IntermediateSITUATIONAL
Walk me through a situation where you had to choose between strictly following an existing procedure and taking a more efficient but non-standard approach. What factors did you weigh, and how did you justify your decision to stakeholders?
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General

Sample Answer

At my last company, support agents manually compiled weekly performance reports in Excel, following a 12-step SOP. It took ~3 hours/week per agent across 20 agents (60 hours). My task was to improve reporting accuracy without disrupting operations. I proposed automating the workflow with a Python script integrated to our CRM (Salesforce) and BI tool (Power BI), which deviated from the SOP. I first ran a 2-week pilot in parallel, documenting data parity (99.6% match) and time saved (2.5 hours/agent/week). I presented a risk matrix (audit, security, training) and mitigation plan to Ops and Compliance, then updated the SOP and provided a 1-hour training. Result: 83% time reduction, cleaner audit trails, and an estimated $45K/year in productivity savings.

Keywords

Quantify time and cost impact of both optionsRun a low-risk pilot in parallel with existing procedureUse a simple risk matrix and mitigation plan for stakeholdersFormalize the new approach by updating SOPs and training
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