General Skills Flashcards
Category 3:
Helping identify pragmatic opportunities to enhance / optimise existing or missing capabilities via process efficiencies and technology
OS OKR Dashboard
Strategy/Situation
— The OS Programme’s Senior Directors lacked visibility of activities across the programme. There was a lack of transparency and accountability for the delivery of critical outcomes across teams.
— There were no mechanisms for documenting teams’ priorities, and whether they were working effectively to achieve them. At operational-level, teams had no means of understanding what others were working on.
Task
— I identified a use case of PowerBI to document teams’ Objectives and Key Results using a PowerBI dashboard. Whereas previously, this reporting was being done manually, during my iterative process improvement of the QBR process, I decided to make this process technologically enabled.
Action
— I first built a manual quarterly reporting and governance process for the OS Programme, to familiarise colleagues with the cadence and objectives of this strategic coordination forum.
— Following successful implementation of two cycles of this QBR process, I identified an opportunity to automate these processes and produce accessible, insightful management information. I connected with PowerBI development colleagues to communicate requirements for OS OKR Dashboard views of OS Programme delivery.
— I led ideation workshops with these colleagues to communicate exactly what information needed to be represented at a quarterly cadence, reproducing the QBR ‘Look Back’ and, ‘Look Forward’ slides in a digital format with automated colour coding of delivery outcomes.
— I produced mock-up ‘user interfaces’ which demonstrated the types of information I wanted to capture. This enabled PBI devs to produce dashboards to spec
— I produced guidance for teams on how to populate the PowerBI dashboards independently each quarter, scoring their delivery statuses and programming in new objectives for monitoring
— Over time, I provided iterative feedback from team users to improve the OS OKR Dashboard’s functionality, including: adding a notes section for colleagues to track their delivery statuses
Result
— I provided full transparency/visibility of teams’ delivery activities
— I created a source of metrics on the Programme’s delivery, which enabled identification of the lowest performing teams (ICT, DIT).
— This highlighted several strategic improvement opportunities (introduction of OS Product team, prompt for a Data Strategy).
P&IT Process Briefing
— Helped product understand business processes
— Spotted opportunities to enhance our manual workflows: CLUE, Secure doc exchange, AI prompt natural language queries, secure access permissions - now factored into product pipeline
Category 3:
Project Management skills, including managing budgets, resources and delivery
OpsMonMVP Project Management
Strategy/Situation
— To enable the LECP programme to deliver on its strategic objectives of delivering a secure, stable and resilient platform, enhanced capabilities were required. This was a critical dependency for the project’s maturation to exit early life support, a milestone which had already been delayed by a year.
Task
— I led the SRE team’s delivery of an operational monitoring MVP solution for the platform, within a 4-month timeline. This would provide metrics on performance and statuses of key shared services across the platform (including security features, key developer tools e.g., Splunk, Gitlab), which was essential for improving platform intelligence required by our Support teams. It also allowed us to monitor for any breaks in service, which was an essential requirement to meet customer demand.
Action
— Using Agile delivery methods (Scrum) I managed the team’s delivery. I utilised Sprint cycles, planning sessions, reviews and retrospectives to monitor implementation.
— I initiated the development effort using a Sprint planning session. This was a collaborative whiteboarding session with Engineers to identify the solution components, estimate task sizes using t-shirt sizing, and map the critical path to delivery.
— Using the information gained from the session, I mapped the team’s delivery over 8 sprints. I identified resourcing requirements and the most knowledgeable Engineers for the job.
— I pulled the highest priority requirements into Sprint 1, including scoping the priority shared services requiring monitoring
— Upon presenting my plan to stakeholders, I renegotiated the priority shared services for inclusion in the solution. This was a contentious issue, requiring input from SecOps, Platform Evolution and Lead Architects.
— I reconvened with colleagues on a fortnightly basis to track our delivery, resolve issues and blockers.
— Some issues that required resolution: scaling back the scope of shared services monitoring - whereas initially, we set out to deliver ‘whitebox’ monitoring, providing detailed metrics on the performance of inner workings within the components, we had to scale this back and provide blackbox monitoring instead - statuses monitoring the performance/activity of the components, non-detailed, more MVP and essential. This was due to the complexity of data pipelining required to deliver the whitebox monitoring. This wasn’t feasible in the timescales we had set ourselves. I had to adjust our plans and manage stakeholder expectations through a series of challenging engagements.
