Behavioral Questions

Question 1

Describe a situation in which you persuaded others to see things your way on a sensitive point.
Describe a difficult decision you’ve had to make in your business life and how you went about doing it.
Give me an example of a problem you faced on the job and how you resolved it.

Answer 1

Spinning off the HIE from Mohawk into a non-profit due to the negative impact of Mohawk on its growth and sustainability.
or
Transitioning the HIE from a CIN to an HIE.

Question 2

Tell me about a time you set a goal and achieved it. How did you accomplish it and what did it teach you?

Tell Me About A Time When You Used Research Or Fact-Finding Skills To Contribute To The Solution Of A Problem.

Answer 2

Compulink implementation improvement story

Question 3

Tell me about a time you were able to successfully get a job done even when you were working with a person you had conflicts with.

Answer 3

Angela and the provider credentialing story

Question 4

Give Me An Example Of When You Resigned From A Company And Why

Give An Example Of A Time When You Resigned From A Company And Why You Did So.

Answer 4

Thomas Eye Group - no growth story

Question 5

Describe Your Style In Dealing With Irate Customers.

Answer 5

Remain calm. But don’t let them be abusive. That only makes situations worse.
Make sure they know that I am there to help, that we are partners in working through the situation.
Usually if a customer is that irate it’s because they feel frustrated and that they have lost control of the situation. So, provide a productive framework for them to share their concerns, and try to understand what their goal is. That gives them buy-in into making the situation better; gives them a sense of control while fostering a cooperative attitude rather than us vs them.
Never blame the customer, even if it is their fault. Always take the high road and make sure that the customer has what they need to get through this situation.

Question 6

Tell Me About A Time When You Made A Mistake That Affected A Client Adversely And How You Coped With It.

Answer 6

I really don’t want to tell you this. It still horrifies me, but here goes.

1. (Situation) I accidentally copied an already irate client on an email in which I expressed my frustrations about his behavior and his treatment of me and my staff.
2. (Task) Had to mitigate the situation to keep it from getting any worse and to save face.
3. (Action) I immediately owned up to it and proactively addressed it. I apologized, but also used the opportunity to share my concerns that if he and I couldn’t come to a place of respect and cooperation that neither of our problems would be solved. I tried to make lemonade out of lemons and flip the situation around to be a positive one.
4. (Result) It actually did end up being positive. I was not disrespectful or rude in anything I said, but certainly I would not have been so “blunt” communicating with him directly. He actually wasn’t upset at what he read and I think it kind of surprised him. He also apologized to me and we ended up having a very good working relationship. It’s best to just own up to mistakes. I’m also glad that I have a policy of always keeping my comments professional, which helped. And now I’m much more diligent about quadruple checking my emails and who I’m sending them to.

Question 7

Describe a time when you had several projects due at around the same time and had to postpone one in order to do the others on time and the process you used to determine which one you postponed.

Answer 7

1. (Situation) Implementing EMR. Couldn’t do the entire company at once, so I triaged the different units based on size and ease of implementation.
2. (Task) What I had to do.
3. (Action) How I did it.
4. (Result) What the results were

Question 8

Tell Me About A Time When You Were Asked To Take Sides Regarding Another Employee And You Remained Neutral.

Answer 8

I honestly don’t think I’ve ever been in a situation like this. I try to avoid office politics and only bring up concerns if I am certain they are accurate and they will negatively impact the organization. And even then I try to remain as professional and objective as possible.

1. (Situation) What was the problem.
2. (Task) What I had to do.
3. (Action) How I did it.
4. (Result) What the results were

Question 9

Recall A Time When You Used Logic To Save Your Company Money.

Answer 9

1. (Situation) What was the problem.
2. (Task) What I had to do.
3. (Action) How I did it.
4. (Result) What the results were

Question 10

Describe A Time When You Felt Compelled To Speak Up For Compliance Reasons.

Answer 10

First thing to know is that I’ve been a HIPAA compliance officer, so this has been a part of my job.

