Tell me about the last time you had to adapt to a major change in your workplace.
"Everything is changing. We have to be mindful of changes. There is always going to be change. If we are going to be successful in the future, we are going to have to be as innovative in the next fifteen years as the last fifteen years. It will be imperative or we won't survive. The customers vote at the checkout stand. If we aren't doing our job, they won't be buying the products." - James Sinegal
"Our company executed a major rebranding of our career opportunities, renaming many of our positions, especially in leadership, and creating a fairer structure for our chain of command. Certain positions were to be designated positions of honor, yet with less restriction and less career growth. The messaging wasn't clear, and many people who were interested in growing their careers felt misled and robbed of opportunity, and others feared they would lose their jobs or be demoted. I did everything I could to support our manager through this period and clarified the messaging wherever I could, yet many people quit and sought other opportunities elsewhere."
Your interviewer is curious about how well you adapt to change. Changes are constant in every industry. As a result, most businesses occasionally have to alter their course to remain relevant in a constantly changing world. Yet, too often, a percentage of a workforce reads too deeply into the messaging guiding their teams through such change. Then, that percentage of workers might feel a false sense of job insecurity and sow discontent over their misguided interpretations. Other times, the messaging gets diluted and is communicated poorly by their leadership to their teams. So with this question, your interviewer is trying to get a sense of your emotional maturity, communication skills, and support/loyalty during such periods of transition.
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