Competency and behavioural questions

Our distribution centre does an annual stock count, and our team of eight had one weekend to count the whole chilled section before the auditors arrived on Monday. My task was to count two aisles, but by Saturday lunchtime it was clear we would not finish, because two people were off sick. I finished my aisles early and offered to take on a third. I noticed that people were counting the same bays twice, so I suggested we mark each bay with a coloured sticker once it was done, and I fetched the stickers and showed everyone. I also partnered with a newer colleague who was nervous about the scanner, calling out the counts while she entered them, which sped her up a lot. We finished by six on Sunday and the audit found no errors in our section. I learned that how a team works together matters more than how long it works.

As a floor supervisor in a busy restaurant, I kept clashing with the head chef on Fridays. My hosts seated every table the moment it came free, so the kitchen was swamped with orders at once and food went out late. I wanted to fix it, not keep arguing. I asked him for ten minutes before Saturday service, away from the kitchen. I began by asking what the worst part of Friday was for him, and I listened. He explained that orders arriving in waves meant dishes sat waiting under the lamps. I explained the pressure the queue at the door put on my hosts. We agreed that I would stagger seating across sections, and he would tell me when the kitchen was close to full. The next Friday, complaints about waiting stopped, and we now plan large bookings together each week. It showed me that a calm, private conversation fixes more than a row during service.

I was lead electrician on a coffee shop fit-out when the client brought the opening forward by a week. It was my job to finish the wiring, testing and certification in five working days, and the inspection date could not move. That afternoon I sat down with the site manager and split the job into what had to be done before the plasterers returned and what could wait. I asked for a second electrician for three days and gave him the lighting, while I focused on the distribution board and the kitchen circuits, which carried the most risk. I kept a list on the wall so everyone could see what was left, and on day three I told the client the outside signage would be a week late, so there were no surprises. We passed inspection first time and the shop opened on the new date. I now build a buffer into every programme for exactly this.

When I was a supervisor in a garden centre, it was my job to set up a spring offer on the tills: buy two bags of compost, get one free. I keyed it in as buy one, get one free, and I did not test it before we opened. By late morning a colleague noticed the takings looked low. I checked the system, found my error and corrected it straight away. I told the store manager myself before anyone else could, and worked out it had cost about £180. I suggested we treat it as a goodwill gesture rather than chase customers, and she agreed. After that I wrote a simple checklist for setting up promotions, including a test sale before opening and a second person to check the details, and it is now used across the store. We have not had a pricing error since. It taught me to slow down on small jobs that feel routine.

I work as an administrator in an NHS physiotherapy department, and last year our clinics were losing several appointments a day to patients who did not turn up. My manager asked me to look into it. Rather than guess, I went through two months of missed appointments and phoned a sample of the patients. A pattern came out quickly: most had been booked more than six weeks ahead, and many said they had forgotten or that the letter had gone to an old address. I suggested two changes: a text reminder three days before each appointment, and checking the address and mobile number at every booking. I tested both in one clinic for a month first, so we could compare. Missed appointments in that clinic fell by more than half, and the department now does both as standard. It showed me the value of finding the real cause before choosing a fix.

As a care assistant with no management role, I noticed that residents living with dementia were often distressed at teatime. The dining room was loud, and staff were rushing to serve everyone at once. I wanted to try a calmer approach, but I needed colleagues on board. First I asked the senior on shift if I could trial a change on my own table: music turned down, smaller portions and one of us sitting with residents while they ate. I kept a simple note of how each resident ate and settled for two weeks. Then I shared my notes at a team meeting and asked the colleagues who were unsure what worried them. The main concern was time, so I offered to help rework the rota. Within a month the whole home had adopted it, and residents were eating more and settling better. I learned that evidence and listening persuade people more than enthusiasm does.