Interview management

Conflict project

'My experiences lead me to believe that every conflict is different and should be resolved in a way that fits the situation. There's no one size fits all solution to conflicts within a team. The main thing that I focus on is understanding the root of the problem so that I can take further actions and resolve the conflict in the most efficient and effective way possible. For example, in one of my most recent projects, there occurred a situation where a conflict arose between two employees about the best way to approach new policies. Even though Employee A had been with the organization longer, employee B had far more experience. However, Employee B had been working on the project since kick-off, and since they both had great ideas, I scheduled a meeting with both of them to discuss both sides and work our way towards the test method to go with. At the end of the meeting, everybody agreed to adopt the strategy of the Employee B while incorporating some of the ideas of Employee A. Furthermore, the Employee A would be more involved in the tests to ensure all set targets would be met.'

Conflict Management

Conflict in the workplace exists that is inevitable and doesn't have to be a negative thing when handled properly it actually can be beneficial. When there are different personalities and come from different backgrounds. At my previous job, two employees would openly argue. I asked them to discuss this matter in the conference room because they were disrupting the area. I asked that one person speak at a time and to not interrupt one another in order to express how they were feeling. My goal was not to tell anyone they were right or wrong but to reason with a solution. Based on what they discussed it was a miscommunication. I asked that next time communicates with one another if you needed to step out so that this doesn't happen again. I followed up within two weeks with them separately to see if things had resolved and they seemed to believe it did.

Giving Feedback:

Giving Feedback: The employee was struggling to understand the job task and unfortunately made an error that resulted in a certificate being canceled. The individual whose certificate was canceled due to an admin error was upset and was told that he would be financially liable since there was a pay incentive attached to the certificate. I took charge of the situation explained that unfortunately that their time did not equate to earning the certificate and that we have had a conversation with the employee to ensure this doesn't happen again. I then had a one on one with the employee "I'm glad we're taking the time to check in. I feel like you haven't been as happy at work lately. How do you feel? Is there something I can do to help you have a better experience here?" He expressed to me that he felt like he was failing and I encouraged him by letting him know everyone makes mistakes just be weary next time as your actions may have repercussions and to slow down.

Team Work

Had a coworker who I was depending on reports and he constantly told me that he would not be able to get it to me on time when the deadline was about to hit. Which impacted my ability to my job which was other the data and analyze in excel. I respected him so I scheduled time to meet with him and took my concerns directly to him. I showed empathy with him and said that I acknowledged that he had so much on his plate and that he was working hard. I was direct and wanted to discuss the three deadlines we set and didn't meet. I told him When you don't get me the reports on time it delays the entire process and it takes me several hours to adjust the schedule. How can we resolve this. He opened up to me and told me that he chasing down the information for the report So we came up with a streamline solution where we submit a form with every report request which resulted in him putting off the report and getting the reports on time.

Why POST

I am glad you asked. I first applied to the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training because I resonated with the POST mission and values. I knew I wanted to work for an organization that had a reputation both nationally and internationally. Now with the passing of senate bill 2 have the ability to

Implement policy regulation

I began to see grey areas that did not provide clarity in some cases and realized that some of the grey areas within the regulations allowed for people to argue that their certificates were warranted when they were not. For example, there was an officer who was employed by a private entity but received their peace officer powers by appointing them as a reserve office through a local sheriff's office by an MOU Memorandum of Understanding. Officers believed that their time at the Private entity could be seen as experience for general certificates. This allowed us to refine the regulation to be more specific and allowed us to specify, a private entity regardless of an MOU could not be allowed. The outcome is to prevent confusion or contestation regarding what is allowed and what is not.

Tell us about your strategies to perform well under pressure and meet deadlines.

I pride myself on accomplishing deadlines I believe that I have a great system in place. The first thing I do when I have to meet deadlines is a to-do list to keep track of everything I need to accomplish. Once I have my to-do list I prioritize the tasks by categories, category A is high priority items closest to the deadline, Category B is medium Priority, and Category C which is a low priority which means items that are low risk or have low consequences - responding to emails, or responding to calls. I also like to have soft deadlines so that if any unforeseen emergencies arise, I still have enough time for the hard deadline.

