The New Great Power Triangle Tilt: China, Russia Vs. U.S. & Breaking Defense - Defense industry news, analysis and commentary
Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin sign $400 billion gas deal
WASHINGTON: The careful diplomatic stagecraft behind President Barack Obama’s recent European visit to celebrate the 70th anniversary of D-Day and to rally the Western alliance against Russia’s aggression in Ukraine was all but swept aside by strong new currents in geopolitics. While Obama talked tough in Poland to reassure NATO’s vulnerable eastern members, Russian President Vladimir Putin happily visited with his Western European friends who buy huge quantities of natural gas from him.
French President Francois Hollande not only hosted Putin at a dinner, he refused to cancel a $1.6 billion sale of warships to Moscow.Meanwhile, as Putin and Hollande dined in comfort at the Elysee Palace, Russian special forces were supporting an offensive by pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine that overran a key border control headquarters and threatened to open a land corridor between Russia and the , home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
The Chinese, sitting on Russia’s southern and eastern flanks, did not miss this split in the NATO alliance. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Putin agreed in Shanghai on a joint statement papering over any concerns that the PRC might have about Moscow’s intervention in Ukraine, and the two countries signed a massive $400 billion energy deal to seal what both sides hope is a budding counterweight alliance to the West.
While Obama spoke in Europe of Russia’s perfidy and the need to strengthen NATO, Beijing celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators by eliminating virtually all domestic dissent. Perhaps most tellingly, as Putin attended D-Day celebrations, a high-ranking Chinese general told a regional security conference in Asia that U.S. inaction in Ukraine was an unmistakable symptom of America’s strategic “erectile dysfunction.”
“Withdrawing from wars, especially where there is not a clear-cut victory, is tricky business,” and it’s difficult to “avoid sending the signal that you’re disengaging not just from the wars, but from your broader international responsibilities,” former Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in a recent talk at the Council on Foreign Relations. Former President Richard Nixon and his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger managed it for a time after Vietnam with their bold diplomatic outreach to China, effectively splitting the communist bloc at a moment of U.S. vulnerability. “We had better relations with the Soviets, and better relations with the Chinese, than they had with each other,” noted Gates, a Kissinger protégé. “There are no such opportunities now.”
Indeed, Moscow and Beijing have rejected what they view as the United States’ aggressive post-9/11 doctrine of regime change and democracy promotion. With the US withdrawals
and , and our failures to act boldly in Syria and Ukraine the Chinese sense an opportunity to push back against U.S. power. That is also the subtext to Putin’s forceful move to keep Ukraine in Russia’s strategic sphere of influence as a buffer against the West, and China’s aggressive actions in pressing claims to disputed islands and airspace in its near abroad.
Still Indispensable
In a recent speech at West Point, Obama made a strong case that the United States still stands firmly atop the global pecking order. The U.S. military has no peer, our economy remains the largest in the world, new drilling technologies make the long-sought goal of U.S. energy independence suddenly plausible, and, as Obama noted, from Europe to Asia “we are the hub of alliances unrivaled in the history of nations.”
“So the United States is and remains the one indispensable nation,” Obama said, resurrecting a description of American power coined by the Clinton administration in the unipolar moment of the post-Cold War 1990s. “That has been true for the century past, and it will be true for the century to come.”
In arguing that rumors of American decline are in some cases greatly exaggerated, Obama has a point. In his recent book, “Still Ours to Lead: America, Rising Powers, and the Tension between Rivalry and Restraint,” author Bruce Jones notes that of the top 20 economies the world, 15 of those countries are U.S. allies. Equally important, the potentially challenging powers often referred to as the “BRICs,” (Brazil, Russia, India and China) face a dilemma as they attempt to elbow their way into more prominent positions in international affairs: their economic ascent and well-being is dependent on a stable world order underwritten by U.S. power. Thus they cannot successfully challenge U.S. leadership without undermining their own interests.
“I think the Obama administration is right to play the long game, recognizing that when it comes to managing the challenging ascent of the BRIC countries, even the most powerful country in the world must make tough choices in terms of when to lead, and where to focus its resources and energies,” Jones, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said in an interview. “It’s important to note, however, that in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, the only effective deterrence to regional rivalries and conflicts is still .”
