8 Questions with Karina Kordiukova

November 8, 2021 | News

In “8 Questions With…,” we share a brief Q&A with a staff member. In this edition, we hear from Karina Kordiukova, who joined Rosov Consulting as an Executive Assistant in 2018, bringing many years of experience managing administrative processes in Jewish nonprofits.

1. What’s your area(s) of expertise and how has it been beneficial and led to success in your work?

Coming to administrative and operations work with a strong Jewish cultural background allows me to bind these two worlds inside Rosov Consulting in my position of Project and Operations Assistant. My academic degrees in Jewish history and Jewish community leadership give me a strong knowledge base and understanding of the context of our work and the programs and activities of our clients. My professional experience in organizational administration enables me to make the everyday work of our team members as smooth and comfortable as possible.

2. What experiences have led you into your current career path?

I look at my professional trajectory and see it as a very coherent development. As a teen, I was the beneficiary of various Jewish programs, then I worked inside similar Jewish organizations and grantees, and then stepped into the shoes of a foundation employee. These experiences eventually led me to Rosov Consulting in 2018. I like now being a part of a company that supports the types of organizations I worked at and was involved with previously. There is great value in the professional and friendly way that Rosov Consulting approaches its work with client-partners.

3. What do you like learning about most through your work?

The variety and complexity of modern Jewish life is something that amazes me every day. There are seemingly endless numbers of ways that people in different countries, different communities, different ages, and different languages choose to express and explore their Jewishness. This is a source of inspiration and curiosity for me; I am always excited to learn more about it through interviews and focus groups with clients and their program participants and by making myself familiar with their programming.

4. What do you like most about working at Rosov Consulting?

The desire of this team to learn and grow!  Our leadership team is always supportive of exploring new systems and techniques and open to new approaches and tools. The positive and “can-do” approach really helps turn challenges into opportunities! Professional development is not only a stated goal for the company, but a part of everyday work here. Colleagues learn from each other constantly.

5. What are some challenges of your work?

Being an administrative support professional in an international company operating in four different time zones, with offices on two continents and staff members working remotely from (at least) five different cities is not always an easy lift (saying nothing about these “COVID” times!). The coordination of all these parts requires a lot of patience and flexibility. I juggle schedules and keep in mind different preferences and requests of team members to build one working mechanism. I often enjoy connecting the dots of the operational and project sides of our work, but it is definitely a demanding position.

6. What have been the biggest changes in the field and/or your work specifically since you started?

OK, here is the question where I cannot ignore all of the changes COVID-19 brought to our lives. The first months of the pandemic were a major challenge for educational systems around the world, including, of course, Jewish educational organizations. I am glad to see that this challenge has actually made many of our clients and players in the field think more creatively and act more fearlessly for the good of their audiences. All the sectors of Jewish programming—from Jewish day schools to volunteer initiatives and more—have rethought their strategy for the upcoming season(s), often using data as a support and key element of decision making.

7. How do you think your job and/or the field might change in the next 10 years?

One of the beauties of our reality is that it is truly unpredictable. But to drop some ideas here, I believe that evaluation and data-based informed strategic approaches will become a basis of organizational culture. And I think that artificial intelligence and machine learning will play an important role in that process.

8. What do you think is essential reading to excel in your field?

1. Beyond Team Building: How to Build High Performing Teams and the Culture to Support Them, by Jeffrey H. Dyer, is a perfect guide for people working on the operational side.

2. Lessons in Leadership: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible, by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, is the best way to dive into the modern Jewish approaches to community building through the Jewish Bible and Jewish beliefs by one of the greatest thinkers and leaders of our time.

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