Significant change was made to your team, department or organisation? How did you adjust?
Have you ever been in a situation where significant change was made to your team, department or organisation? How did you adjust?
Answer: The purpose of this question is to check your adaptability and flexibility. Did you feel victimized?
Answer this question by mentioning the change that was made but the main focus should be on how you adjusted in that situation and the results you achieved afterwards.
For example you can say something like, “Being an early joiner in the marketing team, I opened a lot of new customer accounts. Over the time the team grew and we had more people in the team opening more accounts. At one point of time, we had to re-distribute the accounts area wise so that a particular territory can be allotted to each one of us. This re-distribution meant loss of my high performing accounts and a requirement to develop new accounts in the assigned territory. Initially, it looked difficult but I could understand the need for this re-distribution and saw more opportunities for the company and myself. I introduced my colleagues to the old accounts I held and started strategizing for better ways to tap the new territory. Within 6 months, I could develop 50 new accounts with the help of new strategy. Usually we would achieve this result in 9 months to a year.”
Discussion
- RE: Significant change was made to your team, department or organisation? How did you adjust? -Farhana Afreen (07/06/15)
- Do you have it in you to adapt to unexpected changes? Or would you succumb to challenging situations that change the arena where you have been working for long? Your flexibility is questioned so make sure you come out expressing how well you were able to adapt to a certain change previously. Most company seek employees who would gracefully accept changes and adapt well to the new situation without complaining and focusing on ways to get the situation under control - an important trait in a person who claims to be open to challenges. This question is an indirect way of checking if you are really headstrong enough to stay put when situation gets out of hand.
Think back into your work life and try to remember an instance where you were able to adapt very well to changes of any kind. Make sure it is significant enough just as the interviewer mentioned and that you end it up well with how you were able to fit in between the changes in no matter of time.
If you haven't found yourself in any such situation before, tell that honestly. However, you can always add that you are flexible and willing to work under different or changed circumstances as they always have a lot to teach and that you are an ardent leaner from real life instances.
