Describe a recent professional or academic experience in which you have taken an active leadership role and the impact it had on your organization. One of the things I like most about the company I work for now is the organizational culture. We work in teams in a supportive environment that encourages creative thinking. My supervisors have a transformational leadership style that has rubbed off on me, helping me overcome my initial shyness. When I was given the opportunity to be in charge of the Nestle account, I knew it was my time to shine. In fact, my supervisor said exactly that when she handed over leadership of the project to me. It was the first time I was appointed team leader. My supervisor placed her trust and confidence in me, and through this experience I have been able to properly delegate responsibilities to other team members in ways that have led to tangible results and happy clients.

Nestle approached us for a needs assessment. They were upgrading two analytics systems simultaneously, something that I thought would be too ambitious. Several other members of the team thought as much, too, and we pondered the predicament. Our supervisor was adamant that we were not to argue with the client and simply figure out a way to meet Nestle’s needs. Thus challenged from the outset, I thought positively and brainstormed all day and night about possible solutions. Putting myself in the client’s shoes, I understood Nestle’s need for implementing these technological changes as quickly as possible. Every second counts, from their perspective. As a numbers person, though, I needed to run some initial assessments on their overall recent performance in certain key strategic areas. I also knew than Devon, one of the members of our team, had trouble accepting to any idea unless there were numbers involved. So for his sake as well as my own, I ran some initial number crunching. Finally, we had some hard data. I did a lot of this work in my own free time,...

Bringing the quantitative reports to our team also did a lot to raise morale. Before this, many members of the team were noticeably upset and discouraged, feeling like the company was asking too much of us, and fearing that I would be the “fall boy.” It was almost as if listening to their fears helped to erase my own. I became determined to succeed.
Therefore, I set out to create a specific action plan with small reachable goals. I knew I could not demand that anyone work more than they already were, so I simply asked that anyone who was interested come meet me after work so we could complete the project as quickly as possible. I anticipated roadblocks, and did not want to waste any time. First, I completed a more comprehensive needs assessment as the client asked. I also delegated the task of writing the report to a junior member of our team who was an intern that year. She is a good writer, and one whose communication style worked well for the client. The client was already satisfied with our progress, and this gave us an initial boost of confidence.

However, the client then noted they mainly wanted us to focus on the past performance of a technical training program, including participant assessment. They could then use this information to improve their proposed technical training programs in multiple departments including sales, inventory, and procurement. We had to quickly scramble and switch gears. Sarah was flustered. She does not deal well with sudden changes to plan, and prefers a rigid schedule. To help alleviate her stress, I worked one-on-one with her to show that the new focal point of our project was not much different than it was before, especially as the “big picture” issues were still the same. She understood, and the tension was dissipated soon. Another small conflict that arose was interpersonal in nature, as one member of the team was frequently questioning my decisions and undermining morale. I also used…