My steps to WorkStep: A story of connecting and challenging the status quo

Thank you for checking out the first edition of “My Steps to WorkStep.” Each month we feature a member of the WorkStep team and dive into their role and what led them to it, tips for applicants, and a fun fact about them.

This month, we talked to Natalie Dole, Director of Employer Success. As a remote company we have teammates spread across the country, and Natalie resides in Portland, Oregon. She shares how her love for understanding people steered her to WorkStep.

What is your role at WorkStep?

I am the Director of Employer Success. I lead our Employer Success Managers on both the HIRE and RETAIN products. Employer success is about making our customers successful with WorkStep. So making sure they are getting the most out of our product and that they understand the value. We’re here to advise around best practices, suggestions, and really partner with them to reach their goals.

What is your typical workday like?

Typical is hard to define, there’s always different things going on. But primarily for me today, my time is spent directly managing my teams – supporting them with any questions or needs that they have, really working to make sure they’re unblocked and have the resources and information they need to do their job effectively. I provide them with feedback or a sounding board, coaching.

I spend a decent amount of time with our customers. Part of that is in an effort to support my team, but also part of that is to stay connected to our customers and understand how, as an employer success team as a whole, we can continue to add value for them.

What was your path to this role like?

In college I majored in sociology and anthropology, and I think for me, being in a customer facing role and effective with customer success means being able to listen and understand people’s needs and pain points, and identify solutions for those. I feel there’s a connection to sociology and anthropology with that.

After college I did a year of AmeriCorp and ended up at a FinTech startup. I ended up in a user research role there, which again, the common denominator is being able to understand people’s needs and speak with customers.

From there I ended up at WorkStep. I wasn’t really looking to join another startup, but after speaking with the team I was super impressed with them. I really felt that whether or not I joined the team, they were going to do what they said they were going to do. This was in November of 2017.

Do you have any tips for aspiring WorkSteppers?

I think the people who are most successful at WorkStep, or the people we are looking to join the team, and the traits that are best suited for the team, are folks that think critically about things.

I think that as we continue to grow and scale, it’s important to still be able to step back and evaluate when things are working well and when they’re not, and being able to prioritize how we want to move forward with that.

I think that aligns really well with our values – questioning the status quo. That’s super important.

Being able to give and receive feedback is super important at WorkStep and relates to that idea of questioning the status quo. I appreciate every time I receive feedback and being part of a culture that values continuous learning and that we’re all in this together and that there’s an opportunity for all of us to grow to be better teammates and individuals.

What is something people may not know about you?

I am an avid reality TV watcher, for better or worse. I’m very interested and well versed in The Real Housewives franchise. There, I put it out there, now everybody knows!

Something a little less embarrassing, I also really enjoy cooking. I’m not a chef exactly, but I do really enjoy trying out new recipes. It’s something I’m doing multiple times a week, and really like to do in my downtime. My favorite type of food to cook is anything that is a little challenging or new. I remember, at the beginning of the pandemic, I made some perogies, and that was pretty involved. They turned out really great, but it was really the process of it that was really rewarding for me.

What advice would you give to your past self?

I think advice I would give to my past self would probably be to not stress as much. I’m generally really happy where I ended up, but I think there’s a lot of time spent either in work or in personal life wondering or questioning ‘Where is this going to lead?’, or ‘Is this the right thing?’ I think you can miss out on a lot by overthinking things. So I would probably tell myself to calm down and enjoy things more.

What do you enjoy the most about being a WorkStepper?

One thing that I get asked a lot when I’m interviewing folks for my team is, “What do I enjoy the most.” For me, it’s a few things, but one is the autonomy and flexibility that I have in my role in terms of being able to determine what are the most important problems that need to be solved, and how do we potentially want to go about solving those problems.

In addition to that, I think I’ve had the right amount of balance at WorkStep with that freedom and flexibility and support. I think it’s enabled me to grow a ton in the last four years.