bloom: Krystyna Cichon
Nineteen years ago, at the age of 21, Polish Krystyna Anna Cichon set foot on Dutch soil for the first time. The language? She didn't speak that. But neither that nor the illness that would strike her would stop her from making the most of it. Privately and professionally. Flexso's business analyst looks back and forward: "Actually, in my life I have already achieved everything I dreamed of as a child.". 🧭🌞🌠
Global citizen in IT
"I wanted to see the world," Krystyna says of her emigration to the Netherlands. "In Poland I had my VWO diploma (similar to general secondary in Belgium/Netherlands) in nature and technology in my pocket. So I was very broadly educated, but didn't know which way I wanted to go." Krystyna learned Dutch as quickly as possible, ended up in health care and a few years later dove into business.
"At 26, I went to work in the customer contact center of the Provincial Water Supply Company of the Netherlands," she recalls. "There I was allowed to speak to customers and came into contact with SAP for the first time. My interest was piqued: how did it all work in the background? Everyone said SAP was such a complex program, but I found it quite easy," she laughs.
So Krystyna decides to start supporting colleagues as a key-user and eventually grows into a functional manager of customer relations. "There I was really able to participate in projects," she recounts. "I was allowed to fix errors in the system and to speak to and train colleagues." To brush up on her knowledge, she is studying Business IT management in evening school at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam. "That course has given me the necessary insight into the whole IT world and how it works. I started out as a system user and was able to help people with that. But was it talking about analyses or models? Then I missed that information. The training filled in those gaps."
"Everyone said SAP was such a complex program, but I found it quite easy."
The bridge between two worlds
When and why did Krystyna make the leap to Flexso, for which she is now working as a business analyst at Elia in Belgium? "After 12 years at the water supply company, I had completely seen SAP from the customer side," sounds the answer. "I wanted to discover what it looked like along the supplier side. To finally combine those two experiences in my job as a business analyst at Flexso for my customer Elia: I come from the business, so I understand why IT sometimes doesn't understand the business very well and vice versa. Acting as an interpreter between both parties, that's what I love."
What she enjoys most about her job? "Translating that dialogue between humans and technology," smiles Krystyna. "Just programming and configuring wouldn't keep me fascinated. But translating it into practice, and teaching people how to really use something very complex and make them see the added value of that, that's what I love," she continues.
Flexible chameleon
Speaking these two languages, that of IT and that of the business, also brings the necessary challenges, she says. "You often do expectation management: the business expects certain applications, but those requirements and business processes are not always directly translatable to the system. You have to be able to communicate this clearly and, above all, explain why this is so. That is not always easy. Not even for the business to let go of their expectations," the business analyst explains. "I always try to explain that with telling examples. For example, I often say that we always want to drive a Porsche, but you can just as easily get from Amsterdam to Brussels in a VW Golf. You get exactly what you need, without unnecessary ballast."
"My work mainly also means adjusting. I work at different levels. Today I work at the strategic level with the managers about the mission and vision, but tomorrow I'm talking, for example, to people working in the field. You need different techniques each time. Actually, I am a chameleon," laughs Krystyna.
"Today I'm working at the strategic level with the managers on the mission and vision, but tomorrow, for example, I'm talking to people working in the field on field operations. You need different techniques each time. Actually, I'm a chameleon."
She also notices this in her current project, she says. "I grew up in Poland, then joined Flexso Netherlands and now I am working in Belgium for high-voltage network operator Elia on a project with 50Hertz in Berlin," she frames the project. "That chameleon mentality comes in handy there, as we have to find common ground in the different legislations with different cultures and mindsets to implement one product. That requires a lot of communication, sitting together and seeing which processes from both countries are best to apply."
Unexpected twist
Krystyna's path may have seemed to go over roses, but the future did not look so bright a while ago. "At 33, I suddenly became very sick. I ended up in the hospital where the doctor said, 'If you don't stay, you'll be dead in 48 hours,'" Krystyna candidly recounted. "Apparently I had type 1 diabetes and have had to inject insulin ever since. At that time, I believed I was no longer worth anything to society. I couldn't do anything anymore either. I had to relearn everything, like driving a car. I really believed it was over."
Although that turned out a little differently than planned. "I do a lot more now than I did before that period. I know much better what I want and what is important in life," sums up Krystyna. "I didn't stop at nothing: in June I was diagnosed and a year later in October I was able to start working at Flexso as a CX consultant." That event shaped Krystyna's reality, she recalls. "Diabetes is a disease you never have a vacation from. I'm constantly working on it. Do I wake up at night? Then I have to measure. Do I eat something? Then I have to measure and administer insulin."
"At first I wondered why this had to happen to me, but in the meantime I realize that everything that has happened has shaped me into the person and business analyst I am."
"It teaches you to look at life differently," she adds. "I don't worry so much about the little things anymore. I can put things into perspective much more now. At first I wondered why this had to happen to me, but by now I realize that everything that has happened has shaped me into the person and business analyst I am. I try to make the most of it, just like a project: if something doesn't work, I look for a solution. It's weird how you can change so much as a person in your own life journey," it sounds.
Lifelong learning
"My female intuition," Krystyna replies when we ask her what she is most proud of. "I don't have a plan in life. I go by what feels right and just do. If you don't, you don't know. That's my motto now."
She is also proud of her ability to learn. "I am open to new things and am someone who is dying to master new skills. That's also my pitfall," she laughs. "Now I'm learning French, my 5th language. Hebrew is also on the horizon because I like to read old books. And preferably in the original language, because in it there are certain nuances that are hard to get translated." This also bears fruit in her work: "Being able to pinpoint what it's about and what's needed in international projects based on your feelings and unwritten things, that's where I get tons of energy."
"I don't have a plan in life. I go by what feels right and just do it. If you don't, you don't know. That's my motto now."
For that, Krystyna is grateful to Flexso. "Flexso has given me the opportunity and space to do things I like. They give me independence, freedom and have full confidence in what I do. I think that is also the essence of my profession," she reflects sincerely.
Futures
We already found out that Krystyna wants to learn Hebrew. But does she perhaps have other dreams as she turns 40? "Going to live in another country, learning another language and culture, getting to know new people ... actually, in my life I have already achieved everything I dreamed of as a child," she laughs. Though a longing still burns. "One day I want to return to my friends and family in Poland, I feel more at home there. I want to serve the whole world from there with international projects where I can get to know other cultures," her eyes twinkle.
Whether that might be for Flexso? "I would love to bring all my experience and help Flexso establish itself there," the answer enthusiastically reads. "I was one of the first at Flexso Netherlands. I know what the start-up phase is like, so I know what to expect if I were to ever do that for them in Poland."
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