1. (Situation) Compulink – a tech changed some code in a client’s database that ended up sending out text messages with names and appoint times on a few hundred mental health patients. Leadership felt that we did not need to do a notification because only appointment times are not considered PHI. I pointed out that there is a higher standard and increased sensitivity with mental health. I also pointed out that any recipient would have enough information to show up and see who those people were, and how would they feel if that happened to them. We also needed to do the notification because it was our fault and not the client’s, and they were the ones who were shouldering the blame unless we took ownership of it.
2. (Task) What I had to do.
3. (Action) How I did it.
4. (Result) What the results were

Question 11

Describe A Time When Your Work Environment Changed In A Way You Didn’t Like And How You Adjusted To It.

Answer 11

When I started working at Resurgens, I had no office or desk. When I went in to work each day, I had to find a desk where someone was not in the office that day so that I could have a place to work; this went on for about four months. I turned it into a positive by trying to find different places in different units, so that I got to know the people and what they did better. This really helped me learn more about the organization and how I could help them. Even after I got an office, I still tried to make sure I spent time in each department on a regular basis.

Question 12

Give An Example Of A Situation In Which Personality Conflicts Threatened To Derail A Project And How You Coped With That.

Answer 12

Use the same Angela and credentialing story

1. (Situation) What was the problem.
2. (Task) What I had to do.
3. (Action) How I did it.
4. (Result) What the results were

Question 13

Tell Me About A Situation When A Company You Worked For Showed Interest In Your Professional Growth And How You Took Advantage Of That Interest.

Give An Example Of A Situation In Which You Took Specific Steps To Further Your Career.

Answer 13

Thomas Eye –- I approached the CEO about getting my CPHIMS certification and they sponsored it.

1. (Situation) What was the problem.
2. (Task) What I had to do.
3. (Action) How I did it.
4. (Result) What the results were

Question 14

Give An Example Of A Risk You Took In An Employment Situation And How It Panned Out.

Answer 14

1. (Situation) What was the problem.
2. (Task) What I had to do.
3. (Action) How I did it.
4. (Result) What the results were
   The hiring manager is trying to discern your risk profile and assess your good judgment.
   EXAMPLE ANSWER “When my mother became seriously ill and needed someone with her at all times, I approached my boss about working from home. None of the company’s workers worked from home; it was strictly an onsite workplace. Yet my boss had always been pleased with my work and did not want to lose me as an employee, so she took the time to go over my workload with me in detail. This was a situation in which a certain amount of calculated risk would need to be taken. We both realized that I could work from home via computer and there would be nothing amiss in my work. I was glad I took the risk of approaching her about my situation. Until Mom died, I was able to be at her home all day, every day, and still stay abreast of my work and my career. As a side note, I know that your company is leaning toward an increase in telecommuting and I believe that this experience shows that I am prepared for this challenge.”
   DO:
   • Quality: calculated risk-taking
   • Multiplier: telecommuting
   • People have all different levels of risk tolerance. Tell a story that shows you are capable of taking well-thought-out, calculated risks
   • Recount a risk that turned out positively that is within your risk tolerance level.
   DON’T:
   • Don’t talk about anything that was extremely risky or extreme in any way: “I decided to single-handedly change the secret recipe at Coke and see if anyone would notice and if customers would like my version best!”
   • Don’t talk about something that really involved no risk: “I asked the boss if we could have the company picnic at a different park next year.”

Question 15

Describe How Your Very First Job Benefited Your Career Path.

Answer 15

1. (Situation) What was the problem.
2. (Task) What I had to do.
3. (Action) How I did it.
4. (Result) What the results were

The hiring manager may want to know if there is a rhyme or reason to your employment history (a direction, in other words) or if it has just been random.
EXAMPLE ANSWER “My first job was as a cashier at a big discount department store. It had just opened, there were fifteen cash registers, and even then the lines were to the back of the store. I became a fast and accurate cashier, which developed my keyboard skills and led me to an interest in a career in IT. In this industry, efficiency is the name of the game and this is the skill I developed at the department store.”
DO:
• Quality: efficiency
• Show that you respect and value employment of any sort, including your first job, and how well you are able to make connections and see the silver lining in any job experience.
• Connect your first job to skills you are using now.

