Describe a time when you questioned an established practice or thought within an organization. How did your actions create positive change?

As a new hire at [Memorabilia Retailer], I was surprised the company did not have an enterprise-wide information and asset management system; reporting and inventory-management were conducted ad-hoc and manually. Coming from [XYZ Sports],a successful apparel manufacturing company, I could pinpoint areas that were going unaccounted for. Further, the current infrastructure was not scalable to [Memorabilia Retailer]’s growth projections. Despite my initial newbie trepidation, I met with company owners and suggested a business process review, highlighting that a revised process supported by a technology-enabled solution could result in potential efficiencies. While receptive to my idea, they were concerned with expenses, and user acceptance of a new system. Reluctantly, they agreed to let me explore options.

I was excited, albeit a little nervous, about spearheading this project. I interviewed primary users of the proposed upgrade, documenting existing processes and future requirements, and recruited several well-respected salespeople to join my “team”. We knew that to gain traction, the system had to be scalable, and user-friendly. I felt the [Software] software I had used at [XYZ Sports] would be an ideal fit. We worked with [Software] to customize their product and develop system demos for the larger [Memorabilia Retailer] team. Employee feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and with the deal we negotiated, company owners approved the project. Implementation and training were complete in four highly productive months. I knew my initiative was well worth it when [Memorabilia Retailer] owners thanked my team for the significant efficiencies they realized in management reporting, sales force effectiveness, and asset management.