Putin apparently believes it when he says the breakup of the former Soviet empire was “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century.” He rejects outright the post-Cold War expansion of Western military and economic alliances (NATO and the European Union, respectively), as well as the U.S. strategic goal of a “Europe whole and free” that undergirds it. He opposed U.S. actions against allies and has drawn a red line against what he sees as Western encroachment in Russia’s “sphere of privileged interests” in the former Soviet space. With Russia’s 2008 invasion of Georgia and this year’s annexation of Crimea, Putin has demonstrated a willingness to use military force to defend those red lines.
“Putin is the single most powerful leader in the Kremlin since [Joseph] Stalin, because he doesn’t even have to deal with the [communist-era] Politburo,” said Strobe Talbott, who helped manage U.S.-Russian relations in the 1990s as a senior State Department official in the Clinton administration. “So the largest country on the planet in now engaged in territorial expansion and aggressive nationalism, and that country also happens to be one of the two major nuclear weapons powers,” said Talbott, speaking recently at the Brookings Institution where he is president. “That’s taking us back to the geopolitics that got us into two World Wars in the 20th century, and made a hash of the late 19th century.”
A Rising China
While Russia rejects the U.S.-led world order, China is challenging it as a rapidly rising power that demands more influence in international affairs. With its sustained and meteoric economic growth China has replaced Japan as the world’s second largest economy, and it may surpass the United States as the number one economic power this decade. Beijing has increasingly by staking claims to disputed islands in the South and East China Sea, proclaiming an air defense zone that no one recognizes, and pushing back against the U.S. military presence in Asia.
On a visit to China last year, witnessed first-hand the complexity of maintaining a stable Asia-Pacific order at a time when Beijing is chaffing against its constraints.
“When I met with my Chinese military counterparts they said, ‘This is great,
and build a new relationship.’ And I replied, ‘Well, not so fast.’ It just so happens the United States already has some writing on our paper, so it’s not blank,” Dempsey told me in a recent interview. For starters the United States boasts historic treaty alliances with South Korea, Japan, Australia, and the Philippines. “And I said, ‘Surely you wouldn’t ask us to ignore those relationships?’ Well, of course the Chinese would love for us to ignore them!” said Dempsey. The United States has no choice but to try and manage those complicated relationships and a patchwork of controversial territorial issues in the Asia-Pacific region, he said, “with a China that’s rising in the international order, and Chinese leaders who may not feel that they’ve had a sufficient voice in establishing that order.”
A Sino-Russian Alliance
In times of East-West tensions in the post-Cold War era, Moscow and Beijing periodically flirted with a strategic partnership as a counterweight to the U.S.-led transatlantic alliance. Most notably that occurred during NATO’s Kosovo campaign in 1999 against Moscow’s ally Serbia, which included the accidental bombing of the Chinese embassy in B in the run-up to the Iraq invasion that was opposed by both Moscow and B and during the current crises in Ukraine and the South China Sea that prompted the recent signing of an energy pact between Russia and China.
Natural impediments have prevented a lasting strategic alliance between China and Russia, including their own territorial disputes in S economic trade between Russia and Europe, and between China and the United States, that far outweigh their t and the strategic dichotomy between a revisionist power intent on reversing the current world order, and a rising power focused on bending it to Beijing’s will.
“In the 21st century of globalization, the major powers like the United States, Russia, China and Europe are bound together by tightly integrated web of mutual economic interests,” said Nicholas Burns, director of the Future of Diplomacy Project at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and a former senior State Department official. As a declining power Russia is going to discover that it can’t realistically divorce itself from Europe, he said, just as China as a growing power understands that it’s most important relationship is with the United States. “Though balancing that relationship with Beijing will be the most important strategic challenge we face,” said Burns.
The current crises in Ukraine and the South China Sea that have driven Moscow and Beijing into each other’s arms also underscore the fundamental weakness in the Russia-Chinese alliance:
both have led neighbors in Europe and Asia to seek strategic partnerships with the United States and to strengthen their military capabilities.
“I think the energy deal between Russia and China does represent geopolitical pushback against the United States, but the hegemonic impulses behind Russia’s annexation of Crimea and China’s aggressive claims to disputed islands and airspace are pushing their smaller neighbors to embrace the United States,” said Thomas Pickering, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia and number-three in the State Department. “That’s why I still think the United States’ geostrategic position remains strong relative to Russia and China.”
Despite those natural advantages the very fact that a revanchist Russia and a rising China have found common cause in opposing the status quo power of the United States is a worrisome development, especially at a time of war-weariness and retrenchment in Washington. Even Richard Nixon’s post-Vietnam outreach to China didn’t deter a Middle East crisis in 1973 that very nearly had the United States and the Soviet Union fighting on different sides of the Arab-Israeli war.
