Behavioral-Based Interview Preparation

Behavioral-Based Interview Preparation

s an HIM professional, how will you respond to rapid, constantly evolving changes in the U.S. health care system? How will you stay motivated and contribute to the goals of a well-functioning health care system? The answers to questions such as these revolve around leadership and management, regardless of whether you are an individual contributor or someone who has actual responsibility for leading and managing others.
The ability to manage and lead oneself and others is important in every career, organization, sector, community, and country. The U.S. health care system requires much extraordinary work to be done. In the words of renowned transformational leadership theorists, Kouzes and Posner, “We need more exemplary leaders, and we need them now more than ever” (n.d., “Do Your Students Consider Themselves Leaders?,” para. 3).
In this final course assignment, you are to assume that all of your hard work in your courses has paid off. You have scored an interview for an HIM leadership position with one of the health care organizations on your short list of preferred employers. You have done your homework. You have carefully researched the organization and located colleagues in your network who have worked there or who are currently working there. You have learned that this organization has adopted a behavioral-based interviewing approach. With this approach, employers ask questions that require candidates to relate examples from their experience of when they have demonstrated the key competencies required for a leadership position.
Reference
Kouzes, J., & Posner, B. (n.d.). The student leadership challenge. Retrieved from http://www.studentleadershipchallenge.com/About/about-landing.aspx
Demonstration of Proficiency
By successfully completing this assignment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the course competencies through the following assignment scoring guide criteria:
• Competency 3: Interpret theories of leadership and management for health systems and health information management.
o Describe a time that required demonstrating leadership in a challenging situation and the response of others.
o Recommend potential improvements to the response to leadership challenges.
o Explain the outcome of the challenging situation.
o Assess leadership performance in a challenging situation against five practices of exemplary leadership.
• Competency 4: Communicate in a professional manner.
o Create a clear, well organized, professional document that is generally free from errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
o Follow APA style and formatting guidelines for citations and references.
Instructions
This assignment is in two parts. In Part One, you will prepare responses to behavioral-based questions about leadership you think the interviewer will ask you. In Part 2, you will have the opportunity to reflect on how effectively you have demonstrated Kouzes and Posner’s five practices of exemplary leadership.
Part One
As part of your interview preparation, you have researched and identified five questions—given below—that are commonly asked about leadership in behavior-based interviewing. You are now taking some time to formulate responses to these questions so that you have a good idea of what you are going to say.
Remember: You do not have to actually hold a management or leadership position to act like a leader. People have the opportunity to demonstrate leadership every day. Consider how you might coach your child’s soccer team. Think about your participation in various professional or community organizations. Also, reflect on your current job. Even though your title may not say that you are a manager, you still demonstrate leadership every day when performing your duties.
As you write your responses, include as many specifics and examples as possible so that the interviewer has a good understanding of your leadership approach and performance as a leader. Your responses to the interview questions need to be 4 double-spaced pages. Here are your interview questions:
1. Describe a time when you have demonstrated leadership in a challenging situation. In your response, be sure to describe the challenging situation in sufficient detail. Also, explain why it was challenging for you.
2. How did those around you respond to your leadership?
3. How did you respond to those who may have challenged you?
4. What was the outcome to this challenging situation?
5. If you had it to do over, what would you do differently? In your response, be sure to consider what you could have done differently to effect a better outcome. Also, consider what you could have done differently to demonstrate respect for the team as a whole and for individual team members.
Part Two
Now that you are prepared to respond to the interview questions, write a short two-page reflection paper on how you demonstrated Kouzes’ and Posner’s five practices of exemplary leadership. Be sure to address each of the five practices even if you did not demonstrate them in your challenging situation. Consider how you could have incorporated these practices in your situation.
Additional Requirements
• Length: 5–7 double-spaced pages, to include 4 pages for your responses to the interview questions and 2 pages for your reflection on your demonstration of Kouzes’ and Posner’s five practices of exemplary leadership.
• Font: Times New Roman, 12 points.
• References: Follow current APA style and formatting guidelines for citations and references. For an APA refresher, consult APA Style and Format, linked in the Resources.
• Writing: Create two clearly written, organized, professional documents that are generally free from errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling.