Tell me about an error or mistake you made because of a breakdown in communication from you or one of your team members.
"We recently had a missing link in communications to one of our vendors, who we signed on to provide a large service. They were not aware of a change in the agreement which cost the company wasted time, resources and money. We were able to identify the breakdown in communication and change the process to ensure it does not happen again."
"I missed a shipment to a customer because there were two similar items in the production schedule. Usually, the scheduler highlights oddities like that, but not this time. I missed the difference and thought it was the same order when it came through on my end."
"We missed one of our inventory shipments last month because I too quickly skimmed a memo from head office regarding the change in schedule due to a long weekend. The shipment was returned which resulted in extra costs to the business and a delay in receiving our seasonal stock. I offered to pay for the extra charges. They refused to charge me for the error but did ask that I take additional care in the future. I was embarrassed, and I do all I can now to ensure an oversight like this never happens again."
"Last year I made an error in communicating with a parent newsletter. I had the wrong date for a school field trip which resulted in all of my students showing up to school, ready and excited for a day at the museum. Oops! The parents were pretty good about it, and we went the following day; however, I had some pretty ticked off little students that day. Nobody is perfect but I certainly triple check my dates now!"
"I am the executive assistant to three different members of our company's c-suite. One day I made the error of emailing the wrong schedule to the others, resulting in a disastrous day. I was able to reschedule their appointments for later in the week, but my error did result in a few unhappy clients."
"I missed a deadline the other week because I did not fully read the email from my marketing director, stating that the deadline had been moved up. I committed myself to be much more detail-oriented when it came to reading my messages from him. He also agreed to red flag any matters of importance, moving forward."
The interviewer would like to know about a time when communication was weak on your part, and a mistake occurred. On occasion, mistakes will happen, and discussions will break. Think back to a time when you made an error in communication, and it caused a ripple effect that reached your team members or your organization as a whole. The final part of your answer needs to include the steps you took to repair the situation. Make sure to conclude your answer on a positive note.
"I recall one instance where I misread an email from one of my subordinates. The punctuation was incorrect, and I read it in in a dire tone rather than in a positive one, as it was intended. After a tense conversation, the employee clarified her intention, and it seems I was mistaken. She and I agreed to exercise verbal communication on a regular basis to avoid a similar situation from happening again."
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
I recall one instance where I emailed my supervisor to order a filter paper that we need to perform the test. A few days after, the product came, and it was the wrong size. I checked the product code number, and I saw that I did make a mistake and immediately told my supervisor. I said to my supervisor that I am sorry and that next time, I will double-check the product code number to make sure it is right.
Rachelle's Feedback
It's great that you owned up to the error rather than trying to hide it. Everyone makes mistakes at work; however, it's more important to the interviewer that you handle these instances with integrity. Well done!
Anonymous Answer
There was an issue one of my colleagues emailed me, which had to be resolved on a critical priority basis. I did not fully read the email from my co-worker, and I started working on the issue. Once the issue was resolved and informed him, your system was good to go. I had another email stating that he still had a problem. Then I spent an hour to go through the issue and took support from other resources to overcome this. I discussed with the co-worker, then he said let me see the ticket. I realized that I did not read the ticket properly; it was about something else. Since then, I have started developing the habit of reading any kind of information properly so that I do not mislead anyone.
Rachelle's Feedback
This answer is good because it shows that you took ownership of the error, that you took action to fix the error, and that you improved to avoid the situation from happening again.
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