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PROUDLY PRESENTS
Michael Doll
Resident of Germany and 3-DNET® VIP member
Email contact : michael@exec.org
VIDEO INTRODUCTION®
INTERVIEW WITH 3-DNET®
Interview in German
Listen to sample sound "bites" from the interview:
Question 1 : Tell me about yourself
I believe my resume reflects a career of leadership, creativity and versatility that provides solid skills and bottom line management within several industries. Some common threads are my skills in building high performance teams, communications, process reengineering, and helping everyone, including the company, the customer and the team be successful. I strive for win-win situations.
Question 2 : What can you offer to your next employer ?
I feel that your organization can benefit from my ability to make things happen. My ability to instill excitement, defuse pressure and conflict, and develop and motivate teams that will help the organization as a whole be successful. But that is not all. My technical and business expertise allows me to quickly understand both business & technical situations and draft plans of action, which will mitigate or avoid major issues. My customer focus and ability to get buyin at all levels, internally and externally are some of the assests I would bring to your organization. I hope to instill this excitement and energy in the teams I am a part of.
Question 3 : What are your strengths ?
My strengths are leadership, efficiency, and customer focus. I seem to have a way of motivating people to work as a team, hand in hand, as I have successfully done leading the teams as a manager and project manager. Not addressing inefficiencies, leaves the issue to reocurr over and over. This wastes time and money, and that awakes my interest. Customer’s pay my salary and therefore even in difficult times, they have my complete attention and will assist them whereever possible.
Question 4 : What are your accomplishments ?
Let me mention two major accomplishments which are representive of my abilities. First, I have experience at assembling professional teams, like the ones at MCI and Cooperheat. At MCI we were responsible for handling the company’s largest customers (in excess of $150M) operating in the German speaking countries. At Cooperheat, we were responsible for cutting down on rework, and ensuring the quality of work the company did was to the satisfaction of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The unique thing about these teams were their chemistry. They were highly motivated, helped each other be successful and worked together towards goals which effected the bottom line. Second, at o.tel.o, I was hired to develop an interface between the sales department and the different service delivery and customer service departments. Developing Process Interface Agreeements and getting them signed off, was the easy part. In parallel, we urgently needed a tracking tool for global accounts which up to that point was non existant. As an interim solution, I found someone internally who was willing to work with me, to get the tool programed on MS Access. We got the tool installed and working in the shortest amount of time. Once word spread throughout the company I was getting calls left and right. The euphoria was unbelieveable. At my current company I have also won numerous awards for my work on a global scale, where I was able to motivate people across the various cultures to meet the goals and time frames expected. My ability to instill trust, honesty, respect and open communications are the major skills which I attribute to my personal success, as well as teams in general.
Question 5 : What are your limitations ?
I don’t limit myself, and therefore as the saying goes, “the sky’s the limit.” Thinking that there are limitations, is counter productive. I have always been able to understand most every subject or task at hand. If not I get the people with the expertise involved and work with them toward the solution required.
Question 6 : How much are you worth ?
I would like to say a lot! The reason being, I give 150%. I am cost, time and quality conscience, with a very strong customer focus. I concentrate on getting results which save the company money, increase customer satisfaction, and build chemistry and strong relationships. At my current company, I have won numerous awards, for having this demeanor and work ethic. As you may know, my current company is going through a painful time which has included downsizing. Within the last 2 years, it has had to let some very good people go. My status has included having several new managers, where within a few months I was able to show my worth to my new manager. But with the company’s situation, he was given the task of letting people go. I was included in the reduction for the end of 2003, but somehow I never received notice. This made me curious and I called him to find out why. The main response was, quote unquote, we need more people like you and not less. This made me proud as he had been my manager for just nine months and saw first hand my worth, as I was working on a high profile customer.
Question 7 : What are your ambitions for the future ?
My ambitions are to be successful. To be able to succeed one needs to able to foresee a bit of the future, get an estimate of the risks involved and possible outcomes. Clear goals need to be set, and their progress monitored. Any deviation needs to be addressed and adustments may or may not need to be made. Many people don’t take the time to follow this process. What I have seen numerous times, is that with proper planning, including lessons learned from previous experiences, many of the pitfalls can be avoided. But not all of them. Also, to be successful, others around you need to be successful. As a leader, I needed everyone working toward the same goals. We succeeded together!
