# Davis Niendorf's Manager Readme

**International Sales Support Team Lead at Braintree**

The purpose of this section is to give you insight into who I am, what makes me tick, and how I interact with others. If you have questions or suggestions, please come talk to me or send me a Slack!

**Long story, short**

- I'm a big goofball that works hard and values kindness, loyalty, passion, and a sense of humor. I currently reside in Logan Square with my husband and our plant babies. You can often find me perusing the beer selection at one of Logan's fine drinking establishments (Small Bar is my fav) or running around one of Chicago's many parks.
- I'm a verbal processor who would much rather talk to you face-to-face than via our fingertips. If you have a question for me or we're working through something together, feel free to ask me to meet up or stroll over to my desk! (I sit behind the Atrium in the sales section, desk # 1.8.A144.)
- I am most motivated by solving problems that help people and tend to prioritize according to this desire. In that vein, I love my job working on the front line and helping people find the best payment solution for them. I care a lot about our merchants and my colleagues and I don't tolerate negative comments about these individuals.
- I'm fairly new to people management and welcome all feedback, that's how I learn! I prefer instant feedback as I like to understand the context of the situation but I understand some feedback can be hard to give or receive and I'm very open to written feedback too.
- I enjoy meeting new people and like to develop personal connections with my co-workers as well. Next time you see me, please feel free to share a funny tidbit about your day, suggest a great place for dancing, or tell me about a book you read recently!

**About Me**

**Personal**

My name is Davis, I’m named after my paternal grandfather and proud of it. I grew up in Missouri, experienced the southwest for university, and moved to Chicago after graduation to be closer to family. I’m a passionate and enthusiastic person who values hard work, loyalty, kindness, and a sense of humor. I work pretty hard to live a low waste life so I’ll often speak with pride about finding a way to repurpose something or kindly remind my company to recycle/compost/reduce consumption. I’m recently married and he’s my best friend. I talk about him a lot because he is who I spend most of my time with. If that annoys you, please just let me know! I’m not doing it intentionally, I’m just usually hanging out with him so he’s a main character in all my stories. I love to travel, explore, and experience. I’m most delighted by new sights, be it a different part of Chicago or a whole new country. I love to look up and be reminded that while I’m looking at something new it’s still the same sky, clouds, stars and moon. If I’m not traveling or adventuring around, you’ll find me with my nose in a book, watching a new movie, trying my hand at a new craft, or drinking a cheap shitty beer at a dive bar with friends.

**Professional / Academic**

- My background is in retail customer service where I was a front end supervisor at Whole Foods, a sales associate at Madewell, and a beauty associate at Sephora. In each role I naturally found a path in training and leading my peers which has been a strong contributor to the direction I've taken at Braintree. In my previous and current role I've learned a lot about other people, that I love helping people no matter what the task is, and people can be really picky about how you set down a bunch of bananas. These roles have taught me the importance of keeping the customer in mind which is why you'll often find me handling tickets in our queues or fielding phone calls from prospective merchants. I think the best way to keep in touch with your merchants/customers is by talking to them and I'm always happy to do that. 
- In that vein, I find myself most motivated by work where I get to work with our merchants or solve a problem that will improve someones day-to-day responsibilities. I enjoy collaborating on a project but tend to prefer a structure where I have time to solve problems/complete tasks on my own and then check-in with the team to work on the big picture solve. 
- If you want to check out my professional and academic background, feel free to check out (and connect!) my LinkedIn profile here: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/davis-niendorf-24bb1853/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/davis-niendorf-24bb1853/)

**How I Work**

**Guiding Principles**

- If often find myself telling others that “I have no idea what I’m doing” and “we’ll figure it out along the way or we won’t, and then we’ll come back to the drawing board.” I like to make informed decisions and enjoy trying to figure out how data fits together so I can paint a more clear picture. In contrast, I also trust my gut and will lean on that when making decisions. I firmly believe that you learn best from mistakes and failure and I encourage my team to make what they deem the best decision in the moment. If it ends up being the wrong one, I remind them that now they (or we) learned something and are more informed for it. I think this mentality is why I didn’t go into nursing, thankfully I’m not working with people’s lives.

- I’m an intrinsically motivated person and prefer to work hard for myself and my client/customer. I wouldn’t consider myself a competitive person on a team but am incredibly competitive with myself when I set a goal for myself or am given a goal. I mentioned above that I’m not afraid to make mistakes and because of that I often stay motivated when working closely with people or teams that will check in frequently and give me feedback. I prefer a sincere note/email/f2f comment of thanks than public recognition and will never say no to a cappuccino as a token of thanks.

**Work Style and Approach**

- When it comes to communication, I’m very much a verbal processor. I love to talk and visualize things by white-boarding them out. I enjoy digging into the details or getting on a tangent about a related personal story or whatever, but I recognize not everyone appreciates or enjoys this. I do my best to be aware of an individual or groups communication style and needs, and pull the conversation in the most productive or necessary direction. When the conversation gets tough I want to be as to-the-point as possible, I don’t want to drag out a hard conversation and will often have a list of questions or comments on the back burner that I can pull into the conversation to keep it moving forward. Overall, I would rather talk to you face-to-face and get to know you than sit behind my computer.

- I prioritize work that helps other people or helps other people do their job. If it’s a merchant fire, process optimization for merchant onboarding, training for the team, etc., I will prioritize that above most other work as it impacts many other people. I also prioritize things that will help me answer my “Why?” question. I get excited about looking at and analyzing data so we can continue to drive the best experience for our merchants. Because I prioritize things that are driving a solution for 1,2, or more people I can end up prioritizing a micro fix, rather than a macro level fix. I’m working on this and welcome feedback or nudges to re-evaluate my priorities.
- I’m very intrinsically motivated by helping people, which is why I’m working on the front line here at Braintree. When identify or defining quality work, if you care a lot about your merchants and the work that you do, that’s going to be a huge plus in my eyes as it means you’re invested in the solutions/output you’re creating. I’m also attracted to and appreciative of people who are self-motivated and have (or work on developing) a strong attention to detail. I want to understand what motivates you and see if we can tap into that in your day-to-day work but I think it’s most important that you are able to identify this on your own. I also think a crucial piece of success on my team or working with me is constantly seeking feedback. I want to work with people who want to get better.
- Overall, I work hard because that’s how I was raised. I come from a family of incredibly hard working and dedicated folk, it’s truly in my bones. Also, I don’t believe in being complacent in work or life. I want my team members and the people I work with to be excited by their work, motivated by their responsibilities or finding solutions, and actively looking for feedback so they can grow.  Another important call out is that my intention is not to micro-manage, it’s just impossible to include everything you need to know in one onboarding session so you have to be continually learning. I want to do this with you so I have periodic check-ins to make sure you have the tools you need to do this job well. I’m very much a collaborative worker and I’m happy to talk through problems or questions with you but I also need my alone time to recharge or buckle down on a task. Generally when I have my headphones on I’m trying to concentrate. That doesn’t mean you can’t ask me a question but I would appreciate if you shot me a quick Slack. Lastly, please, thank you, and manners will get you really far with me.

**Feedback **

**Self**

- I am happy to receive feedback in all forums and at anytime, it's how I grow. Send me feedback by email, Slack, or face-to-face. It's most helpful to receive feedback in the moment as I’ll have immediate access to the context of the situation, but since that's not always appropriate a Slack or email is always welcome and we can talk about it face-to-face later. 

- I tend to prefer private recognition but my preference can depend on how much work I put in and the level of collaboration involved. If I helped you out with a ticket, a quick thanks to my face or via Slack is what I’m most comfortable with. If we worked on a project that involved several people, I am comfortable with public recognition. Overall, I appreciate and encourage positive affirmation. Balancing all the parties that you’re working with can be difficult and it’s encouraging when people let me know I’m doing a good job.  

**Others**

- When it comes to giving feedback to others I prefer to provide feedback in conversation or in a 1:1 setting. If the feedback is very short, I will bring it up in an appropriate conversation or shoot you a quick Slack so we have an opportunity to discuss it. If the feedback is larger or will require a longer conversation, I prefer to provide that in a 1:1 or scheduled meeting where I’ve given you a heads up on the content. I know feedback can be tough and emotional and I want my peers and direct reports to have an opportunity to be prepared to hear it. I often default to positive encouragement but am working on being more direct in feedback so there is no room for ambiguity. Overall, I think feedback should be viewed as an opportunity to get better and I love to collaborate on ways to improve so you can expect me to provide feedback frequently.

- If you disagree with me on something that affects the full team (say a process update I made), someone else might too so bring this up in a group setting and on the spot, when possible. I’m very open to feedback and benefit from discussions with different points of view. If your concern or disagreement is more personal, it’s better to save that for a 1:1, email, etc.

**Calendar**

- _What’s the best way for people to request time with you?_ I’m pretty flexible but also try to advocate for my time so I don’t become overwhelmed. The best way to request time with me is via Slack and asking for the best time to connect about X or Y. If it’s a quick question, just ask me and we can chat immediately.

**Team Practices**

**One-on-Ones**

- I meet with my team members bi-weekly for 30 minutes. I try to email my agenda items 24 hours in advance and always ask if they have any agenda items they want to discuss as well. We’ll arrange the agenda depending on priority. I take notes in my laptop on a Google Sheet that I use to track 1:1s. Every 1:1 I collect my agenda items, the team members agenda items, and any action items we’re taking away. I also spend ~5 minutes reflecting on the 1:1 after it’s over and take notes on my contribution and your contribution. I think 1:1s are an opportunity for both of us to provide each other feedback so I’m open to hearing that during our meeting. I want to grow just as much as I want you to grow!

**Team Meetings**

- My direct reports and I meet on a weekly basis in our stand ups. These are opportunities for us to touch base on what's happening across the world, share updates, and get into a deeper conversation about anything that has come up. Sometimes our stand ups last 31 minutes, sometimes they last 10 minutes. Team members are not regularly required to prepare anything for the meeting but as it's an open-ended stand up this is a great opportunity to bring questions, comments, or concerns to the team for discussion.
- The international inbound team meets every-other Monday for 30 minutes. These are more structured and usually have an agenda set by myself or the inbound sales reps. Again, regular preparation is not necessary and if that changes, I'll let you know!

**About You**

- I love getting to know my teammates personally, understanding your preferred communication style, and learning more about your passions. I'm almost always down to get a cup of coffee, walk to a meeting together, or eat lunch together! Feel free to reach out about one of these or just put it on my calendar.