Describe a time when you had to motivate a reluctant individual or group.

Sample One

Many of my projects require historical sales data collection from client’s Information Technology (IT) system to analyze and assess the impact of previously used marketing strategies. At global companies data collection can become a complex exercise, highly dependent on client IT support and critical to meeting project deadlines. I was faced with a similar situation at a leading automotive manufacturer. My first meeting with Michael, client IT manager, was productive and I was confident in our ability to obtain quantitative data to support our analysis.

Although Michael was willing to share the complexities of client IT systems, he was very reluctant when it came to sharing actual data. The reason for the reluctance was job security. The client had recently incurred enormous losses, and laid off 10% of its workforce, many of them from the IT department. Insecure about their jobs; the IT personnel were no longer willing to part from years of gained knowledge, especially to a consultant. Also, Michael was burdened with additional responsibilities of his laid off peers and was averse to devoting time to our project. Faced with slipping deadlines, I decided to address Michael’s fears.

At a one-on-one meeting, I explained to Michael that my objective was not to gain an expertise in IT systems but rather use his knowledge to develop business recommendations. I also shared with him our long term plans of implementing a pricing software tool and the critical role he would play in its implementation. Michael realized that contrary to his initial impression, the success of the project would secure his future within the company. After the meeting, data started to trickle in and Michael began sharing data insights. Impressed with our team’s work ethics and sharp learning curve Michael started taking an active interest in the project. To provide Michael with further visibility, I invited him to project steering committee meetings where I attributed our quantitative insights to Michael and highlighted his invaluable role in the project. The efforts proved fruitful. By the middle of the project Michael was keenly sharing knowledge and insights that could have been only provided by an enthused and integral team member. The project’s success can be judged by the fact that we have sold two subsequent projects to the client, the latest being a $2.5MM pricing software implementation, with Michael as client IT lead.

Sample Two

Last year, my current employer ZeroWire Communications was faced with a challenge. One of our top-selling products was failing with our customers. This product failure was of great distress to management because the device accounted for $5 million in annual revenue, a significant amount for a mid-size company. Management was extremely concerned that a product failure would tarnish our reputation for impeccable quality and reliability. My group had designed the failing product in early 2000, but our chief designer was busy with another project at the time these failures were reported. Due to the urgent nature and importance of the project for our company, I took on the responsibility to spearhead the product failure issue. My preliminary investigation showed that changes in our manufacturing process had caused these failures. In order to avoid further risk of strained customer relationships, I proposed that we should put the entire inventory on hold and purge our stockroom of the defective product.

My group was frustrated by the decision and wanted to simply make some small changes to reduce the customer resistance to our product. At the same time, management was reluctant to put the entire inventory on hold because the decision could cost us significant revenue and business opportunities. To inspire the team and improve everyone’s poor morale, I appealed to the team’s sense of pride in their work. The engineering staff in particular was interested in creating the most high quality product in the marketplace, and I reminded them that the customer opinion of our product was paramount to our reputation. I convinced management by appealing to a core strategic business argument. I argued that the continued shipment of failed devices had a greater risk of tarnishing our reputation and could result in a greater long-term revenue loss, as customers would be hesitant to purchase our products in the future. I maintained my position that benefiting our short-term financial bottom line would be at the expense of our company’s long-term interests.

Management realized the extent of the problem, appreciated my analyses, and halted further shipments. Realizing the importance of saving our existing business, yet also realizing it would be impossible to fix the existing problem in time to please our current customers, it was necessary to replace our defective product with an entirely new one. For the next two months, our team worked to develop the new product while communicating with customers and our management.

The process of creating a new product brought the team together again, and ultimately the team realized it was the best course of action and remained steadfast, which paid off in the end. My ability to see the big picture of the business had a large impact on my company. We were unable to fix the problem with our existing product. However, we replaced our customers’ inventories and assembly lines with the new product. Our customers appreciated the new design solution and our company increased its revenue. Over two million units of this new product have been sold since its inception. Most importantly, our company was able to sustain partnerships with customers and live up to our commitment to excellent quality and reliability.