Question 16

Describe A Time When A Non Work-Related Experience Taught You Things You Might Find Useful In This Job.

Answer 16

Shepherding my elderly parents through the healthcare system.

1. (Situation) What was the problem.
2. (Task) What I had to do.
3. (Action) How I did it.
4. (Result) What the results were

Question 17

Tell Me About A Situation Where You Had To Work In Your Supervisor’s Place And How You Managed It.

Answer 17

Make up something about having to delivery a critical report to a client.

1. (Situation) What was the problem.
2. (Task) What I had to do.
3. (Action) How I did it.
4. (Result) What the results were

Question 18

Describe A Time When You Had To Bring Two Departments Together To Work More Effectively With Each Other.

Answer 18

Compulink – sales and impelmetnation teams were at each other;s throats over who was responsible for clients dropping out and leaving the company before they made it to go live.

1. (Situation) What was the problem.
2. (Task) What I had to do.
3. (Action) How I did it.
4. (Result) What the results were

Question 19

Describe A Time When You Had To Let A Friendly Co-Worker Go For Poor Job Performance And How You Did It.

Answer 19

Lily – a lovely person, but had extensive personal problems. She was missing excessive amounts of work, and an already over extended department was struggling to keep up with her work as well as their own.

1. (Situation) What was the problem.
2. (Task) What I had to do.
3. (Action) How I did it.
4. (Result) What the results were

Question 20

Tell Me About A Time When You Managed An Individual Who Was Technically Competent But Who Lacked People Skills.

Answer 20

Shelby

1. (Situation) Receiving multiple complaints about Shelby hanging up on internal customers and/or refusing to help them because she didn’t like them or thought their questions were stupid.
2. (Task) For various reasons, I needed to keep Shelby on staff. I couldn’t just let her go at that time and there was nowhere else for me to place her, but I also couldn’t let her continue in that manner. I had to hold her accountable for behavior while helping her develop pathways she could rely upon for dealing with these situations, which she found very stressful.
3. (Action) I wanted to make sure that we dealt with the situation together, and from multiple angles. So we set up a performance improvement and accountability plan with measurable and attainable goals. I connected her with internal and external customer service training options that she could do on company time. I made sure that there were several options so that she could choose which one worked best for her. I also encouraged her to take advantage of the EAP program to help her learn how to deal with these kinds of stressors in more productive ways. And we had weekly meetings to discuss her progress, which then changed back to our normal monthly one-on-one meetings as she made progress.
4. (Result) Her performance did improve, but not to the degree I had hoped. She was never a stellar employee and never had strong relationships with any of her coworkers, but she got the job done in an acceptable manner. She had very strong technical skills and was very knowledgeable, but had trouble relating to other people. I tried to provide resources to address the issue from several angles, but in the end she chose to not really take advantage of them and ended up leaving the company. I think it was just a bad fit. If I were in that situation again, I think I would try harder to find a role that would allow us to leverage her skillset, but not have to interact with others as much.

Question 21

Give Me An Example Of A Time When You Counseled An Employee To Improve His Or Her Performance, But Your Efforts Failed.

Answer 21

Shelby

1. (Situation) Receiving multiple complaints about Shelby hanging up on internal customers and/or refusing to help them because she didn’t like them or thought their questions were stupid.
2. (Task) For various reasons, I needed to keep Shelby on staff. I couldn’t just let her go at that time and there was nowhere else for me to place her, but I also couldn’t let her continue in that manner. I had to hold her accountable for behavior while helping her develop pathways she could rely upon for dealing with these situations, which she found very stressful.
3. (Action) I wanted to make sure that we dealt with the situation together, and from multiple angles. So we set up a performance improvement and accountability plan with measurable and attainable goals. I connected her with internal and external customer service training options that she could do on company time. I made sure that there were several options so that she could choose which one worked best for her. I also encouraged her to take advantage of the EAP program to help her learn how to deal with these kinds of stressors in more productive ways. And we had weekly meetings to discuss her progress, which then changed back to our normal monthly one-on-one meetings as she made progress.
4. (Result) Her performance did improve, but not to the degree I had hoped. She was never a stellar employee and never had strong relationships with any of her coworkers, but she got the job done in an acceptable manner. She had very strong technical skills and was very knowledgeable, but had trouble relating to other people. I tried to provide resources to address the issue from several angles, but in the end she chose to not really take advantage of them and ended up leaving the company. I think it was just a bad fit. If I were in that situation again, I think I would try harder to find a role that would allow us to leverage her skillset, but not have to interact with others as much.

