Integrating Behaviorals in SHARE Stories:
The “E”of Your Share Story
Below are four share stories as examples, these are based on the competencies of teamwork, approachability, leadership and thinking. As you read through these samples think about the competencies/brands that are being discussed. Remember, to get to the point of a purposeful mentioning of your competencies/brand you will be going through the entire SHARE and it does not matter if you are talking about, P&L, improving profitability, or process re-engineering, etc: THERE IS NOTHING THAT HAPPENS ON A JOB THAT DOES NOT REQUIRE SOME KIND OF HUMAN INTERACTION! Your competencies are your brand!!
The following should provide you with a framework as you develop your share stories. Many candidates tend to forget to get to the heart of the matter, results. Rarely, do any of them speak about the behavioral competencies that make them succeed. This is an opportunity to set oneself apart. By developing SHARE stories that contain each part of the S-H-A-R-E, your responses will have far more impact and set the interviewer’s mind for understanding the scope of your challenges.
Teamwork:
Question: It has been said that one of the best ways to mange people is to teach them to manage themselves. Tell me about a time when you contributed to team’s ability to become self-directed?
S-situation/problem:
When I joined my last company I inherited a team which was consideredtalented and experienced, but was not pulling together.
H- hindrance/challenge:
During my experience with a number of challenging teams, I recognized that one of the keys to bring a team together was dealing with goal congruence, which is the overlap between individual goals and group objectives.
A-actions: My first action was to letthe team knowthe importance of matching individual goals to the overall department objectives. I accomplished this through individual meetings in which I focused on each member’s interests and strengths. Then as a group, I discussed the overall objectives and pointed out how personal interests and strengths would be used, I call this leader facilitation. Also I focused on confronting any negative attitudes that surfaced. Last I encouraged each member to challenge any of my thoughts or decisions impacting the team. That really brought the team together.
R-results: Those continuing actions resulted in the team not only meeting the department’s goal of increasing sales annually by $1,000,000, but gained an additional $335,000. It also led to early problem solving as the team felt free to come to me on any issue.
E- evaluation:I have learned to develop a high level of perceptivity in my team’s activitiesas it is important for me to recognize verbal and non verbal behavior, as that allows me to identify potential problems quickly. Participating with the staff to mange themselves through having the knowledge of personal goals and how these are meet though group activity was key in bringing the group together. My participative management style consistently has produced effective teams.
Follow up question: Does this type of style fit at XYZ?
Competencies/brand shown: Participative management, confronting attitudes, communication, listening, early problem solving, shows task and people concern, able to create common goals and this results in high morale and group commitment to goals and objectives.
Approachability:
Question: Tell me about a time when you spent the extra time to put another at ease?
S-situation: I had a situation involving an up and coming employee who was transferred into my department; she was junior to the existing staff but had somekey skills.
H-hindrance: The challenge was actually in two directions, one was to get her comfortable with current staff and her gaining acceptance of the existing group.
A-actions: I have a good sense for sizing up people and felt that she did not have a clear picture of her strengths and how they could be enhanced through the activities with others. I took the time to put her at ease, by discussing the department objectives and how she would impact other. This effort began to build an appropriate level of rapport between her and the rest of the team. I made it clear that I was ready and available to help as I could show that I was in tune with her sensitivities. One large key to my success in this effort was that I am the type of manager who provides information people need to know to do their jobs and then I get out of the way and that serves to help all become a good member of the team.
R-results:
She soon realized that she had a mature problem solving attitude and that others around her could be helpful if she would let them. It was not long before others began to seek her out when they were dealing with stressful situations and she became a key member of the staff.
E-evaluation: As I look back, Iam reminded of the extra time and effortI take to putothers at ease. It is a matter of being sensitive to what is said, why it is being said and by using diplomacy and tact I can show that I value people. The end result is people enjoy coming to me because I will give them the time to discuss whatever and by doing that it is easy to get any team member to buy into and take ownership of their work.
Follow up question: Would this type of approach be useful in the position we are speaking about?
Competencies/brand shown: Informing, sensitive and patient, building rapport, listening, provides feed back, being diplomatic, and can deal with interpersonal anxieties, responsive to people and can establish common points of interest
Leadership:
This competency is seen on virtually every executive resume. However, candidates often do not discuss leadership competency/brand effectively. It would seem that most people feel that their position level and achievements means leadership, but do not see the human side of that skill. There is no right way, nor is there only one way to influence others, everything but everything comes into play. There is a healthy combination of interpersonal, communication, presentation and assertiveness that make up effective leadership.
Leadership is thought to be in the business world as influencing, motivating, and enabling others towards success.
Question: Discuss an example of a time when you used persuasion with a group?
S-situation: I was promoted to the CEOposition, at XYZ,a promotion from within.
H-hindrance: Two of the keyDivision Heads were candidates for the CEO positionand it was important for me to reconnect with them, through discussing our vision and objectives and how these related to them.
A-actions: My first action was to meet with each individual with the goal of taking each of their viewpoints of our future and our vision into consideration. I laid out a strategy ofhow we would develop our customer satisfaction levels by consistently meeting our customer needs, better then our competition. I laid out an idea of our customer growth which was to implement a thought pattern involving, what, why, who, when, where and how. This effort led to lifting the Division Heads thoughts of our vision to a higher level. I set up a monthly review function where we could review and act on opportunities as well as the application of our strengths.