New Alliance May Not Last
“The Obama administration is probably right that a geopolitical alliance between Russia and China will not prove lasting, but we should be worried that Moscow and Beijing are both reacting to what they perceive as a combination of American provocation and weakness, which is dangerous,” said Dmitri Simes, president of the Center for the National Interest. Before World War II, he noted, Western politicians and commentators rightly predicted that an alliance between a communist Soviet Union and a fascist Nazi Germany was unlikely and unsustainable. “And they were right, the Hitler-Stalin alliance only lasted a couple of years,” he said. “But in that short time Germany conquered Poland and occupied France, and created an entirely different geopolitical reality. Likewise, even a short-term Sino-Russian alliance, , could cause us huge problems.”
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Interview Questions
When conducting job interviews, it is important to ask questions not only
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applicant behaved in certain work situations. The applicant's past behavior
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General Introductory Questions
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in employment, inquire about the situation(s).
I have reviewed your resume but would like to ask you to begin by giving me
an overview of your education and experience as they relate to this position and
why you are interested in this position.
Please elaborate on one of the work experiences listed on your resume.
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Your resume/application lists many job changes. Tell me about that.
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modified as needed to yield information relating to the specific behaviors being
Organizational Success
Making People Matter
Job Effectiveness
Additional Factors for Supervisors
Organizational Success
Teamwork/Cooperation
Gaining the cooperation of others can be difficult. Give a specific example of when you had to do that and what challenges you faced. What was the outcome? What was the long-term impact on your ability to work with this person?
Please give me your best example of working cooperatively as a team member to accomplish an important goal. What was the goal or objective? What was your role in achieving this objective? To what extent did you interact with others on this project?
Tell me about a time when your coworkers gave you feedback about your actions. How did you respond? What changes did you make?
Describe a project you were responsible for that required a lot of interaction with people over a long period of time.
How have you recognized and rewarded a team player in the past? What was the situation?
Tell me about a course, work experience, or extracurricular activity where you had to work closely with others. How did it go? How did you overcome any difficulties?
Describe a problem you had in your life when someone's help was very important to you.
Customer Orientation
Give me a specific example of a time when you had to address an angry customer. What was the problem and what was the outcome? How would you assess your role in defusing the situation?
Give me an example of when you initiated a change in process or operations in response to customer feedback.
Tell me about a marketing promotion/initiative or information dissemination you developed. How did it meet the customer's need?
Commitment to Continuous Quality/Process Improvement
Tell me about a suggestion you made to improve the way job processes/operations worked. What was the result?
Tell me about one of your workplace improvements that another department now uses.
Give me an example when you initiated a change in process or operations.
In your last job, what problems did you identify that had previously been overlooked? Were changes made? Who supported the changes as a result of your ideas?
Describe something you have implemented at work. What were the steps you used to implement this?
Creativity/Innovation
Describe the most significant or creative presentation/idea that you developed/implemented.
Describe a time when you came up with a creative solution/idea/project/report to a problem in your past work.
Tell me about a time when you created a new process or program that was considered risky. What was the situation and what did you do?
Can you give me an example of how you have been creative in completing your responsibilities?
Can you think of a situation where innovation was required at work? What did you do in this situation?
Flexibility/Adaptability to Change
By providing examples, demonstrate that you can adapt to a wide variety of people, situations and/or environments.
What do you do when priorities change quickly? Give me one example of when this happened.
Tell me about a decision you made while under a lot of pressure.
Tell me about a specific time when you were given new information that affected a decision that you had already made.
Give me an example of a time when there was a decision to be made and procedures were not in place? What was the outcome?
When was the last time you felt pressure on a job? How did the situation come about? How did you react? What made you decide to handle it that way? What effect, if any, did this have on your other responsibilities?
What are some of the things your last employer could have done to keep you?
Continuous Learning/Development
Describe a decision you made or a situation that you would have handled differently if you had to do it over again.
When you have been made aware of, or have discovered for yourself, a problem in your work performance, what was your course of action? Can you give me an example?
Tell me about a time when your supervisor/co-workers gave you feedback about your work/actions. What did you learn about yourself?
What have you done to further your own professional development in the last 5 years?
Tell me about a job that you had which required you to learn new things.
Tell me about a recent job or experience that you would describe as a real learning experience. What did you learn from the job or the experience?
Tell me about a time when you were asked to complete a difficult assignment even though the odds were against you. What did you learn from that experience?
