Tell me about a time when you had to work with another team to accomplish a goal. What did you learn from that experience that you can bring to Boeing?

Question

Karrie Day · Accepted Answer

"I work as an associate financial analyst in my current role. Our department partners with the various departments to review project budgets, make projections, assist with reporting, and develop annual budgets. I am assigned to work with the properties teams. I reach out regularly to their project managers to gather information that the senior analysts or managers on my team need to approve the budgets for projects like office buildouts, equipment upgrades, etc.

The project managers are extremely busy, so I am mindful of their schedules when I request information. I make sure the timelines for responses are clear and I offer to help in any way that I can. Recently, I offered to sit in on a planning meeting and compile the budget-related information on their behalf. They appreciated my assistance and asked if I would be willing to help in that way on a regular basis. It reduced the time spent gathering and documenting budgetary information and I was able to provide helpful insight. I learned a lot about project planning by partnering with the properties team, and I look forward to partnering in similar ways with the teams here at Boeing if offered the financial analyst position."

Karrie Day · Answer

Boeing is a multinational corporation with over 140,000 employees. When you work for a company that large, there is no doubt that you will find yourself working with members of different departments or 'cross-functionally.' Your interviewer wants to know if you can work on the scale required for success at Boeing.

Karrie Day · Answer

As a company, Boeing strives to 'innovate and operate to make the world better,' and that will require collaborating across teams and even time zones. So, when you think of your example, be sure to briefly share the circumstances of the example and more heavily emphasize what went into making cross-functional teamwork a success. As you research this role prior to your interview, try to look for clues into what departments you could be cross-functionally working with and describe a similar example in your response.

Rachelle Enns · Answer

"In my current position, I work on a cross-functional team to create, plan, and execute an annual company-wide conference. We have members from several teams working from several locations, so maintaining strong communication is key to the success of our collaboration. Given our busy schedules and locations, we have minimal opportunity to meet together as a group. So, we schedule recurring meetings at a mutually agreed upon time, ensure that at least one representative from each team is present, and share full notes and follow-up on our shared drive. We maximize technology to facilitate smoother transitions and timelines by utilizing shared calendars, shared drives, and group chats in Microsoft Teams to stay connected. As a result, we're able to hit our targets and execute the event each year without hiccups."

Karrie Day · Answer

"I manage a customer support operations group and I work continually to improve our customer's experience. I regularly review customer requests, handling time, escalations, and recurring patterns. I recently noticed that we were handling a large volume of tickets for a system that had been relatively stable previously and I dug into the data to look for a root cause.

It turned out that the system had recently been rolled out to a new customer group and the majority of the support requests came from that customer. I reached out to the implementation team and inquired about the project. It turned out that the project was fast tracked and the users were thrown in without proper training. We worked out a plan to use one of the implementation team analysts and a support analyst from my team to field the requests and offer training assistance. The support requests went down 74% within two months and the customer greatly appreciated our proactive approach.

I learned that fast tracked implementations are a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate excellent customer support. We now have a process in place to identify projects like this before they are rolled out and we assign a support representative to provide a custom mix of support and training until the users feel comfortable with their new solution. I feel confident I would be able to provide the same issue resolution and leadership skills to the team at Boeing."

Karrie Day · Answer

"My team partners with other teams on a regular basis. A lot of the solutions we work on are integrated, and require assistance from other teams. Additionally, we work with outside vendors on occasion and partner with the teams who work for those companies.

I was recently working on a project to implement a vendor solution that required excellent teamwork on my part. The vendor embellished the capabilities of their solution in the sales process and it left my users with a number of critical functional gaps to account for. It became apparent to me early on in the process that the solution would not work as designed, so I partnered with the senior analyst from the vendor team to validate the gaps and collaborate on potential solutions. We ultimately came up with several creative options that met the needs of the users.

I learned it is important to stay focused on the goals of a project when issues like this arise. My clients and some of the members of my team were upset about the vendor lying about their solution capabilities, but the goals of the project were the same. The needs of my customers still needed to be met. Instead of focusing on why things went wrong, I remained positive and reached out to the other side to find a way forward. I would bring the same positive and collaborative spirit to Boeing."

Karrie Day · Answer

"I currently manage projects for three cross-functional teams. They each support a different group and their projects do not typically have crossover. However, one of my teams was working on a business critical project with regulatory deadlines. They were at risk of running behind and our customer made several last minute scope change requests.

I pulled the leaders from all three of my teams together to make them aware of the situation. I asked if the other two teams would be willing to offer support. They stepped up and we worked out a plan to add two resources to the struggling team to get the project done.

The resources that helped were incredibly valuable, and the situation helped me see an opportunity to restructure the way we staff projects. I am in the process of working with my director to create more cross-project knowledge sharing opportunities to better support our customers during times like these in the future. I look forward to the opportunity to demonstrate similar creativity, leadership, and process change skills at Boeing."

