Tell me about a time you had to educate a colleague on customer using a detailed approach. What was the situation, and how did you ensure that your knowledge or expertise transferred to the other person?
Medtronic's mission to alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life is accomplished in many creative ways. The organization firmly believes that the education of staff, partners, and customers goes a long way in helping them achieve its mission, and Medtronic expects its staff to be able to educate others in their areas of expertise. Think of a time you had to provide a learning opportunity to a colleague or customer and thoroughly explain how you made sure the learner walked away with all of the knowledge they needed. Explain your approach to educating others and why you feel your approach is important.
"In a field sales role for the last five years, I have prided myself on my ability to educate the staff in the surgery centers I currently call on. I expect to be the expert on the products I'm selling. When I meet with the surgeons, techs, and nurses, I thoroughly explain the features and benefits of our new products, how they are used, and how they can benefit the work they do and the patient outcomes they are striving for. With surgical instruments, it is important that the people using them have the opportunity to put them in their hands, see how they feel, and use them on some dummy material that I bring with me on sales calls."
"Last year, my department hired two new manufacturing engineers to join our team. Before their coordinated start dates, I created a two-week customized training program for each of them. The customization was necessary because one of the hires was an experienced engineer we poached from a competitor, and the other was a new graduate. I ensured that I had a lot of 1:1 time with the new graduate to learn about our processes, machines, and the people around the facility. When training him, I used a hands-on approach to learning our floor equipment and common repairs that were needed. This customized approach got both new engineers up and running in time for our large expansion project."
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Anonymous Answer
My previous roles involved different lab configurations that could get confusing. To mitigate any confusion for new hires, I created a test guide that involved explanations like how to set up the switches/servers, which ports needed to be open, what equipment needed to be on, and any simulations that needed to be running. To test their knowledge I would give them the procedure to see how far they could get on their own. This not only helped them learn but also helped me make the procedure more intuitive.
Amanda's Feedback
Great answer! You've used a specific example, shared the approach you used, and also related the outcome. You can strengthen your response by telling the interviewer how you follow up to ensure the knowledge had been fully grasped by the new hire.
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