A conversation with Mirjana Stojkoska, conducted by Danka Zakić, editor of “Standard Classic Radio”

At work, we often feel that everything is urgent. The phone rings, messages come in, colleagues need answers, clients expect information, new tasks appear, while yesterday’s tasks are still unfinished. When deadlines and responsibility toward other people are added to the mix, it is very easy to feel that everything is equally important.

Mirjana Stojkoska has spent years working precisely where people, information, deadlines, and problems meet. A large number of calls and pieces of information pass through her every day, which means her job is much more than answering the phone or forwarding a message.

Mirjana, is everything equally important?

Of course not. But when you have many responsibilities at once, the biggest problem is that everything initially looks important. Over time, I learned not to react simply to the speed or tone in which something is communicated to me, but to try to understand what is actually happening.

Someone may be extremely upset about something that can objectively wait until tomorrow, while another person may calmly share information involving a deadline that expires within a few hours.

That is why the first question I ask myself is: What will happen if we don’t deal with this immediately?

If there is a deadline, a possibility of damage, an important client, or a situation that could have serious consequences, then I know that the information must immediately reach the person responsible.

So how do you determine priorities?

By listening. I think people often listen only so they can respond. I try to listen so that I can understand.

I need to know who is calling, why they are calling, what they expect, whether there is a deadline, and who within our system can solve the problem. Only then does the information receive its proper place.

My job is not simply to say, “So-and-so called.” My job is to understand why they called and what needs to be done with that information.

And how do you deal with pressure when everything is happening at once?

The most important thing is not to allow someone else’s nervousness to automatically become my own.

Of course, there are days when the phone almost never stops ringing. While you are talking to one person, another is waiting, a message arrives, someone walks into the office, and at the same time a colleague asks you for information from several days ago.

At such a moment, you cannot control how many people will call. But you can control the way you manage the information.

That is why I take notes. I check. I forward information to the responsible person. And I try to close the loop—to know what was ultimately done.

That gives me a sense of order even when there is a great deal of activity around me.

Does speed also mean efficiency?

Not always.

Speed is important, but accuracy is more important. Incorrectly communicated information can create much more work than an answer that arrives five minutes later.

When I don’t know something, I say that I will check. When I’m not sure, I ask again. I think professionalism is not about always having an immediate answer, but about making sure that the person on the other end can trust the answer they receive.

How important is the way you treat people in all of this?

Crucial.

After many years of working, you get to know people. You learn their habits, their communication styles, what may upset them, and what they expect from you. But you have to maintain your patience even when you are speaking to someone for the first time.

People often do not remember every word you said to them, but they remember very well how you treated them when they had a problem.

That is why I consider calmness to be part of professionalism.

What, ultimately, have you learned from all those calls, messages, and pieces of information?

That not everything can have the same priority, and that I cannot solve every problem on my own.

But I can do something else: I can listen, understand, take notes, connect the right information with the right person, and follow through until the matter is resolved.

When you have a system, the pressure does not disappear. There will not be less work, the phones will not stop ringing, and deadlines will not disappear.

But you no longer feel that events are carrying you along.

You are managing them.

And perhaps that is the most important lesson: not everything is equally important. What matters is knowing what is important—and remaining calm while you recognize it.