“My work is invisible.” Melody Verzeni says it matter-of-factly, and the line that follows is almost inevitable: you can’t see it, but you can feel it. Mozzanica’s Quality and Facility Manager for the past five years, Melody oversees the integrated quality, safety and environmental management system while also looking after the company’s facilities and services, “making sure people and operations have the best possible conditions to work in.”
A method, not a filing cabinet
The most common misconception is that her job boils down to procedures and paperwork. In reality, she explains, “It’s about setting up a way of working, controlled from start to finish, that fits the company like a glove.” It isn’t a set of rules imposed from above but a system built with input from every role in the company. “When people find it easy to do their work, it means the system is doing its job. But getting there wasn’t exactly effortless.” This is the invisible foundation Melody keeps solid every day.
Assurance for clients
Because Mozzanica is ISO certified, Melody is, in her own words, “the watchdog” for a specific set of standards. For clients, this means clear points of reference: departments, functions and working methods where “they can find their bearings, and find them easily.” Clients feel her work from their very first contact with the company, through the life of the contract and right up to its completion. Clients deal with her directly at the pre-qualification stage, when they need proof of certification, when a nonconformity has to be handled, and when they are asked for feedback in the annual evaluation questionnaires. For her, certification is about transparency rather than obligation: “Getting ISO certified is a company decision,” and Mozzanica has adopted the certifications it needs to operate.
From the technical department to quality management
Much of the value Melody brings to the role is rooted in her background. She has a technical education, and her first job was in a fire protection technical department, working closely with every area of the business. “I know how people operate, I know what they need and what information helps them work well.” She knows the business from the inside, and that gives her an edge. Getting to grips with ISO standards took study and training: “Until you actually study it, it’s hard to see the value of a certification like that.” Later, working alongside senior management gave her a perspective she’d never had as a technician: she learned to read how each role plays its part and what everyone needs.
Her real clients are inside the company
There’s an interesting twist in how Melody sees her job: “I don’t have any trouble with clients. My bigger challenges are with our own people.” Her main stakeholders are Mozzanica’s own employees, and under the standard, their well-being is an integral part of the system. It’s a principle Mozzanica takes seriously: every year, the third-party auditor interviews staff in confidence about how things are going for them. Much of the most useful feedback, however, comes directly from the people doing the work. When some team members pointed out that communication between office staff and operations wasn’t working well and could lead to misunderstandings and delays, the fix wasn’t top-down. Instead, the teams involved sat down together to redefine how information flows and who is responsible for what. For Melody, giving people what they need to work well is part of the method rather than a concession, and it’s built into a carefully planned budget based on the risk assessment carried out at the start of each year.
Proud of a system that grows with the company
Over the past five years, Melody has watched the company evolve: new roles, new markets and a system that has to keep pace. What makes her proud is the company’s underlying drive to keep improving: holding itself to clear rules, adding certifications and staying compliant “without batting an eye.” Above all, it’s seeing her department’s suggestions for improvement actually taken on board: “Now senior managers come to us wanting to improve a process. That’s a huge step forward.” It’s a company, she concludes, that “puts a lot of work into its people” and chooses to recognize and develop the talent it has. “We’re lucky to have a company that looks ahead, and that’s no small thing.”
Melody’s quiet work, the kind you can’t see but can feel, is where one of the hardest qualities to replicate takes shape: a company where people work well because the conditions that make it possible are constantly monitored, improved and shared with the teams who depend on them every day, all thanks to a careful guiding hand behind the scenes.