Discuss the highlights of your most recent educational experience. Did you accomplish any special achievements? What were your most difficult challenges?
I noticed on your resume that you attended _____________ training program. Please describe the training program. How have you applied what you learned to your current job?
Displays Vision
Describe what steps/methods you have used to define/identify a vision for your unit/position.
In your current or former position, what were your short and long-term goals? How long ago did you set them? Who else was involved in setting them? Which ones were achieved?
How do you see your job relating to the overall goals of your present/previous organization?
Tell me about a time when you anticipated the future and made changes to current responsibilities/operations to meet future needs.
Leadership/Initiative
What are 3 effective leadership qualities you think are important? How have you demonstrated these qualities in your past/current position?
Describe a situation in which you were able to use persuasion to successfully convince someone to approach things your way. At what level was the person you had to persuade?
What risks did you take in your present/previous job? Tell me about it.
Tell me about your efforts to "sell" a new idea to your supervisor.
Describe a leadership situation that you would handle differently if you had it to do over again.
What one experience proved to you that you would be a capable manager?
What have you done to develop the skills of your staff?
Tell me about a time when you were able to provide a co-worker with recognition for the work they performed. What did you do?
Tell me about a time when you reached out for additional responsibility.
Tell me about a project/suggestion that you initiated. Explain how you communicated the project/suggestion.
What have you done in your present/previous job that goes beyond what was required?
Making People Matter
Respect for Others
Tell me about a time when you had to resolve a difference of opinion with a co-worker/customer/supervisor. How do you feel you showed respect?
Tell me about a time when you needed to give feedback to an employee with emotional or sensitive problems. Was the outcome?
Describe the way you handled a specific problem involving others with differing values, ideas and beliefs in your current/previous job.
Interpersonal Skills
Give me a specific example of a time when you had to address an angry customer. What was the problem and what was the outcome?
Tell me about the most difficult challenge you faced in trying to work cooperatively with someone who did not share the same ideas. What was your role in achieving the work objective? What was the long-term impact on your ability to get things done while working with this person?
Describe a work situation that required you to really listen and display compassion to a co-worker/employee who was telling you about a personal/sensitive situation.
Describe the way you handled a specific problem involving people in your last job.
Supports Diversity and Understands Related Issues
Tell me about a time when you had to adapt to a wide variety of people by accepting/understanding their perspectives.
What have you done to further your knowledge/understanding about diversity? How have you demonstrated your learning?
Can you recall a time when you gave feedback to a co-worker who was unaccepting of others?
Can you recall a time when a person's cultural background affected your approach to a work situation?
How have you handled situations in which you could not understand a customer's strong accent?
Tell me about a time that you successfully adapted to a culturally different environment.
Tell me about a situation in which you had to separate the person from the issue when working to resolve differences?
How have you taken responsibility/accountability for an action that may have been offensive to the recipient?
Tell me about a time that you adapted your style in order to work effectively with those who were different from you.
How have you reacted to conversations between co-workers that were clearly offensive to non-participants?
Give examples of when your values and beliefs impacted your relationships with your co-workers.
Tell me about a time that you evaluated your own beliefs or opinions around issues of difference.
Tell me about a time when you avoided forming an opinion based upon a person's outward appearance.
How have you made your voice heard in a predominantly male or female-dominated environment?
What measures have you taken to make someone feel comfortable in an environment that was obviously uncomfortable with his or her presence?
Honesty/Fairness
Tell me about a specific time when you had to handle a tough problem which challenged fairness or ethical issues.
Tell me about a tough decision you made. What steps, thought processes, and considerations did you take to make an objective decision?
Builds Trust
Think of a situation where you distrusted a co-worker/supervisor, resulting in tension between you. What steps did you take to improve the relationship?
Keeping others informed of your progress/actions helps them feel comfortable. Tell me your methods for keeping your supervisor advised of the status on projects.
If you can, tell me about a time when your trustworthiness was challenged. How did you react/respond?
Give me examples of how your have acted with integrity (walked your talk) in your job/work relationship.
Tell me about a time when you had to give feedback to an employee who displayed a lack of professionalism in their work relationships. What did you say? What standards did you set? What was the outcome?
Setting high expectations implies you believe the employee can deliver. Give me an example of having done this.
Trust requires personal accountability. Can you tell me about a time when you chose to trust someone? What was the outcome?
Tell me about a time when you had to give the "benefit of the doubt" to a co-worker/supervisor. What was the outcome?
