after I started here, and I’ve been promoted from a Project Manager I to a Project Manager II. I love Medxcel and this team and I’m so glad I’ve found a supportive place to grow my career.
What types of training and development opportunities have you taken advantage of?
Medxcel has helped me to achieve my Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. The PMP certification process is rigorous, and Medxcel helped me every step of the way, paying for my exam and an eight month long prep course that was recommended to me by my manager. I am planning to start pursuing my MBA soon, with the help of Medxcel’s educational assistance program. Medxcel is so supportive of training and developing and helping associates reach their career goals.
What is the best part of your job?
The best part of my job is the people I get to work with. Everyone you encounter at Medxcel is open and collaborative and wants to do their best. Before joining Medxcel I worked in some toxic cultures for companies that didn’t care about the health and wellbeing of their employees. Our leaders always remind us to take breaks and to use our PTO, they really do care, not just about how we’re performing, but how we’re doing as actual people.
How would you describe the culture at Medxcel?
The culture at Medxcel is compassionate, inclusive, warm, and welcoming. I work with our President on projects, and I can tell you that he is a genuine person, warm and approachable. He really cares about all our associates and takes the time to get to know us and ask us how we’re doing. I’ve never experienced that anywhere else. Work life balance is great at Medxcel, and I love that.
How does the culture at Medxcel impact associates?
Medxcel doesn’t just talk about its values, we really live them out here and it’s the backbone of our culture. This year I’m involved with a project with our human resources team. The goal is to improve their hiring processes so that the candidates we bring in fit in well with the Medxcel culture. I love how they take the time to ensure that new hires will fit in well and be happy here. We want associates who aren’t just here to do a job and collect a paycheck but are here because they love the Medxcel culture and what they do. I love that.
What would you say to someone who asks you if you recommend working for Medxcel?
I love recommending Medxcel to others. I have friends who complain about their jobs, and I tell all of them to look at our openings here. To me, Medxcel embodies the gold standard of work life balance and a great culture. I think that after the past few years with the pandemic and other stressors, people are realizing more than ever before how important work life balance is and people just want to be happy in their work. I’m elated to work here; I love Medxcel so much!
Is there a new skill you’ve developing during your time in this role?
I’ve really learned the importance and value of flexibility. In past jobs I’ve dealt with difficult clients, but here I’ve really honed the skills of being flexible and adapting on the fly to changing conditions. Those skills are so important for project managers, now more than ever as our world moves into a new Agile methodology. Project management used to be a very structured discipline with a cookie cutter application, but the new Agile methodology is more adaptive and responsive and we’re seeing the benefits of that. Learning to grow with the changes in project management has been important.