Q & A
Describe your management style.
While a manager should be able to perform or at least define any task under his supervision, a manager must have competent people to actually get the work accomplished.
When practical, using a team approach allows employees to be involved with the final output or reaching a decision.
Delegating responsibility for specific tasks, especially a task outside the normal responsibilities encourages employees to learn new skills and abilities while promoting pride and "ownership" of a job well done.
While the final decision and responsibility is on the manager, all team members need involvement when ever possible.
Employees are one of the most important assets that a company has and should be treated with respect. Each employee has different motivations, goals, abilities, and personal life. The more a manager knows about an employee, the easier it is to manage and motivate to the company goal.
How do you go about making important decisions?
The best decisions are made with enough time to gather all the facts and data, and include the stakeholders involved.
Sometimes important decisions must be made immediately using only the information at hand. The decision is made using the current information, experience with similar problems, with consideration given to the end result, the target of the decision and any financial implications.
The decision must include cost, scheduling, and customer satisfaction, with the customer as the highest priority.
How do you measure the success of your work?
The first measure of success is customer satisfaction. A satisfied customer, with the product and service that resolved their problem is a repeat customer and good word of mouth advertising.
The second measure is the profitability, not only on each project or sale, but the final overall profitability of the area of responsibility.
A customer is happy when given an excellent product, delivered with great service and this provides the profitability. Providing the product and service that customers want and deserve is the responsibility of not only the manager, but the entire team.
How do you usually handle criticism?
I use it as a learning tool.
Criticism can be based on actual facts or on perceptions and can come from many sources. It is important to listen and understand what the criticism is and what the person providing the criticism expected, and what they think should be done to resolve the problem.
Without fully understanding the criticism, the problem can't be properly addressed. The discussion should be calm and professional, without emotions. If the person providing the criticism is emotional, it's best to let them vent a little without venting back and escalating the problem. Usually after venting, people are more receptive to a calm discussion.
How have your technical skills been an asset?
My technical skills have allowed me to design systems that meet contract specifications by selecting appropriate devices and equipment from different OEMs at the best price and know that the completed installation would perform at or better than the requirements.
My skills also allowed me to function in the sales role by helping the customer determine exactly what their problem was and the proper solution, keeping the customer budget at the forefront. Sometimes this included an installation that was open ended and could be expanded as their budget allowed.
Tell me how you would handle multiple projects in the job.
With several projects and tasks taking place at the same time, being proactive prevented scheduling conflicts and working with the operations team that included project managers and technicians, most problems could be forecast before they became critical.
Proper planning and use of resources can help prevent, but not eliminate most project conflicts.
What did you like most about your last job?
As an area manager I was responsible for all aspects of the area. This included sales, operations, admin. and customer relations.
The variety of responsibilities gave me a chance to improve my abilities in several areas, including area financial control.
As the manager, I was responsible for the area sales quota for new projects and service contracts. This included managing a local sales team, working with the national account team and personal sales. While I didn't actually hold a sales position with commission, I was responsible for total sales and profitability.
I was also involved in the operations including bidding on projects, supervising technicians and project managers, and working with the operations team actually performing service calls, equipment installations, and customer system training.
Bidding on projects included making sure the proposals met the contract specifications, blueprints, and insurance and bonding requirements were met.
What new skills or ideas do you bring to the job that other candidates aren't likely to offer?
Six Sigma certification. While Six Sigma is designed as a team effort to reduce defects and increase production speed with less expense, the tools and functions can and should be applied to every day management to improve products and services.
Why did you leave your last job?
My last day as Area Manager was January 20th, 2006.
I was notified on December 13th, 2005, that because of a corporation structure change from area management to a branch manager concept that my position was going to be eliminated. I had the option to leave any time, but I was asked to stay and assist with the transition.
