Interview Q&A Flashcards
(37 cards)
Why you, why this role?
o I am passionate about the capacity job family and understand the importance of the role. When I got the opportunity to be apart of the Leadership Networking Circle, I viewed the capacity role as a starting point and to move forward in my career I’d eventually have to shift to the commercial side. It seemed like all the important people sat on the commercial side of the business not to mention I was the only capacity facing employee out of 28 women in my group. Over the course of that year in combination with the last two years as a leader, I’ve come to realize the capacity team is the backbone of who CHR is. We move product, we listen to the voice of the carrier, and we keep our customers happy from point a to point b with the utmost quality and service. I was completely wrong in my thought process and I’ve always aimed to lead my team with the knowledge and awareness that what they do is so important and makes a difference. The general manager position is that on a larger scale. You’re representing one of the largest capacity offices in the network and I would take so much pride in creating a culture of employees who support each other and support this vision that the work we do is important and makes a difference.
What steps did you take to prep?
o I connected with Brian, Krissy, and Brandon as well as Lynn to understand their day-to-day and how that is different from my own. We discussed challenges, importance of network, and future capacity strategy. Reflected on my time in my current position and made sure the things I liked to do aligned with this new position, so it made sense. After speaking with them and gaining a better understanding, this is what I want and I want to take on more and continue leading this team.
Major differences? why are they attractive?
Not managing people at the desk, you have a different sense of empathy towards employees.
Messages are molded to the larger team and the messages I receive at a GM level are very clear cut – break those down and make them attractive to the broader team.
Commercial engagement – pulled into many commercial conversations that can be customer facing. Be able to articulate CHR’s capacity brand and why we are the best choice.
o Why do those differences make this position attractive to you?
I am excited to take on more and I would with eyes wide open.
I have a great understanding of the team and feel I could handle articulating our broader message to this group knowing their history and how they work/what the appreciate.
I do know commercial engagement and speaking to customers would be a learning curve, but I already have a great understanding of our commercial partners and know them well after these last two years. I think they would trust my thoughts and points of view while also feeling comfortable on giving me feedback of where I can improve in these conversations – I have thick skin so I can handle whatever feedback they throw at me.
Definition of leadership? What traits does a great leader posses?
o Motivates, inspires, and communicates the broader vision in a way that is embraced by the larger team. They persist through challenges, willing to get creative and try new ideas to evolve, and willingness to make mistakes. They empower their teams to take on more and ensure the team is rowing in the same direction. Most importantly they exude passion and communicate that the work the team is doing is essential and important.
o What traits does a great leader possess?
Resilience – ability to bounce back
Lead by example
Active listener
Clear communicator
Inclusive and empathetic
Describe a time you’ve had a positive impact on someone?
o MORELIND (commercial) – remained calm when there was conflict and she emailed me after saying she respects my ability to not get heated and is going to try and lead with that moving forward. o Carrier who ran one load per day, 90% of the do a great job, missed 1 pickup. o Nasty email asking us to remove the carrier all together and the reps communication is terrible. o I met with the rep, explained the nature of the customer and why communication is so important but with that being said, he does a great job and here’s an opportunity to level set with your carrier partner so we get even better service. o Reponses back with a calm email noting the changes we will make in our service and working on a recovery option.
We are always looking to improve the carrier relationship with CHR. What challenges do we still have with our carrier experience? What barriers do we face towards creating a world class experience for our carriers?
o General customer service – we’ve greatly improved, but we can never lose sight of answering the phone and being a fantastic steward of the CHR brand. Our people will always differentiate us from our competition.
o Matching internal and external experience – every customer is treated differently therefore carriers know they have the option to shop around. If we paid a market based (hopefully profitable rate) across the board, I do believe carriers would be more inclined to remain in the CAP program and work with a specific rep which in turn would make this very carrier centric.
o Updated compensation models. We are creating fantastic platforms that are beloved amongst the carrier community. I hear about BIN all the time yet, we get stuck in our own way and some are challenging the evolution as they feel it’s taking away from their personal benefit. We need the right people on the team who sell in favor of these tools that ultimately are shaping CHR for the better.
What is your approach to change? As a manager, how would you support a culture that is open to change?
Change is inevitable and I believe our teams have done a fantastic job of adapting to that change over the past two years. As a leader it comes down to how you communicate the change so the team understands it’s only going to help them, not hurt them.
Where do you see the team in 2 years?
o 90+ reps
o Clearly defined roles and expectations (strategic vs. traditional brokerage – both add immense value)
o This team is unique – BIN group. Clearly defined SOPs and a process that pushes potential leads to a team that can then sell to those carriers strategically.
o What does success look like? Does candidate display vision/or a growth plan?
In simple terms – more efficient per person. How do we get our average from 16.5 loads/person/day to 20.
• Clear expectations – done, just apply them further especially when return to work.
• Commercial / capacity engagement – willingness to work together especially through times of change.