Question 22

Tell Me About A Time When You Conducted A Training Seminar And How Your Presentation Skills Came Into That.

Your prospective job may include training and presentation skills and the hiring manager wants to know how well you will do at that.

Answer 22

1. (Situation) Training for TEG EMR go live
2. (Task) Computers, classroom space, undivided attention, buy-in, and a measurement tool
3. (Action) Organized audiences into operational groups, had them do basic self-training assignments so that it wasn’t completely unfamiliar, set up offsite training in a computer lab so that everyone was hands-on and not worrying about what else was going on that day in clinic, and used “real world” scenarios to train. Asked them questions as we went along and let them choose what the appropriate steps would be. Took a test at the end that I made hard enough that they would need to pay attention, but not so hard that they would be intimidated by the change.
4. (Result) Everyone did very well and scored very well on their testing. They felt confident going into their first live day on the new system, and the only issues were forgetting how to do more obscure things, but nothing overwhelming. The software company adopted my approach into their training department.

Question 23

Tell Me About A Time When You Contributed To Employee Morale.

Tell Me About An Occasion When You Were Positive About An Outcome While Others Around You Were Negative About It.

Answer 23

COVID hit and client wanted us to stop calling on providers because it just seemed disingenuous. Team was very disheartened and feared it would be the end of the HIE. The Cures Act had just hit, so I put together a guide on it for the team and helped them all see how this was a great opportunity for us to develop new ideas that we could have lined up and ready to go as soon as we were given the okay to start working with providers again. To get them interested, we started an informal contest for who could come up with the most interesting idea.

1. (Situation) What was the problem.
2. (Task) What I had to do.
3. (Action) How I did it.
4. (Result) What the results were

Question 24

Tell Me About A Mistake You Made And What You Learned From It.

Answer 24

Putting Shelby on a performance improvement plan, but then not putting a time frame on it or properly documenting it. She applied for the management training program, and when I was asked to approve her application, I had to let them know that she was on probation. This wasn’t fair to Shelby, it embarrassed her, and it made it look like I didn’t want to help her. It also wasted company resources. I learned about making sure that my plans had measurable goals and timeframes, about being more clear in my communications, and making sure that the other person understood.

1. (Situation) What was the problem.
2. (Task) What I had to do.
3. (Action) How I did it.
4. (Result) What the results were

Question 25

Tell Me About A Time When You Questioned Your Own Abilities.

Answer 25

Effing Chris and the construction debacle

1. (Situation) What was the problem.
2. (Task) What I had to do.
3. (Action) How I did it.
4. (Result) What the results were

OR

Reporting for Compulink and MKY and I never seeming to be on the same page.

Question 26

Tell Me About A Time When You Had To Be The Bearer Of Bad Tidings.

Answer 26

Implementation team did not meet bonus, and it wasn’t their fault.

1. (Situation) What was the problem.
2. (Task) What I had to do.
3. (Action) How I did it.
4. (Result) What the results were

Question 27

Have You Ever Been In A Situation Where You’ve Found That Working In A Team Was More Successful Than Working Alone?

Answer 27

1. (Situation) What was the problem.
2. (Task) What I had to do.
3. (Action) How I did it.
4. (Result) What the results were

Question 28

How do you motivate other people to work with you? Can you give examples of how you build enthusiasm in others around you?

How do you handle dealing with a group of people that you don’t normally work with? How did you manage it and did your approach work?