Karrie Day · Answer

"In my current role we work with a change management team that deploys all of our solutions to production environments. We have a number of continuous deployment solutions in place, but there are a number of processes that require manual steps or levels of approval prior to implementation.

Our team normally works with the same delivery manager on all of our products, but he recently left the company unexpectedly. A new delivery manager was assigned and several of our initial implementations experienced issues and delays. I offered to partner with the new delivery manager to walk him through our systems, services, and architecture basics. We also reviewed the deployment review and approval approach for our specific customer group and systems. Finally, I worked alongside him during our next few deployments. I answered questions as we went and the process went smoothly.

I learned it would have been best to offer this kind of support initially when the new delivery manager was assigned. We incorrectly assumed the previous manager left detailed instructions, and we now know that it is important to reach out immediately in the event of a change to ensure the smooth delivery of our solutions to our customers. I am absolutely willing to offer support and assistance like this at any time if selected for the systems engineer role at Boeing."

Anonymous User · Answer

"I was in charge of the production and logistics unit. The Projects team needed my departments' services to get work to their client. I worked with the Project Manager and his deputy to ensure that the orders were dispatched on time."

Anonymous User · Answer

"As stress lead for fuel tank on Q400, I worked with closely with systems. Fuel systems, electronic and aero.

It's important to understand motivations of different departments, Also that there needs to be balance struck as often have conflicting drivers. However its important to communicate the impact of certain changes and importance of key characteristics - for example system pressure. pipe runs and attachments."

Anonymous User · Answer

"I have worked with many different teams throughout my time in my current role. I work closely with the HR department and payroll department to make sure employees are being entered correctly and promptly for federal regulations.

It is very important to have a clear understanding between the two teams, I believe. I also work closely with PMs and the health and safety department to make sure all employees are up to date on training and certifications so they can work in the field for the PMs."

Anonymous User · Answer

"Several times in my current job, we have had to work with 3rd party contractors to build integrations between 2 systems. This has taken careful planning and communication to reach the final build."

Anonymous User · Answer

"The plant I currently work at recently experienced an extremely heavy receiving schedule, coupled with an above-average shipping schedule; the staging area became a choke point. While this area is not within the purview of the production department, it was negatively affecting everyone. I initiated a plan with the warehouse department and provided manpower to alleviate the issue."

Anonymous User · Answer

"As a fundraising volunteer, I came across people with many different backgrounds, including tech, academia, health, and missions.

In helping refugees and other displaced people in Africa, the doctor in my team provided input on how well the sick's medical needs are met. Simultaneously, the data expert ran all the numbers on the costs and other related needs. Having these diverse views was critical to the overall success of the effort."

Anonymous User · Answer

"The company that I am currently working for has been working in conjunction with the Alfred hospital in delivering health care services to patients. As a non-clinical staff, my main duty is to keep my assigned area in order and to meet the hospital's cleanliness standards. Considering that the hospital is a very busy place and infections could be spread everywhere, performing the right procedure of cleaning is paramount of importance. Hence, I have to make sure that every sanitizing station is fully loaded with sanitizer; the bins are properly segregated and are changed regularly and high touch points are wiped down religiously. This ensures safety measures are in place for the health and safety of all the staff and patients."

Anonymous User · Answer

"In my previous career, there were many times when we had to collaborate to complete tasks, such as accreditation and planning major events. We divided up areas of ownership, defined expectations, deadlines, and dependencies for each task. I've learned how to manage myself as part of a team to avoid negatively impacting the other areas."

Anonymous User · Answer

"When I developed a social media project with my batchmates back when I was working at ______, we were divided into small groups on which task to work on. I was assigned to develop a dark-mode screen. After finishing making sample dark mode screens, I was next assigned to work with another group who was working to decorate the web page. I had to integrate the dark mode into the web page. Then after, the next stage was to work with another bigger group who was working with Entity-framework backend to connect the database to the web page. We come up with a project to present in front of the people via ZOOM to complete our training. Therefore, if Boeing gives an assignment project like that, I will approach with brainstorming the plan, working from small pieces, and connecting to another which will accomplish the ultimate goal."

Anonymous User · Answer

"In my previous role as a business analyst, I was tasked to represent my team to learn and present enhancements within our pricing system. I would need to work with another department's engineers and system subject matter experts. I would need to catch up to speed on engineering terminology, learn complex technical enhancements within the system, and then report it back to my team. From that experience, I have learned to analyze new material."

Tell me about a time when you had to work with another team to accomplish a goal. What did you learn from that experience that you can bring to Boeing?

How to Answer: Tell me about a time when you had to work with another team to accomplish a goal. What did you learn from that experience that you can bring to Boeing?

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36. Tell me about a time when you had to work with another team to accomplish a goal. What did you learn from that experience that you can bring to Boeing?

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