"Following the economic recession, our program saw an influx in requests for rent and utility payment assistance. Since we only have three dedicated staff for this program, the requests started to overwhelm us, and we started to fall behind. I knew this meant that some families might be living without electricity in their homes, so I asked my supervisor if our entire department could meet with the board of directors to express our concerns. At the meeting, one of the board members recommended reviewing qualifications for the program and developing a more restrictive assessment process. I thanked the board member for their idea and consideration of staff time; I also shared that I felt we should attempt to find a way to stretch our resources in order to serve more people.

Due to the economic difficulties of the time, the board allowed us to access the endowment for emergency funds to be used to help with rent and utility payments for people in need. The volunteer recruitment team was able to find a qualified volunteer with social work experience to support our increased caseload, so we were able to offer assistance to every family that came to us in need."

"I was lucky enough in my previous position to work with a CEO who maintained an open-door office policy and truly followed through with it. She always encouraged us to stop by and share any concerns or ideas any time she was in her office, and she took those ideas and shared them with board members and other members of leadership to see what made the most sense for the organization. Following our semiannual all-staff meeting, I decided to visit her office to share some thoughts I had about my involvement in the five-year strategic plan. As I examined the details of the plan, I realized that many of my assignments hinged on me as a person rather than my position as operations manager.

In our meeting, I respectfully expressed my concern that mentioning me by name rather than position would ultimately harm the strategic plan because it did not account for staff turnover or unexpected changes along the way. While I was proud that she had so much faith in me, I wanted to ensure the organization developed a plan that sustained itself as effectively as possible. As a result, I worked with the CEO to make the necessary updates and set about developing an operations manager handbook in case someone else one day took over my position."

Do not refer to leadership negatively. Instead, explain why you disagreed with the idea and clearly outline your suggestions or alternatives for improving it. Talk about how you are also open to constructive feedback and actively engage other ideas to improve on your own.