Please tell us about a judgement call you had to make as a manager that went wrong or didn't have the desired effect. How did you handle it and what did you learn from it that you have, or will, use in the future?

I recall a time when I was in the middle of a project when a deadline was fast approaching. I had an employee come and ask me for time off that was short notice. I took a glance at the calendar and saw two time off request and told the employee no without much discussion. After the employee was really upset and went to upper management and felt unheard. After that, I learned that I should have explained why I was saying no. Explaining like two other people have vacations that day, and I would not have any staff for that day if you took it off and I feel like the conversation would have ended better and prevented the employee to feel unheard.

Delegating effectively

In a previous role I was working on a project where members were out on a leave and this was going to impact the project we were working for as they were experienced staff, we also had a strict time line. Since I needed to get help, I reached out to my supervisors and asked if we can use other members in our unit that could assist in the project. It was my job to delegate the task and get the up to speed on the project. I followed a three step plan for delegating staff first i sat down with both of the new members on the project and explained the project outline and explained the project, why this the project was important to our stakeholders, and what steps were needed to be completed. I then explained the tasks each individual needed to complete in detail and which was send out a compile survey questions to ask training coordinators, create survey monkey, send the survey to our training coordinators, analyze the data received in excel, then finally report findings to upper management. Once I explained the task I asked what everyone was comfortable doing and not comfortable doing and the task that no one choose was analyzing the data, I took on that role. I explained the timelines and finally I held a short question and answers session to make sure they understood the task at hand.

Tell me about yourself

Thank you for inviting me to be interviewed for this role. I earned my bachelors degree in sociology which has allowed me to gain the skills set to analyze and critically think. I learned how to analyze both quantitative and qualitative data which I have been able to utilize in my career. I started my career as a public servant at the department of General Services where I subrogated automobile insurance claims for the entire state of california. I was very successful in that role where I was the highest-earning subrogation analyst and received the largest check from an uninsured motorist. I created process improvement and submitted proposals to streamline efficiency and increase revenue. I left before I was able to see the outcome of the project but the management team seemed very optimistic. I accepted the AGPA position here at POST in the certificates unit, and at the time I came the unit had a siginigicant backlog. I was able to learn my job within a month and began to work on process improvement within my role. I quickly started to delgate task and create a streamline process that help significant reduce the back log I have been working towards becoming a manager and a leader for some time. I have attended numerous training courses and coaching development courses to enhance my skills. Recently, I have been asked to be the lead of my unit. I believe my manager believed in my ability to lead my team and take initiative in matters related to certification. Additionally, i have had the great privilege to work with great managers throughout my career that allowed me to adopt their strengths, and learned from there mistakes from that I was able to adapt my own management style. I believe for this role i posses the necessary skill and knowledge where i can make immediate and long lasting impact on POST. I am not afraid to make difficult decisions or have difficult conversation. Key highlights of my career include implementing process improvement, taking initiative to complete task, finding solutions before problems arise. Because I am confident in my leadership style i am able to put the needs of the organization first to ensure that the work of my team is at a high standard by setting expectation early on. I am able to encourage staff to achieve the strategic vision and develop my team to its full potential. In addition, I have been elected the role of chief financial officer for a non profit that displays my commitment to serving my local community where I have the privilege of having earned their integrity to manage all of the finances of the organization. I would like the role of a manager because i want that level of responsibility that comes with leading a team. I want to be in a role where i can influence the success of POST as i believe i have shown this far in my career.

