Lynn Keegan is the Chief Operating Officer at Tyrell. We caught up with her for our In Focus series, which highlights the work of inspirational women from across the sector.
Hi Lynn, great to catch up! Could you tell us more about your role at Tyrell?
I am the Chief Operations Officer at Tyrell. We’re a 16-person team operating across 2 offices Dublin & London. There isn’t a standard job description for a COO its typically described as the second in command to the CEO or as I like to call it ‘the real boss’. Being COO means I oversee all things ‘internal’ – support, operations, finance, HR & Logistics or as others have put it ‘people, process and cash!’ My goal is to create a good working environment where our teams can do their best work while keeping everyone focused on our internal and external strategic objectives.
What does a day in your working life look like?
As we are all aware in this industry there is no such thing as a typical day; each day brings something new, exciting and often challenging. After the madness that is getting 2 kids out to school and getting into the office for 8.30am the morning begins with our daily huddle– the department heads speak to get a sense of what the team is focusing on today. This is our time to share any issues we might be facing, what’s not going well and what we can do to help each other.
Next I have a look at our work in progress log with the Operations team – all the orders that we have in the system, what’s outstanding, what might be holding them up and above all else I check that our customers are kept in the loop at all times – if they have to ask for an update I see that as a failure and something to improve on. I have a huge passion for customer service, and I do believe that if you go over and above for a customer they will keep coming back even if sometimes you are not the cheapest – people buy from people. I have weekly 1:1’s with my team members – listening to concerns, help with any issues or offer advice. I also manage all the accounts payables and receivables for Tyrell so that means every day will see me invoicing, collecting and paying.
I look after HR for the company as well most days will have some element of HR – fielding questions, updating our HR system, managing our benefits, reminding people to take holidays and the day people are nicest to me – processing the payroll!!
How did you begin your career and what inspired you to look at jobs within the broadcast technology sector?
My career started in Avid – Order Processing EMEA in their Sandyford office. Avid was a great place to work in the ‘noughties’ there was lots of travel to HQ in Pinewood, I got to see lots of movie sets and actors on my visits. When a job opened up in London doing Sales Admin for the newly formed direct model out of Soho I jumped and the chance and in 2003 moved to London. I loved the buzz of Soho – we worked hard and played hard and made some amazing lifelong friends. I went back to Dublin as Business Support for the Avid Nordic team and finally the same role in Avid Singapore. The travel was amazing but the one thing I learned from all the different countries and areas I worked in – maintaining good relationships with your colleagues, your customers and suppliers will stand to you in your career and it was that good relationship from my days Order Processing for Tyrell that saw me start with them in 2009 when I finally decided to come back to Dublin.
What are the main challenges facing the sector over the coming year?
The largest challenge Tyrell face in the next 18 months is staying abreast of the emerging hybrid cloud technologies and disruption to the traditional linear models as they will have an immediate effect on our future strategies. We want to the maintain our position as an International Valued Added Reseller continuing to add value to both our expanding customer base and our existing and new emerging manufactures.
What are your main challenges over the coming year?
It might sound like a cliché, but we have a great team in Tyrell. We have a great bunch of people who are passionate about the work we are doing. We work hard but you’ll always hear laughter in the office. For me I want to maintain and grow that great team – we are a small company and that presents its own challenges for development and career progression so ensuring everyone feels valued and is growing is something I spend a lot of time trying to maintain. Oh, and Brexit – trying to understand it and the impact it’s going to have on Tyrell. Answers on a postcard?!
Thanks to Lynn for taking the time out to contribute to this article.