Question 8 : How long would it take you start contributing to the firm?
Depending on the business itself, I would say 2 to 3 months is normal. But anytime you join a new organization, a person coming from the outside can see things in another light. That person in conjunction with learning the company’s business and given the opportunity, can have an immediate effect on the organization and it’s bottom line. Given my extensive education and experience, which includes the majors, electronic engineering and finance, I hope to be able to make an immediate contribution.
Question 9: What is your management style?
In my function as coach and mentor, I try to instill the team with the excitement and energy of being successful. My management style promotes responsibility, accountability, trust, honesty, respect and open communications. These are some of the values I instilled in the team I assembled. The sales teams and customers specifically requested they work on their next projects, They received letters of praise and were rewarded for going above and beyond. Coaching and mentoring are strong skills I have. My other responsibility as a manager includes the accountability to the company and to the customer. This means positively effecting the bottom line by closely monitoring time, cost, and quality.
Question 10: Why do you think you have a good potential to be a manager?
The first thing I would look for is work experience. Then during the interview, some of the things would be trying to find out are, what kind of work ethic the person has, does she have the right attitude and enthusiaism, and what strengths does the person bring to the team. I look for whether the person would fit into the team and company culture as a whole.
Question 11: What would you look for in hiring people?
Strong character and a will to win. People who may not have the technical experience but have these characteristics appeal to me as technical training can be given, but desire and commitment are often within a person.
Question 12: As a manager, have you ever had to fire someone?
Yes, for disiplinary reasons. But I feel that if the person has the ability and wants to do the job, that person should be given a chance. For non disiplinary things, I expect the team to help the person. Grab him under the arms and help him to learn. We all can learn from one another.and everyone has their strengths. Only by helping each other can we be successful together. Afterall, we’re all on the same team and working toward the same organizational goals.
Question 13: What do you see as the most difficult task of being a manager?
Conflict is inevitable and sometimes one of the most difficult tasks to take on, especially when two strong willed people are at odds with each other for personal reasons.
Question 14: Describe what you feel is the best work environment?
The best work environment would be an environment that breads creativity and success. If the organization allows for open communication, where people trust each other and are honest, creativity could become the norm. In this environment, people are not afraid to bring up new ideas, or make mistakes. If the company is successful, the people working for the company are proud to be associated with the company.
Question 15: Looking back how do you describe your past employer?
MCI has been a great place to work. The company culture is unlike any other organization I was ever a part of. This has slightly changed, as you might expect when a company is forced to come to terms with it’s past. But even today the people still at MCI are true professionals.
Question 16: What have you done to increase productivity, performance, efficiency, etc..?
Establishing the quality control department at Cooperheat quickly increased productivity, performance and efficiency in that the feedback helped to pinpoint the process problems. At o.tel.o, creating the process tracking tool immediately improved productivity and provided for realtime status of orders placed, thus improving customer satisfaction. As a Project Management Professional, It is my responsibility to improve the processes and procedures which are defficient. As a manager, anything that effects inefficiencies and is counter productive gets my attention, and gets addressed as necessary.
Question 17: Whether you are a "computer wizard", how do you respond to the financial side of your responsibilities?
I like working with numbers, so this is not something I shy away from. As with every budget priorities need to be set. From my experience in leading teams, travel and training are usually the biggest portion of the budget I’ve been allocated. Having also experience in Quality Assurance and process reengineering, there are ways of saving money by cutting down on rework, doing things right the first time and optimizing processes.
Question 18: How many people have you supervised in your recent job?
The team I assembled at MCI in Germany was about 15, where as a project manager (not having full disiplinary authority) the number ranged up to 50 on upwards.
Question 19: What do you like more, working with figures or words?
This is a tough question for me. On the one side, I enjoy working with numbers concerning investing and finance, but on the other side I enjoy reading about business, history and technology. I have an interest in both, being an investor, an engineer interested in technology, and a person who never stops learning.
