“I just wanted to quit transport but you can’t quit transport”. That being everywhere is Mariachiara Cailotto – Branch Manager’s virtue you will see it in her path.
Is still there some space for an interdisciplinary vision without ignoring aspects such as responsibility and the respect for people doing their job?
Yes! And Mariachiara is an example, so much dedicated to her role to push herself to speak about education to logistic.
That’s more than an interview, it’s a didactic approach – “Because we’re a team, there’s not a single winner”. Let’s read what she means.
Your relation with Torello. When was it born and how it evolved.
I’m here for more than seven years, precisely since January 2015, and I’m the manager of the distribution centre in Padova from 2019.
I’ve known Torello through people that already worked there and with whom I related with through other companies in which I worked, because I’m in the transport field since forever. When I came closer to Torello I didn’t think that it would become a long relationship, thinking about the average time I spent in the previous companies, despite it was outside my control.
So I told myself let’s see. The truth is that I always liked it as a company, I liked the relation with the family, I liked the spontainety and the dialogue during a confrontation that is the reason of improvement and growth but especially the trust they gave me. Umberto, Concetta and Antonio have defined roles but they’re so familiar.
So, I started like a simple worker and now I manage the Padova branch! Since then we have made removals in different warehouses, various changes until arriving to the Logistic Centre in Padova. The reality is that Torello itself has grown su much, it has become more structured and so even the branch has followed that growth.
Three adjectives for Torello
Familiar. In Torello you can always work well and peacefully, just like in a family, I mean even the relation with the leadership is sincere and colloquial, something that I haven’t seen in other companies.
Dynamic. Always changing, towards improvement and so even so messy, but in a positive way! I couldn’t not love this feature because it’s like me. I can, but it’s not easy, balance work with personal life.
Evolved. Evolving towards new horizons. Positive, that extend our business to 360°. I had the demonstration with the Padova branch, a small world in evolution within Torello.
The role covered. Responsibility and personal vision.
The role I have is so wide, in the sense that it starts from the internal control of processes of the same branch, from people to the supervision of different departments, including planning and customer, and finishes among warehouse, customers and suppliers. The coordination of these offices and people is preliminary to their work in an autonomous and responsible way. I’m also supported by Umberto who’s always present in the moment so much that he often anticipates problems and new needs and this is a part of his ability to read in a strategic way. Umberto is a manager that feels so much the responsibility of us all, so that’s why he’s even so protective, and just like me he tries to be everywhere.
Do you think it could be a limit to your operativity and your decisional role?
For me and my relation with Umberto absolutely not! I don’t like to disturb him if not necessary, but I always learn his advices and his directives with a huge space for confrontation.
A particular not unimportant is that your personal vision is from a woman…
The way a woman can help to improve logistic surely belongs to a more open and different vision than man. The woman, while she does an activity she’s looking beyond, she’s thinking how to fix next things looking around and seeing what’s happening. Then it happens that years go by and the age teaches us to improve, to be more patient and diplomatic. I’ve learnt that there are situations where you have to mediate and others where you have to raise our voices.
Then, it is a field that you must like, where you need to absord and find new stimulus. Yes, I admit it, as a woman I have some more difficulties, but it is connected to situation in which is hard to find other women.
Seven days per week, 24 hours per day, Is there a sector that brought to light women’s qualities more than logistic and transport?
Challenges and difficulties you are facing? You deal with the last mile…
Above all I like to face challenges and difficulties always with a smile… despite this sometimes a problem I face the most is the relations with people. It’s important to create a collaborative and transparent relation with receivers and customers in addition with other problems you can’t crontrol and unexpected problems that can happen “on the road” linked to the shipment, it’s not easy.
Sometimes even just one error can bring a series of problems.
I can say that what is missing is an education to transport/last mile, not everyone knows what you can find between production and sale, between the load at a warehouse and discharge to mass retail channels. Sometimes you can’t feel the difficulty when drives have to face their days and all the problems around these processes.
There’s a basis difficulty to understand this job if you’re not involved.
But that’s true that after these two years of pandemic, I’m not saying a lot but there’s a little more of awareness about the perception of the last mile.
Do you still choose this job?
I’ll do again this choice both with transport and Torello. There are positive and negative things as in every job but after seven years I’m satisfied to be here and despite the fact that it’s a job that enters in your personal life, everyday is a winning bet!
But I have a flaw, I like to be the backup for everybody to see the difficulties they can face and improve with them. I have a bad temper, I’m frank and so expressive that it’s hard to be misunderstood, but it’s my pass for being respected. And in fact this aspect is awarded.
