Interview Questions
In this section, you'll find my responses to some of the most frequently asked interview questions. Whether you're a recruiter or a potential employer, my goal is to offer you a clear and honest perspective on my skills, experience, and approach to challenges. These answers reflect how I think, solve problems, and work in teams, giving you a sense of what I could bring to your organization. Feel free to explore, and I look forward to the opportunity to discuss any of these topics further!
Strategic Alignment & Collaboration
Q: How do you ensure that talent development initiatives align with an organization's strategic goals?
A: One way to ensure that any curriculum or course design achieves its goals is to use a strategy called backward design. Cathy Moore's Action Mapping is one example of backward design that focuses very heavily on performance objectives. But backward design can work for any goal. The difficulty with backward design at the corporate level is often a lack of predetermined goals that upper management has agreed to and is actively working to achieve. The instructional designer or talent development specialist must understand why the training is needed and how it will be measured.
Q: How do you balance the needs of different stakeholders when designing a talent development program?
A: The first step in any effective collaborative discussion to identify a common goal and shared vision. The second step is to identify and rank priorities and non-negotiables. Typically all stakeholders want things to be easier, faster, and better. However, the instructional designer's job is to created a solution that meets everyone's needs and solves the problem. If the c-level executive's only concern is time commitment and is not willing to provide more than a few hours total to a training solution, then a 6-month long curriculum will fail to get the support it needs to succeed. If the solution were easy, then you wouldn't need an instructional designer.
Learning & Development Expertise
Q: ​How do you approach designing just-in-time content to meet immediate business needs?
A: It is easy to fall into the trap of skipping the analysis phase of what seems like it will be a simple, straight-forward training solution. Don't. No matter how small or insignificant a request seems, it is critical to complete a needs analysis to ensure the goals are met. A needs analysis can be as simple as a 30-minute conversation with a manager, or as extensive as a multi-day interview followed by job shadowing. A good rule of thumb: the larger the audience or the more complex the issue, the more time you should spend on the analysis. A simple 30-min training on how to schedule a meeting should still solve a problem and you won't know the problem or how to properly resolve it without completing a needs analysis.
Q: What strategies do you use to ensure that learning materials are engaging and effective for a variety of learners?
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A: Humor is a critical element for any training because it is scientifically proven that dopamine helps with retention. Whenever possible, I like to add stories and analogies to help learners connect new ideas to what they already know (and the stories help add some humor in most cases!) Regardless of the solution, there are two other critical elements.
1. Make it relevant. ​​​
Early in my career, I participated in a four-day intensive train-the-trainer program for a new approach to cross curricular reading instruction called Reading Apprenticeship. During the training, we were provided with lots of examples of how to apply the strategies in the classroom. Unfortunately, many of the examples used science or social studies standards. As an English teacher, I found myself getting frustrated that I couldn't
"use" anything. Determined to make this program a success, I modified the presentation with specific examples for each of the 6 content areas and taught 6 smaller sessions rather than one large one.
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Coaching & Facilitation
Q: How do you leverage your coaching skills to influence learning outcomes and help others grow?
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A: The most important aspect of coaching is that you identify where the person is starting from and go from there. Coaching is meant to be individualized and focus not on getting someone to do it your way, but guiding them to finding a better way than current state. No matter where they start from, it is important to focus on moving forward. And because no two people learn the same thing, in the same way, at the same time, it is important to try a variety of strategies until you land on one that works for them. Above all else, a good coach builds a relationship first. Rapport will go a long way, and nothing good will happen until you have a solid foundation of trust.
Project & Program Management
Q: ​What steps do you take to manage multiple talent development programs while adhering to timelines and budgets?
A: Project management software or a really well-laid-out spreadsheet is critical to successful project coordination. When it comes to scaling projects I am a firm believer that SOPs, templates, and documentation are worth their weight in gold. When you work alone, it is easy to change your approach or strategy. The larger your team, the more critical standardization becomes. You can not scale one-off solutions; Henry Ford figured this out a long time ago. If you want to increase your throughput you have to have a plan and you have to share that plan with your team. With instructional design, the largest investment comes at the beginning. My team averages about 20 hours in intake, analysis, and planning. We are able to make these hours count when we follow a process. Getting a project going is the hardest part, but it's easy to see it through once you have momentum.
Data & Performance Management
Q: How do you evaluate the effectiveness of your learning programs? ​
A: Data is critical to any successful training initiative. Many times, training requests come from a feeling or a belief and, while these feelings may be valid, they can't be measured. I recently had a manager ask me to create training for his team on presentation skills. When I asked him why, his response was, "I just feel like they really struggle with it and their presentations are not good." If I started with this as the goal of training, I would end up with a nine-month curriculum on presentations including everything from pacing to inflection, to creating PowerPoints, to eye contact, and posture. Do they need all of this? Any of it? How will this translate into dollars and cents for the organization? The only way to know exactly what the training needs to include is to start with data. First, we have to find the data that tells us a lack of presentation skills is hurting the organization, and then we determine exactly what skills are lacking. THEN we create training.