Answer 28

Working with providers to utilize the HIE. Focus on mutual goals. Understand what each person brings to the table and recognize and appreciate the value they add. Partnership

1. (Situation) What was the problem.
2. (Task) What I had to do.
3. (Action) How I did it.
4. (Result) What the results were

Question 29

We’ve all had to work with people who don’t like us. How do you deal with someone who doesn’t like you?

Answer 29

1. (Situation) Ravonda didn’t think I had the experience to be in an executive leadership role with a payer, because I had never worked on the payer side before.
2. (Task) She had a wealth of valuable experience, so I needed to get her working with me rather than against me.
3. (Action) Confidentially asked for feedback from people with whom she worked well, to see how best to communicate with her. Blah blah blah about recognizing her value and being appreciative of any help she could provide, while at the same time gently reminding her of the value I bring and making sure I made myself available to help her in ways that only I could.
4. (Result) Never close or good friends, but had a productive working relationship.

Question 30

Tell Me About A Time You Had To Make A Decision You Knew Was Going To Be Unpopular. Were You Able To Reach A Compromise Or Bring People Around To Your Way Of Thinking?

Answer 30

1. (Situation) What was the problem.
2. (Task) What I had to do.
3. (Action) How I did it.
4. (Result) What the results were

(Perhaps imp team not meeting bonus??? Turn that into something???)

Tell me about a time you had to make a decision you knew was going to be unpopular. Were you able to reach a compromise or bring people around to your way of thinking? The hiring manager wants to know that you’re able to make the tough calls and stick to them but at the same time, be open to the possibility of compromise.
EXAMPLE ANSWER “As a manager I was in charge of setting everyone’s schedules. Because it was up to me to make sure hours were covered, I was often approached by people looking for shift changes, extra hours, or reduced hours. During the holiday season we’re incredibly busy and I often had to scramble to make sure that I got shifts covered as people tried to take time off. Rather than face a scheduling nightmare I made it a policy that requests for time off had to be submitted two months prior to December in writing. For those that followed the rules, it was a breeze and they were able to get the time they needed off. For those that ignored the request, I had to be firm and say no, something that was often difficult but necessary. Although I was firm, I wasn’t impossible and if an employee truly needed the time off or something came up that had to be dealt with, I made sure to work with them on a case by case basis to help meet their needs. This policy of firm fairness and reasonable compromise has helped to make our holidays much smoother. It was a little tough at first, telling people I liked no, but now that people know what to expect and how to properly request their holiday time off, the entire season has become much easier to manage and schedule. “
DO:
• Quality: Fair/ability to compromise
• Do talk about how you‘ve navigated potentially difficult and unpopular decisions.
• Do emphasize that your decisions are based on the good of the company, not on playing favorites.

Question 31

Do you consider yourself to be creative?

Tell me about something creative you’ve done that you’re proud of.

Answer 31

HIE minute videos, where I presented key facts about the benefits of HIE. They were all a minute long or less and designed to work well on social media. I made them visually attractive and used poppy musical, but the entire message could be understood without listening and without even having to play close attention…sound bitess

1. (Situation) What was the problem.
2. (Task) What I had to do.
3. (Action) How I did it.
4. (Result) What the results were

Question 32

Tell me about a time you had to think on your feet to overcome a sudden obstacle. How did you cope?

Answer 32

HIE and COVID

1. (Situation) What was the problem.
2. (Task) What I had to do.
3. (Action) How I did it.
4. (Result) What the results were

Question 33

Have you ever had an experience where your performance was less than what you expected and or what your supervisor expected?

Answer 33

1. (Situation) What was the problem.
2. (Task) What I had to do.
3. (Action) How I did it.
4. (Result) What the results were

Myself - at Resurgens - not techy enough (to me), but my boss thought I was doing great!

Question 34

Pretend you had six months to a year all to yourself to do whatever you wanted and money was no object. What would you do?

Answer 34

1. (Situation) What was the problem.
2. (Task) What I had to do.
3. (Action) How I did it.
4. (Result) What the results were

Family, travel, start setting myself up to be successful after the six months to a year has passed…definitely something to do with improving healthcare value and delivery.