Another focus of my meetings with the Division Heads was to recognize the individual strengths and hot buttons of each person andI discussed with them how theirinterests and strengths would cause us to meet corporate objectives.
R-result: As a result, all division heads recognized that we had a shared vision. We enjoyed $1.6 million in profit growth over 10 months, we generated $2.5 million in hard orders that kept the company's vision on track of achieving$5.5 million of new sales over 5 years, we were able to cut expenses by $756,000, with no lost of staff, and we had a team that was working together and supporting each other.
E-evaluation: To me leadership is being influential, the only way this can happen is to know what turns people on and the ability to identify a person’s core interest and relate it to corporate objectives. By exhibiting dedication to the teams success creates inspiration. Cooperating and collaborating and listening play key roles and exhibiting a high degree of interpersonal savvy along with political savvy and the ability to deal with issues factually spells success in influencing an individual or a group towards meeting objectives.
Follow up question: How do these thoughts of myactions and success fit your needs?
Competencies/branding shown: leading involves being able to create common sense visions, to exercise a sensitive degree of interpersonal savvy, I can be seen as trustful and truthful I allow myself to be challenged by my staff, dealing with ambiguity, Collaboration is critical and , ability to inspire are the keys in this success,
Our last example of using the SHARE structure covers the difficult topic of executive intelligence which is considered to be conceptual thinking. Executive intelligence is a key to selling yourself.
There are several thoughts on intelligence, but we must face one key fact, there is not much that you can think of, that goes on in the world which does not require thinking; thinking “outside” of oneself and thinking “about” oneself. It is clear that the success or failure of a business or project depends on the quality of thinking that occurs. When you look at information in books and lectures on the topic of executive intelligence you will see and hear things such as conceptual thinking, sound judgment, business smarts and business acumen. Justin Menkes has been one of the leading researchers on executive intelligence and his research of leadership boils down to someone with great computation, deduction reasoning, and cognitive skills. This further breaks down into, tasks, the ability to define a problem, the ability to identify priority issues and superior assessment skills. It is someone who understands multiple perspectives and can anticipate emotional reactions of employees. i.e. others. As you read this begin to think of all the points that can be made if you show those thoughts beingkeys to your success.
Dick Cavett asked, Miss Welch, “Do you ever have time to just sit and think?” Miss Welch replied, “Yes …but I am not very good at it”.
There must be more to thinking than just having time for it!
So let’s consider a question in the area of thinking.
Question: Tell me about a time when you were faced with a thinking challenge under pressure?
That question sounds like you are asking about problem solving which requires the ability to think and reason.
S-situation: When I joined Cleveland National Bank as the Division head of Employment, Training, Cafeteria and Medical departments I started on Tuesday and Wednesday morning the Director of HR came to me and told me I was making a presentation to the Chairman of the Board at the Union Club the following Saturday. He said he would be out of town and would see me at the meeting. I was to present a historical picture and future picture of my departments, and of cost/value of services provided.
H-hindrance: I barely knew the names of the department heads and had absolutely no idea as to the past or future of their departments, had not seen their budgets and have never had a meeting with them as a group; talk about putting a thinking cap on, that was it, in spades.
A-actions: I first attacked the analytical side of the problem and that was to educate myself in the mindset of theChairman and the bank. From my studies of the two latest annual reports it was clear that the Chairman was totally interested in the cost of service in relation to returns. So I knew I would have to develop financial data on the total cost of these departments and relate those costs to value to the bank. Secondly, the bank had the reputation of being an innovator. So in my developing of information I was going to present information and ideas that reflect unique contributions and develop some novel opportunities for each of the departments. Last and of great importance, was the matter of conceptualizing, using all of the above data to present future plans. Throughout this thinking process all of the department heads were involved, as a group. Think about how that action brought us together! They bought in quickly as I was able to get them to recognize my dedication, being results oriented my interest in them and being a good coach and having the ability to ask the right questions. This allowed them to gather data quickly and feed it back to me in a usable form, so no time was lost.
R-Result: The Chairman said, you are new to the organization and have been able to capture what we are about, good job of reasoning, and he didn’t even smile. My department became a team instantly and our first year projections were right on target and expense’s were cut by $18,700 with no lost of service.
E. The question you pose is a very interesting because to be successful in any area of thinking you have to divide the problem into smaller parts and have the ability to be thinking of and asking the right questions. Exhibiting insightis critical, when a sudden solution comes to mind it can be recognized as a practical solution you know it is right and sequential thinking is also important because you have to know how to go step by step in putting the entire process together. I feel my results support these thoughts and demonstrate three areas of thinking. Have you ever been surprised like that?
Competencies indicated: this is an example of when you can cite the competencies up front. What is meant by that is that you actually told your listener what skills came into play as you went through the challenge? Too often we think our listener is getting a message and they are not, so this is an example of how to tell them up front. It is clear that, analytical, conceptual and innovative thinking is presented, along with staff involvement and that indicates how you manage affairs. Taking time to think about what another executive is interested in is another message that has value.
Ron Venckus, Author-Consultant
Co- Author ofWhy Shouldn't We Hire You? A book written for the many job seekers who are in serious need of learning how to prepare for and manage a successful interview by reducing stress and selling their likeability factor.
A Senior Behavioral Interview Consultant with Stewart Cooper Coon, Placing Executives-Achieving Results