• Willingness to try new creative processes, evolve or fail, fail fast and learn from it with something new in mind.
• Positive culture across the team
Benefits and challenges of virtual team?
o Benefits:
Cost efficient
Larger talent pool if you’re willing to hire into this virtual team
Easily scalable – don’t need to necessarily put in more desks or office space. They take care of this at home.
Job satisfaction / healthy work/life balance – we needed some sort of flexibility. I love coming into the office, but I understand others don’t for a variety of reasons. Over the past year many have said, they are so much happier as they can spend more time with their families and save time on their commute.
o Challenges:
Communication style - Process change comes through much more authentic through leading by example on the floor rather than through email communication.
Lack of structure and distrust – 8/10 employees who opt to work at home have done a great job. But if you have 10% of your workforce who is disengaged in the last two hours of the day, it can break your performance goals.
Slow response times – Much more engaged at the office
Lack of office culture – You don’t get to know your team, peer-to-peer interaction. Manager is handing every issue.
Employees look to their leaders to address and successfully handle tough situations or challenges. Please tell us about the toughest decision you have had to make, and what was at stake.
Furlough covid - new hire vs. 2 year employee who had a 1 performance rating
Provide an example of when you’ve been successful in helping a sales employee advance in their career.
ROOTHEA, SANDJOHN, THOMDYL
What do you think is the most effective way to motivate and reward capacity employees?
Compensation models that align with company goals and individual models.
How to you approach and resolve conflict?
o Always calm, cool, and collected. I’m not afraid of conflict because it’s inevitable in any organization that is creative and progressive we are going to have points of friction when we’re trying to achieve something, but with that being said, I’m never willing to create a fight out of it because that makes us less efficient and creates a poor culture.
o Starts with a high level, objective approach. Gather the facts and aim to come up with a solution that is best for the enterprise and the external customer and carrier. We have a ton of rules in place in the capacity job family, but I’ve always coached my team to handle conflict and rule disputes with common sense. Yes, the rule may say this, but what is best for the organization. I ask them does it align with our values and goals that uphold brand of MPLS capacity? My team knows one of my non-negotiables is to always treat someone with respect and not create a fight out of it.
o When I think of conflict, there is always a solution that can be found through kindness and understanding of a differing perspective, and with those two values in mind, the commercial team has really grown to respect a lot of decisions that both I and the team make on the fly without asking their approval.
Give me an example of a time where you handled conflict and created a positive outcome for all parties?
VASEJOD Carrier alignment
issue that occurred, handled it fairly, outcome
How do you manage performance?
Set clear, concise, and straight forward expectations that align to our enterprise strategy while balancing the strategy of one’s paycheck (ultimately why reps are here).
Utilize our reports to spot check performance on a regular basis.
• Celebrate wins – big or small
• Monthly check ins – not traditional emaps but informal check points to see what is new in their business and ask questions if I see something shift.
Consistent performance management for underperformers. Bi-weekly check ins twice with specific goals, if not hit or progress, move them to a standard PIP with clear goals for the next three months typically avg. volume 2 load increase per month.
Example of underperformer
Erik Meyer
Sean Tillman
David Feightinger
How do you expect to separate and remove yourself from the minutia of the day to day tasks and transition to more of a leadership mentality?
Have the right leaders on the team who you trust to take on the day-to-day desk level interaction. I believe Brian trusts us greatly in our role and gives us the autonomy to performance manage and run our teams as we best see fit. With confidence in the leadership team, it would allow me to remove myself and engage in more commercial facing conversations which ultimately go back to the desk level so it’s essential I am engaged in those on a regular basis.
Share with me an example of something you’ve done or created that improved process with the team. What was the situation, what was your improvement, how did you implement it, who was affected, what was the result?
o I love getting creative and thinking of ways to improve our team structure, so everyone is on the same page.
PTO in 2020 – it got completely out of hand in early 2020 due to the lack of work and lack of structure that came with remote work and covid. People were utilizing their pto and we found ourselves with way too many people out on a regular basis.
• Problem – three managers, no access to view who is out on the other teams. Team had no visibility and was over requesting because there was no process in place. When PTO was denied it got very emotional.
• Teams – teams channel with PTO calendar. 9 people out per day, once your PTO is approved rep is responsible for putting it on the calendar. If there are already 9 people listed, you can assume your PTO will be denied pending circumstances.
• Our team initially was not happy about the 9 total – unfair
• Implemented it and it’s still used today as our process. Some members on the team don’t love the process, but it’s as clear and transparent as it comes. They have the autonomy to reach out to their peers to change dates and that happens more often than I think.
• Takes away the emotion and managers no longer have to communicate on a regular basis what # we have out of the office and whether or not we can request something.
