Interview Story - Took Initiative

My company went through a reorganization. As a result, I was reassigned to a different group, along with two members of my team and some other displaced employees. People were quite unhappy, expecting further layoffs and looking for the exits. Within the first few weeks, my department of ten became a department of seven.

There was also a lot of frustration and staking of territory. Our group’s directive was unclear, individual roles were unclear, and personal preferences weren’t taken into account. I knew I had to fix this fast.

I called a previous boss who had been through this type of reorganization before. He encouraged me to get clarity on our team’s purpose ASAP. He also told me to make sure every member of the team felt heard.

I sat down with each person on my team to better understand who they were, and the roles they could play. I also got in touch with my director and other departments to understand how we could create value.

I sat down with the team to explain what I learned, our stable employment status, and our first project. When a person wasn’t perfectly happy with their role, I shared why I asked them to do this part. They understood this role was temporary and that I heard them.

I’d love to say everything worked perfectly. We ended up facing a lot of friction on that first project, and one more person left. But from there, we were a solid team that stayed together for three years. The group ended up growing to 20. We delivered our projects on time and on budget. I also learned how to take decisive action in a messy situation.