Need Inspiration? Just Stop & Listen!

What is creativity? For some, it’s a mysterious and powerful force. But to me, creativity is simply a way of intentionally doing things differently to achieve a better outcome. 

I’m Matumas Tongnoy – but you can call me Tidiee! I’m a Senior Beauty Advisor at the Siam Center store in Bangkok. What I love about my job is that I’m constantly coming up with new ideas to make my team’s working life easier and better. At the core of it, it all boils down to really listening to our customers’ needs and addressing them. Many people think being creative means putting in lots of effort into brainstorming and investing lots of mental energy into generating new ideas, but I think the root of all creativity is simple – just stop and listen to your team and customers. 

Turning Observations into Solutions

Here’s an example of a creative idea I came up with just by observing my team and customers. I created a “Beauty Pass Member Notebook” for Beauty Advisors to pass along to customers who were lining up at the cashier. Not only did this create interaction opportunities between our Beauty Advisor and customers, it also helped reduce customers’ mental waiting time. Another idea I came up with was creating a small leaflet in Chinese to guide and facilitate Chinese tourists on how to proceed with tax refunds in the department store. When I heard that my ideas had expanded beyond the Siam Center store, and were being implemented in other stores, I was super excited as that means other people find them beneficial as well!

By being observant and being able to articulate clear problem statements that the store faces, I am able to churn out concrete solutions to help my colleagues provide better customer services

Showing Everyone that Creativity can be Simple

This year, I was appointed to lead the ‘Creativity Unleashed’ pillar in the Employee Value Proposition (EVP) Ambassadorship Program, 2021. Being an ambassador means being a role model, and I’m all set to lead and work with the whole Sephora Thailand team in driving my creativity campaign on delivering excellence and the entrepreneurial spirit in the coming third quarter. So remember everyone, creative solutions are always around, you simply need to choose to look and listen!