Result
— Delivered monitoring of Platform Components enabling improved Support response
— Delivering metrics for improved Platform reporting and governance
— Improving awareness of Platform performance, creating intelligence for future development efforts
— Enabling user access to performance monitoring tool for improved transparency over Platform performance
Category 3:
Excellent communication skills, with experience in preparing and delivering presentations to a senior and potentially challenging set of stakeholders
P&IT Briefings - Persuading
Additional examples: getting approval from Directors for IM Process; QBR Wash-Up with GD
Strategy/Situation
— Obtaining resources from Programme Leadership to stand-up the development of a new Partnerships & Intelligence function, enabling a more strategic, coordinated, controlled approach to the management of sensitive information from operational partners.
Task
— I was tasked with developing a briefing for OSG Directors, to seek their buy-in for the overarching value proposition.
Action
— Using learnings from my writing for impact course, I structured my presentation methodically using a persuasive/influencing framework: this started with context, followed by the ‘problem statement’ and why maintaining the position was unsustainable, the proposed solution, its value proposition for teams, use cases and finally, the ‘ask’ for support and additional resources
— I delivered the presentation to Senior stakeholders and secured their support.
— During these calls, I welcomed feedback and incorporated particular comments into our approach - for example: Triage comments on interactions/ways of working; PD comments on change management approaches; Enforcement comments on maintaining evidential standards. I incorporated the feedback into an ongoing tracker document, which was used to drive these improvements over time.
— I subsequently delivered the presentation to operational teams the next level down, with additional supporting materials (e.g., user guides, sharepoint sites etc.) to enable continued engagement with our team and the new processes that had been implemented.
Result
— I obtained senior support for the value proposition despite resourcing challenges
— I generated demand for our P&I capabilities
— I secured buy-in for recruiting 2x additional P&I colleagues
— I delivered a new function for the OS Programme
— I managed organisational risks regarding management of sensitive information from partners
Category 3:
Excellent writing skills, including report and proposal writing
Things that demonstrate your good writing skills:
- Director Approvals at ICO and Ofcom
- Legal approvals
- Achieved publication within tight timelines (e.g., 1-2 months)
- Positive feedback from regulated services
- Positive feedback from users
- Cited in blogs throughout the Legal sector
Dovetail Information Sharing Framework & External Statement
Strategy/Situation
— Ofcom required clear processes for exchanging information with a priority strategic partner, the ICO; this was essential for managing policy interactions between OS & DP regimes, and to enable coordination of Sup/Enf engagement with services of mutual interest. This helped to achieve our strategic objectives of improving regulatory collaboration, coherence and cooperation (bannered under the DRCF).
Task
— I was tasked with creating an information sharing framework to enable two-way exchange of information relating to regulated services between ICO and Ofcom
Action
— I engaged with Legal to understand our information sharing gateways; despite a general legislative prohibition on sharing information relating to businesses, there are gateways within the Communications Act where this is necessary for the performance of our functions.
— I created a framework outlining the scenarios when it would be permissible to share information for the performance of our functions - this included when exchanging information on services and themes of common interest to Ofcom and ICO. The extent of shareable information varies depending on the configuration of these factors being present.
— I produced a question-based information sharing framework which ICO and Ofcom Sup/Enf colleagues could use to verify whether information was shareable
— I wrote this in a user-friendly format, removing jargon as far as possible so the document could be applied by colleagues.
— As a companion document, I created an external report for publication of our collaboration with the ICO. This outlined our continued commitment to collaboration and highlighted the strategic objectives of our partnership
Result
— Both documents were published; this created improved certainty for teams and a free flow of information. The external facing document improved our communication with external stakeholders, and prompted a series of knowledge articles from industry stakeholders commenting on the welcome shift towards increased regulatory collaboration.
Category 3:
Excellent stakeholder skills and ability to flex style to accommodate the most junior and senior members of an organisation
An exploratory heartfelt answer about DRCF Partnerships is the best!
- WORKING LEVEL — Building to a level of familiarity, collaboration, informality over time - fosters good ways of working
- SENIOR — Engaging confidently and professionally with external seniors, to get their time and commitment to collaboration efforts, being clear regarding asks
- COORDINATION/LEADERSHIP — Chairing/facilitating collaboration meetings, taking a lead role, setting the tone for collaboration, enthusiasm/driving forward collaboration, showing commitment
- CHALLENGING CONVERSATIONS — ICO - sometimes falling short of timelines e.g., PoC statement engagement, limitations on what we can/can’t share. Being diplomatic, respectful, apologetic at the right moments, fielding difficult questions, communicating with clarity and transparency.
Programme Budget Engagement
Additional example: OS Partnerships
Strategy/Situation
—To manage financial, a budget allocation process was required to apportion HMT’s allocated spend to teams across the OS Programme
Task
—I was tasked with leading the budget allocation process, which required strategic engagement with stakeholders to manage the communication of key messages at varying levels of the organisation
Action
—I planned initial calls with stakeholders to inform them of the proposed budget allocation process. This set out the high-level objectives of the initiative and managed expectations regarding the likely flat-cash scenario from DSIT.