Give me an example of when you ‘went to the source' to address a conflict. Do you feel trust levels were improved as a result?
Recognizes Others' Achievements/Contributions
Give me an example of how you and your staff have celebrated success in the past. What was the occasion?
Tell me about a time when you were able to provide a co-worker/employee with recognition for the work they performed. What did you do?
What consistent methods do you use to ensure that staff feel valued for their contributions?
Understands Others' Perspectives
By providing examples, convince me that you can adapt to a wide variety of people.
Gaining the cooperation of others can be difficult. Give a specific example when you had to do that.
Tell me about the most difficult challenge you faced in trying to work cooperatively with someone who did not share the same ideas. What was the difference in ideas? What was the outcome? What was the long-term impact on your ability to get things done working with this person?
Tell me about a time when you felt your staff was under too much pressure. What did you do about it?
Resolves Conflicts Constructively
Give me an example of a time when you were able to successfully communicate with another person even when you felt the individual did not value your perspective.
Tell me about a time when you and your previous supervisor disagreed but you still found a way to get your point across.
Describe a time when you facilitated a creative solution to a problem between employees.
Tell me about a recent success you had with an especially difficult employee/co-worker.
Thinking of the most difficult person you have had to deal with, describe an interaction that illustrates that difficulty. Tell me about the last time you dealt with him/her? How did you handle the situation?
Describe a time when you took personal accountability for a conflict and initiated contact with the individual(s) involved to explain your actions.
Positive Attitude
What three specific things about your last job gave you the most satisfaction? Why?
What have you done in your last job that makes you feel proud?
Please think back to a time when setting a positive example had the most beneficial impact on people you worked with. How did you determine that a strong example was needed? What was the effect on the staff?
Tell me about a time when you needed to address an employee's attitude. What did you say to that person? What was the outcome?
Describe your best boss. Describe your worst boss.
Job Effectiveness
Planning/Organization
Give me a specific example of a time when you did not meet a deadline. How did you handle it?
Using a specific example of a project, tell me how you kept those involved informed of the progress.
Are you better at working on many things at a time, or are you better at working on and getting results on a few specific things? Please give me two examples that illustrate this.
Name one of your best accomplishments, including where the assignment came from, your plans in carrying it out, how you eventually did carry it out, and any obstacles you overcame.
Of your current assignments, which do you consider to have required the greatest amount of effort with regard to planning/organization? How have you accomplished this assignment? Tell me how you handled it. How would you assess your effectiveness?
Problem Solving/Judgment
Describe an instance when you had to think quickly to free yourself from a difficult situation.
Tell me about a politically complex work situation in which you worked.
Give me a specific example of a time when you used good judgment and logic in solving a problem.
Give me an example of a time when there was a decision to be made and procedures were not in place? What was the outcome?
How do you go about solving problems at work?
Tell me about a specific time when you eliminated or avoided a potential problem before it happened.
What types of problems do you most enjoy tackling? Give me some examples of such problems you faced. What did you enjoy about them?
What types of problems do you least enjoy tackling? Give me some examples of such problems you faced. What was it about the problems that you least enjoyed?
To whom did you turn for help the last time you had a major problem and why did you choose that person?
In some aspects of work it is important to be free of error. Can you describe a situation where you have tried to prevent errors? What did you do? What was the outcome?
Makes Effective Decisions
Tell me about a decision you made but wish you had done differently.
Tell me about an experience in which you had a limited amount of time to make a difficult decision. What was the decision and the outcome/result of your decision?
Give me an example of a time when there was a decision to be made and procedures were not in place? What was the outcome?
Tell me about a time when you had to make an unpopular decision.
Discuss an important decision you have made regarding work. What factors influenced your decision?
In a current job task, what steps do you go through to ensure your decisions are correct/effective?
Takes Responsibility
Give me an example of something you've done in previous jobs that demonstrates your willingness to work hard.
What is the biggest error in judgment or failure you have made in a previous job? Why did you make it? How did you correct the problem?
Tell me about a time when your supervisor criticized your work. How did you respond?
Tell me about a time when you took responsibility for an error and were held personally accountable.
Achieves Results
Describe a situation in which you were able to use persuasion to successfully convince someone to approach things your way.
Give me an example of an important goal that you had set in the past, and tell me about your success in reaching it.
What projects were accomplished during your previous job? How were these accomplished? What experiences did you have when meeting deadlines for project completion? Explain.
Are you better at working on many things at a time, or are you better at working on and getting results on a few specific things? Please give me two examples that illustrate this.
