Resourcefulness Flashcards
Tell us about an idea you had to improve something on the job. What did you do and what happened?
Resourcefulness. To formulate creative alternatives or solutions to resolve problems, to show flexibility in response to unanticipated circumstances.
(Eleos) In my prior role as a Project Manager for client implementation projects, I was responsible for status reports so that management stay up to date on the status of all our current projects. Yet, projects often contain a lot of information and many data points which can consume a considerable amount of time to receive, digest and synthesize by busy people. The results is that senior leaders often have to reactively ask for project updates and manage as issues arise. I came up with an innovative solution that used my knowledge of personal computers, local area networks, and software to help overcome the problem of senior management not usually having enough time to review project status reports. So, I created a shared network drive whereby I could save an overview of project status for each project. I then used software connected a television in the primary Conference Room to continually display project status summary from the shared drive when the television was not used for other purposes. This provided senior leaders with a constant stream of project status information that they could easily digest throughout the day and in-between their other important activities of the day. This resulted in better understanding of project status, higher productivity, and proactive management of client projects by senior management.
Describe a time when you anticipated potential problems and developed preventive measures.
Resourcefulness. To formulate creative alternatives or solutions to resolve problems, to show flexibility in response to unanticipated circumstances.
“Situation: Contractor hired to oversee deliverables different company/vendor. Deliverables on schedule at first. Slowed to the point where asking for updates, trying to get staff onsite, and trying to hold people accountable failed to get the deliverables over the finish line.
Task: At 11 months overdue, I noticed contractor wasn’t paying other company/vendor for work I had signed off on. Raised suspicion.
Action: I notified my supervisor and performed analysis to account for the entire payment history of the program. I then presented this information to my supervisor and we came up with a plan of addressing the situation: I would direct the program manager to make payment to the company/vendor up to 69% of deliverables being satisifed.
Result: That caused the program manager to send a letter to the company/vendor about quality issues with the deliverables. We ended up having to enlist our legal counsel to pursue legal actions against the program manager who in the end owed us (or their company/vendor) $36k. My role was to oversee the program manager’s deliverables thus I was responsible to wind down the program with that individual, ensure we recovered as much money as we could, pursue legal action by working with legal, log a complaint with BBB, and keep all parties (including supervisor) updated on all developments and progress.
Learned: you have to track and manage all plans, tasks, assets, and financials against a baseline and be able to explain differences no matter how small they may be. I learned to trust my experience (i.e. gut) that if something seemed off, it was worth investigating early. Problems are not like wine: they don’t get better with time.”
What do you do when your time schedule or project plan is upset by unforeseen circumstances? Give an example.
Resourcefulness. To formulate creative alternatives or solutions to resolve problems, to show flexibility in response to unanticipated circumstances.
“Situation: Hurricane Sandy early Nov 2012 - 10 resources scheduled onsite for last push of work before Thanksgiving/Christmas/New years break
Task: I was stressed because my project plan was at risk = kept my composure. Team had key meetings scheduled. Onsite work to be done. Team had deadlines and quarterly bonus to earn. Understandable but a setback if we had canceled work that week.
Action: I came up with a hurricane week plan to let those who were comfortable to travel, to travel, with me organizing and scheduling events and reworking the master plan to maximize onsite time. I presented the plan and risks to my supervisor and then the team for their buy-in and let them know that those who were worried or didn’t want to, could work remotely. I then tracked the flights of those traveling that week and scheduled daily calls and provided remote support and logistics (which public transportation was open, etc.), I reserved rooms at a single hotel for everyone, made sure hotspot and extra battery packs.
Result: incredible! 1/2 team ended up traveling and no one was injured. The customer was ecstatic that we still delivered on time. The team grew closer together through this difficult time.
Lesson: going above and beyond to come up with organized plans and following through on them, adjusting where necessary is a great way to ensure success!”
Tell me about a time when something you tried to accomplish and failed. What did you learn from that failure?
Resourcefulness. To formulate creative alternatives or solutions to resolve problems, to show flexibility in response to unanticipated circumstances.
Scrum project at LU.
How have you most constructively dealt with disappointment and turned it into a learning experience? Please give me a concrete example in your life.
Resourcefulness. To formulate creative alternatives or solutions to resolve problems, to show flexibility in response to unanticipated circumstances.
Miscariages = intensive emotions. The grief cycle affects everyone differently but usually people go through the same stages: Denial. Anger/frustration. Depression. Bargaining. Acceptance.
What kind of problems have people recently called on you to solve? Tell us what you have devised.
Resourcefulness. To formulate creative alternatives or solutions to resolve problems, to show flexibility in response to unanticipated circumstances.