What development opportunities Do you have? What do you need to work on?
o Removing myself from the desk/delegation – I have garnered so much trust with my team and I know the messages would continue to flow in. It’s not to say that I will be unavailable but I have to be willing to allow the incoming manager if hired to take on the role with his/her flavor and establish their own trust with their reps.
o Commercial presentation – Share my thoughts and voice in high level meetings. I’m naturally soft spoken but that’s not to say I don’t have opinions and ideas. I don’t really like to talk just to simply talk, I want to make sure my words are impactful and relevant. With that, I know I’d go into these conversations with eyes wide open and willingness to soak up any feedback that comes my way – thick skin.
What are two of your strengths and how would you leverage them in the role of GM?
o Calm and stable personality. Leading a team of 80+ people comes with a lot of emotion. Everybody comes from a different walk of life and has their own issues whether work or personal related. I am understanding and empathetic, yet very calm in any situation I am up against.
o Great communicator – more so active listener. Messages are high level; opportunities are constantly coming your way. Digest those, reword them, and send them out to the broader team in a motivating and clear way.
o True to my words – consistent.
Why are you the best candidate for this role?
o I never like to say I’m the best, there are a lot of fantastic people for this role and that’s why I love working for Robinson – we employee capable and smart people who are great to be around.
o Why do I think I could be a great fit – My calm and level-headed nature. This role deals with a lot of different stakeholders and I am always kind and calm with my approach.
Established trust with the team – they know me, and I think for the most part it’d be a seamless transition. They are rooting for me.
Understanding of commercial partners – challenging group with high impact customers
BIN / ops team –
I could name a ton of different ways I am different from someone else, but ultimately, I love Robinson and have grown to have a passion for what we do on the capacity side of the business. The job is not easy, but creating cohesive teams, positive compensation models, and fantastic cultures makes the hard work worth it and I believe I can continue with those basics goals in mind and progress the team forward.
Describe a situation in which you were able to positively influence the actions of others in a desired direction?
- I was able to positively influence the perception of the capacity job family, especially our team, amongst our aligned commercial peers. When the offices were split, many commercial partners felt as if they were on an island and we were not taking accountability to help cover their high impact customers, many of which have made our team a lot of money. There was some animosity towards our group and coming in, I knew I wanted to gain their trust and alter their perspective of our team for the better.
- I will fully admit I was intimidated by that group, and while I will admit my nerves were at an all time high during some of our conversations, I never let my positivity and willingness to help waver. I answered their questions, joined standups, had members of our team reach out to account coordinators each day at 9am basis to see what they can help with and ultimately I am really proud of how far the two teams have come, not to mention, I’ve gotten to know most of the managers from that group and we all have a fantastic relationship – one in which they can give me honest feedback on where are teams can improve and vice versa so we can ultimately win together.
What are the three effective leadership qualities you think are important? Give examples of how you have demonstrated these qualities in your current team.
- Lead by example (front line obsession): You can’t coach hard work, nor can you be an agent of change if you don’t have a good understanding of the new tool or process and you use them in your day to day. When on the floor, I am sitting with my employees, understanding the desk level challenges, and listening to feedback. When I have a spare moment, I hop on the phone and call on must go freight at any hour of the workday. I aim to create a culture of drive, hard work, and kindness through my day to day interactions on the floor which in turn can be emulated on the floor by our team.
- Active listener: I don’t have all the answers/and I like to think of myself as self-aware in that I don’t know everything. When I approach a meeting with an employee on my team, I always aim to listen more than I talk, and listen with a sense of sincerity and my full attention. I have learned that challenging conversations are way more impactful when a rep gets to the root cause of their issues and admits fault rather than me pointing fingers. From there we talk together to map out a plan of progression together.
- Strong communicator – Communication is key especially when leading a large team. I oftentimes must take high level goals and visions of our leaders and reiterate those down to the desk level in an understandable way. In any townhall that I lead with our team, I completely change the notes so it comes from the heart and the team buys into the why.
As a leader, what is your strategy to develop rapport and trust? Give an example.
- Desk level experience: Done the role at a high level for four years
- Transparency and honest feedback on a regular basis. Coaching in real time
- Availability – no question is a bad question
- Admit mistakes and when I don’t know the answer I’m willing to ask for help from my peers but also my team.
- Personal interest in growth and success.
- John Sanda and Dylan Thompson – strong talent, dedicated to Robinson, but skillsets aligned with a different job family.
- Getting them to like me. We have fun at the office. We listen to music, talk about weekend plans, grab HH. While I’m focused on the goals of Robinson, I’m also a human and enjoy getting to know the people I work with on a regular basis. Work is no fun if you don’t like who your surrounded by, so I try to always be a solid, levelheaded, and engaging leader the team can laugh with and trust with any issues big or small.
- EXAMPLE: new hires, I always have them shadow me a few times per week in the first two months. They see me do the job successfully.
- EXAMPLE: my to-do list. When someone asks me something I put it on my to-do list. I can’t check off that item till I give them a response back.