—I communicated a clear sequence of process steps from commissioning teams’ responses, apportioning allocations, seeking feedback and confirming the final position following budget confirmation. I framed my communications from the perspectives of teams. I engaged with senior Directors to communicate this position clearly and confidently.
—I communicated more specific asks at the next-level down of the organisation, at Principal level, to seek comments on budget allocations. I needed to understand the various asks of different teams, which required my understanding of their objectives.
—I used the OS strategic objectives as a lens for analysing stakeholder responses. Many asks were aligned to our priorities, whereas others were not. For example, large amounts of research expenditure were not fully reasoned. There were additional requests from operational teams which did not align with our strategic priorities of shifting focus to Supervision/Enforcement (e.g., PD had asked for more spend). I respectfully challenged these submissions and conducted a prioritisation exercise with support of Finance and other SD colleagues, to determine which items should receive additional spend, and which did not.
—I communicated my rationale for spend decisions to Senior Director colleagues. I also coached Research team to come up with a lower than expected spend allocation plan - this prompted their completion of a prioritisation exercise, which dropped non-aligned research projects from their plans.
—I then produced a final presentation to the most senior stakeholder - Group Director, which outlined our proposed spend allocations.
Result
—The OS Programme budget allocation was approved; managed stakeholder expectations successfully through clear communication and negotiated competing interests in limited programme resources.
Category 3:
Able to work effectively in diverse teams within an inclusive team culture where people are recognised for their contribution.
DRCF Strategy Formulation
Alternative examples: Faith Network
Strategy/Situation
— Devising a strategy for engagement with external partners in the DRCF
— Setting strategic vision
— Defining objectives
Task
— Collaboratively establish shared strategy
Action
— Chose workshop format to enable collaborative formulation of goals, ensuring representation of different team members’ perspectives
— Provided example objectives and vision statements to enable colleagues to contribute their own articulations
— Set a framework for assessing the maturity of relationships with partner regulators: defined the categories of information that I wanted to capture, providing structure, while deferring to colleagues for the content
— Hosted/chaired workshop - encouraged participation of all colleagues, particularly the junior colleagues who I recognise often provide the best ‘sanity check’ on our work
— Consolidated outputs and drafted a strategy document for the team - sought colleagues’ feedback
Result
— Defined the team’s strategy, invited healthy challenge and varied perspectives on our work - consolidated our total output
Category 3:
- Self-starter and problem solver
- Active listener who can help with identifying and solving client challenges
- Problem solving to help build solutions for clients by applying insight and experience
L&D Workstream
Strategy/Situation
— Colleague survey identified colleagues had an unclear understanding of expectations in terms of skills/proficiency
— Defining role/responsibilities more clearly is advantageous to creating a high-performing team
Task
— I initiated an L&D workstream to improve our knowledge of the skills required to succeed on the team
Action
— Conducted a discovery exercise, retrieving previous job requisitions
— Compiled a skills profile based on evaluation of the most frequently occurring skills (volumetric analysis)
— Presented back to Senior Leadership who provided some comment on the areas of particular priority for the team: influencing senior leadership, persuading decision makers
— I led a team to create a skill survey which assessed the skill level of colleagues in each of the areas identified
— Based on responses, I identified several skills requiring development across the team (e.g., limited experience): Risk Management, Change Management, Agile Delivery Methods
Result
— I passed the findings onto L&D support to create a bespoke learning pathway for colleagues
— I created certainty around the baseline skills required in SD
— I created opportunities for colleagues to learn and improve their skillsets
Category 3:
Excellent Networking skills
Building networks: FCA, CMA, UKIC/LEAs
Maintaining networks: ICO
Exploratory strengths based answer - talk about experiences across:
— ICO
— CMA
— FCA
— UKIC/LEAs
Category 3:
Flexibility to apply themselves on broader Regulatory and Legal Support work should the client need arise
Exploratory strengths based answer - talk about experiences across:
— Previous Paralegal XP
— Law graduate
— Former Detective
Category 3:
Experience utilizing technology platforms or solutions to support / deliver projects
Exploratory strengths based answer - talk about experiences across:
— JIRA and MS Project on LECP
— MS Teams Kanban for general project delivery
— PowerBI dashboards
Challenging stakeholder?
- Dovetail
- Consultations
- Comms alignment
[ ] ‘Challenging stakeholder you had to deal with’ question: ICO many challenges, essential for maintaining a good relationship. Strategically crucial — (i) fine-tuning information sharing; (ii) adjusting consultation timelines/expectations; (iii) improving comms coordination.