What do you consider your greatest accomplishments in your current/previous position?
Communicates Effectively
Describe a situation in which you were able to use persuasion to successfully convince someone to see things your way.
Tell me about a time in which you had to use your written communication skills in order to get an important point across.
Give me an example of a time when you were able to successfully communicate with another person even when that individual may not have agreed with your perspective.
Give me a specific example of a time when you had to handle an angry customer. What was the problem and what was the outcome?
Tell me about a time when you and your current/previous supervisor disagreed but you still found a way to get your point across.
Tell me about your efforts to "sell" a new idea to your supervisor.
How do you make your feelings known when you disagree with the views of your staff?
What have you done to improve your verbal communication skills?
What have you done to improve your listening skills?
Tell me how you kept your supervisor advised of the status on projects.
How have you assessed your behavioral messages and what have you learned about yourself as a result?
Dependability/Attendance
Give me a specific example of a time when you did not meet a deadline. How did you handle it?
We all face times when personal issues pull us away from work responsibilities. If possible, tell me about a time when your dependability or attendance was challenged. How did you handle it and/or remain accountable or involved in work? How long did the situation last?
Job/Organizational Knowledge
Describe how your position contributes to your organization's/unit's goals. What are the goal's/unit's mission?
Tell me how you keep your job knowledge current with the ongoing changes in the industry.
Productivity
Give me an example of an important goal that you had set in the past, and tell me about your success in reaching it.
Tell me about a time when you had to complete multiple tasks/projects within a tight timeline.
Tell me about a time when you had to go above and beyond the call of duty in order to get a job done.
Give me a specific example of a time when you did not meet a deadline. How did you handle it?
Give me two examples of things you've done in previous jobs that demonstrate your willingness to work hard.
Describe a course, project, or work experience that was complex. What kind of follow-up did you undertake? How much time was spent on unexpected difficulties?
Additional Factors for Supervisors
Coaches/Counsels/Evaluates Staff
Give me an example of a time when you helped a staff member accept change and make the necessary adjustments to move forward. What were the change/transition skills that you used?
Tell me about a specific time when you had to handle a tough morale problem.
Tell me about a time when you had to take disciplinary action with someone you supervised.
Tell me about a time when you had to tell a staff member that you were dissatisfied with his or her work.
Tell me about a time when you had to handle a highly emotional employee.
Discuss a work situation in which you felt you successfully directed the work of others.
Tell me about a time when your department was going through long-term changes or working on a long-term project. What did you do to keep your staff focused?
Identifies Areas for and Supports Employee Development Opportunities
What have you done to develop the skills of your staff? How many of your employees have received training (any form) during the past year? What were the specific topic areas? Did they ask for the training or did your suggest it to them?
Tell me about a specific development plan that you created and carried out with one or more of your employees. What was the specific situation? What were the components of the development plan? How long was the time frame from start to finish? What was the outcome?
Encourages Teamwork and Group Achievement
Please tell me about your most successful attempt to encourage others to take action and get the job done. What led you to take these actions? Exactly how did you encourage others to take action or responsibility? What was the result of your efforts? Did anyone comment on your actions? Who? What was said? How often have you taken this type of action in the past six months?
Tell me about a time when you needed to have co-workers working on a project who normally have different work styles/ideas. How did you pull them together?
Leads Change/Achieves Support of Objectives
Tell me about a time when you were responsible for hiring and orienting a new employee. What did you do to help them adjust?
Tell me about a time when your department was going through long-term changes or working on a long-term project. What did you do to keep your staff focused?
Give me an example of a time when you helped a staff member accept change and make the necessary adjustments to move forward.
Enables and Empowers Staff
Tell me about a time when you needed to delegate parts of a large assignment. How did you decide whom to distribute them to? What problems occurred? What was the outcome?
What specific information do/did you share with your staff, how often do/did you share this information and why?
Give me a specific example of how you have empowered your staff to make independent decisions.
Tell me about the expectations you create for staff. What are they? What factors do you consider in setting/communicating expectations?
Strives to Achieve Diverse Staff at all Levels
Give me a specific example of how you have helped create an environment where differences are valued, encouraged and supported.
What have you done to support diversity in your unit?
Understands Diversity Issues and Creates Supportive Environment for Diverse Employees
Tell me about the specific talents and contributions of your team/staff and how you have utilized these qualities to increase the effectiveness of the unit.
What have you done to support diversity in your unit?
Can you recall a time when you gave feedback to an employee who was unaccepting of others?