Weakness

There are times when I have to remember that although I'm the leader and ultimately responsible for the success or failure of a project, that I also have to step back and trust my colleagues to do the job. For example: I was assigned to train new staff members. I began to realize that some of the task that I would assign to them were not up to my standards. I began to find myself jumping in and fixing the problem and bypassing the person who was assigned the task. While the work was getting done and it solved the immediate problem, it would often lead new staff feel as if I didn't trust them or showed I lacked confidence in their abilities. I realized my behavior was not productive and sought out coaching training that really helped me to reflect on myself and that I needed to show my team that I was confident in them. Now when I am faced with an issue, I step back, and really assess what's going on and how I can contribute without stepping on toes or undermining my fellow teammates. Giving people the ability to make mistakes and explain the process will allow them to grow and learn important skills.

Communication

When Covid began last year, we were racing to get everyone situated to work from home. While working remotely it was crucial that we scheduled regular zoom meetings to discuss deadlines, work productivity and ensure everyone was doing well emotionally and physically. My Chief at the time had been assigned a special studies project which took most of this time. Also at the time he was new to our unit and had little knowledge of our unit he depended on me to really hold the team together. From early on I set expctations of the team so that everyone was on the same page. One of the requirements was reporting to HR every day to make sure no one was sick with covid. I utilized the teams chat so that everyone could just check in on there. I also schedule a team's meeting every 2 weeks to update everyone regarding updates to our agency and things related to our bureau. I also spoke to my manager every other day and sent my manager a progress report of our current workload and completed task.

Leadership/ process improvement

While as an AGPA at my current agency I have been fortunate enough to come at a time when the unit was in desperate need. When I first started in the unit, we had a backlog of an estimated 6,000 applications that needed to be reviewed. Since I was coming from a claim's environment, I was not a stranger to a high-volume incoming workload. Time management is something I'm exceptional at. The most effective way to do this is by prioritizing my daily tasks in my planner. I do this by rating high priority items on the top of my list, and the least important at the bottom of my list. Additionally, I was able to create a focus workload which I believe was crucial in solving the high-volume workload. I was able to have some staff only focus on printing and mailing certificates, others responding to calls and emails. As for myself and another analyst, we focused on the review of the application process. Since I was able to delegate tasks to certain individuals it allowed us to reduce our workload by 48 percent in two months of my arrival. Since my arrival, I have been able to push forward to automate our process and give greater access to our law enforcement. We were able streamline our process and allow law enforcement personnel to download approved certificates online. This supports the Commissions mission by continuously enhancing the professionalism in law enforcement. While my time in my current role, my team and I have reduced the backlog about 97.99 percent. This demonstrates my ability to solve problems and promote new ideas that align with my current agency's vision.

Management style

With working with law enforcement I think the best management style is a combination transformational and a visionary management style. This style encourages constant change and the ability to adapt. We know law and policys change when it comes to law enforcement what seems like every year. It is my responsibility as a leader to make sure my team delivers on the strategic objectives So I When working in the private sector I was involved with a team that struggled with communication. When I was able to land a role in government, where I was fortunate enough to have managers that had great communication skills and expectations that have mentored me and allowed me to do the same with my team. I found that the first way to motivate people is to instill purpose in the work that is conducted. If you know the "why", and essentially focus on the "why" it helps people want to feel that their work is contributing to the bigger picture. It's important to have employees understand their organizational mission, and values to ensure that everyone is working toward the same goals. It is also important to define everyone's responsibility and set expectations early on to minimize any risk of conflict. Recently, I was able to collaborate on our agency's' strategic plan. As the lead for my unit, I began early on to define everyone's responsibility and created deadlines far in advance so that way there would be no confusion. Microsoft Teams has allowed us to do this by creating channels that help us focus discussions. It allowed our group to share work in real time and hold accountability in the work contribution. Additionally, I always appreciated an open-door policy, which any employee would be able to voice concerns or issues. I find it critical to dedicate time with staff to understand what's working efficiently and what's not. Currently, I have staff members that will come to my desk or email me questions regarding our unit. If I don't know the answer to their question, I always make time to follow up with them. This shows them that their questions and concerns are something that I take seriously. Motivating staff is important to keep up morale and it can be as little as words of appreciation to throwing a pizza party for meeting performance goals. I aspire to be the manager that gives constant motivation to my team and will adapt the same methods my former predecessors have done.