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COMPETENCY #2—MANAGERIAL/LEADERSHIP SKILLS 113

male employees mentioned that their wives made the benefits decisions. He
proposed holding the gathering on a weekend to allow spouses to attend.

Action: As he suggested, the meeting was held to a packed audience

on a Saturday afternoon.

Result: During the presentation, he answered questions and calls to

the office regarding company benefits dramatically decreased as a conse-
quence.

Question 86. Give an example of a time when you delegated a task be-

cause you did not want to do it yourself.

Situation: Regardless of the task involved, each project for which I am

accountable requires the same focus and dedication.

Action: With that in mind, I never pawn off my responsibilities to em-

ployees. I have too much respect for their time. Instead, when there is a task
that I can’t get excited about, I work on it right away.

Result: Doing so allows me to complete the task quickly, check it off

my list, and concentrate on activities that I find more gratifying.

Question 87. Recall a time when you asked for employee feedback

before delegating tasks.

Situation: To determine a clerical employee’s interests, I asked about

her immediate and long-term career goals. She indicated that her passion
was for employee development and training.

Action: Based on this information, I gave her the go-ahead to provide

the training that was a small section of the new employee orientation program.

Result: She soon advanced to creating training catalogs and then to

developing tutorials and manuals on how to use computer applications.

Question 88. Describe an occasion when you divided the functions of

a team among its members.

Situation: At Uniform Exchange, the online sales cycle was longer

than management was comfortable with.

Action: In an effort to close sales at a faster pace, I sourced and im-

plemented online chat software that allowed agents to invite visitors to com-

American Management Association
www.amanet.org