Question 20: How do you think that your subordinates receive you?
I can’t actually speak for them, but I believe they respect me and know that they can come to me any time they have a problem, be it personal or business related. As already indicated, I believe in open communications based on respect, trust and honesty. I like to build a strong relationships based on these.
Question 21: What do you think of your previous boss?
I feel he has done a tremdous job under the circumstances surrounding the company and would definitely work for him again.
Question 22: Describe a situation in which your work was criticized?
Valid constructive criticisms are always welcome, as this is how we learn. The criticisms that have been made, were directed at the unforeseen or inexperience in a particular area. This is why I value lessons learned so much. They provide us with a learning mechanism which, if well documented, provides the team, company, organization, etc., a means for continuously improving.
Question 23: If I spoke with your boss what he would say about your greatest strength and weaknesses?
He would say, if you need something done urgently, give Michael Doll a call in Germany. Within the last couple of months, I’ve had numerous callers asking for my assistance. I have become the go-to guy within EMEA, especially when the pressure is on and it counts. One of the weaknesses he may mention is the fact that I try to resolve issues which effect my team for which noone in the company has taken responsibility. Our team is not measured on this and the time it sometimes costs to resolve can not be justified. I see this as something that will reoccur, wasting the company’s resources until it is resolved. So needless to say I have a longer than 40 hour work week, having to make sure all the normal work is done first
"If I spoke with your boss.... ?"
Question 24: How can you handle life under pressure and with tough deadlines?
The way I always have, set expectations that are realistic, be honest about the situation, communicate the urgency as required and then meet the expectations which have been agreed and set. Having been a project manager with direct contact to the customer, I was confronted with this situation on a daily basis. The worst thing you can do is lie to the customer because once he knows, all trust and respect for you is lost. Not just the project manager, but the company as a whole. Another aspect of pressure is the internal pressures and deadlines that need to be met.I usually prepare for these deadlines well in advance which helps to avoid the last minute pressure.
Question 25: What do you think you do better: staff work or line work?
My extensive work experience has exposed me to both, and I feel staff work is my fortay. As indicated, building high performance teams is one pillar of my success. I enjoy working with people and being part of successful and creative teams.
Question 26: In your current position, what problem have you identified that was previously overlooked?
I have tried to address the issues that have a cost effect, or those that cause inefficiencies. For instance we are sending the incorrect modems to Russia and the engineer there ends up buying the correct modems in country. I have gotten with the product manager and the vendor to resolve the issue. I try to resolve issues big or small and have a bulldog mentality in resolving them.
Question 27: If you had a choice of job and a company what would you choose?
I would say job, because this is where I can provide results, build strong relationships with my colleagues and take on the challenges of the position
Question 28:Do you have any objection to take a psychological test?
No, and actually feel that if I could see the results, it would be beneficial. I’ve taken a few tests in this direction like the Briggs-Meyers Test.
Question 29: Do you consider yourself as a creative person?
Yes, very much so. In today’s business world, faced with the unknown, you have to try to be. Faced with difficult problems, you have to think outside the box, possibly get numerous people involved. Most people think that top managers know everything and that is just not the case. Again, we need to succeed together with everyone pulling in the same direction. It’s a team effort.
Question 30: How do you describe your personality?
I would say I’m an extrovert and very much team oriented. I can also work as an individual and have been successful both working in teams and individually.
Question 31: What is your outside reading you do?
My favorites are Harvard Business Review and Information Technology, and in general I like to read about business and finance, technology, history and some american sports magazines.
Question 32: What are some of your outside activities?
I enjoy doing things with technology, since this keeps me up to date with products and services on the market. I like to play baseball/softball & basketball, travel to other countries and learn about different cultures.
Question 33: Are you continuing your education?
My goals have changed over time mainly to be able to adapt to the environment. In order to keep up, I have advanced my education, kept up on technology, and travelled extensively.Globalization and technology are currently playing a major role in today’s business world and you have to keep up. Some of the things I do are, I take part in the weekly company trainings, some of which are required for recertification as a Project Management Professional, and I regularly read The Harvard Business Review.
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