Exercise nr.

3
The only story that could fit under the parameters that you specified is the period when I worked at
Unison LLC Tbilisi based insurance company. I was doing my internship(practice) at Unison as a part of
my Bachelors degree program. In the end of the internship the head of the legal department Nata
Bodikadze proposed me to remain with them as I proved to be a good intern. I accepted and after I got my
bachelors diploma I started to work at Unison.
The company is dealing mainly with vehicle and health insurance so at first it was extremely difficult for
me to understand what is going on as what I learned at university was not enough comparing to what I
had to do, thereafter the first month I position myself as D1.
In a month I started to be more independent in regard to the assigned tasks as I learned from fellow
lawyers from the department tricks and elements that made the job easier and more efficient. This is
where I believe I started to be D2. I am not fond of paperwork to much so I asked Nata to give me court
job in order to have a more active job style. Nata didnt want to do it at first but I insisted and she gave
me a case, sort of test case in order to see if I can do the job. The case implied an individual that had a
cheap travel emergency insurance and claimed reimbursement for his health services expenses as a result
of a suspicious sudden illness. We refused to reimburse him as the contract implies reimbursement only in
emergencies and only in sudden cases his case wasnt an neither an emergency nor sudden. The individual
sued us. I had to be quick and smart so I requested his medical history and found out that he had exactly
the same health problem before which served as grounds to think that it wasnt a sudden illness. I won
the case and Nata gave me the court job. I was so amazed that I won the case. It was my first serious job,
done well which boosted my confidence and as a result I believe I transcended to level D3 or D4.
Head of the legal department Nata, had two different leadership styles. At first she had a ,,Teacher style
as she was pushing me but at the same time explaining and giving me hints on how to work with
documents the most efficient way possible. After I started to defend the company in court and did it quite
well, the management applied a mentor leadership style. In my opinion relating ourselves to the specifics
of my development story the management adopted a suitable way of leadership.

Exercise nr. 2

I realized this task with my roommate Davit Grediavshvili. We, Georgians, are very good
negotiators, as interpersonal relations in Georgia are very strong. Therefore, we decided to give
and take feedback regarding the Influencing/Negotiating skill that as appears we both possess on
a quite advanced level.
We love to persuade others, build consensus through give and take, gain cooperation from others
to obtain information and accomplish goals.

1) What was the hardest part, if any?

From my point of view the hardest part was to understand whether the negative feedback that we
were giving was reasonable and had solid grounds as we have different styles of negotiating and
influencing people, because I was perceiving a certain action as a medium/long term strategy
whereas Davit was thinking that its a ,,pushy behavior if I can say so , therefore we decided to
ask a third party to help us decide.
2) What you liked?
I liked that in practice feedback has a dual applicability from one hand feedback helps to
improve the existing skills and from another contributes to eliminate the negative elements
that hinder the development and result.
3) What was the most useful take-away?
The most useful take-away was the fact that I realized the variety of styles or ways that you
can use the negotiating skill, by virtue of psychological approach. Therefore theres more
than one way that you can use negotiating skill in order to achieve the result, also I realized
that it is crucial to have a buffer of tolerance especially when you deal with various people.

Exercise nr. 1

No

Position

Competence

Definition

Company
Lawyer

Problem
Solving

Ability to anticipate
problems, see how a
problem and its
solution will affect
other units; gather
information before
making decisions;
weight alternatives
against objectives and
arrive at reasonable
decisions; adapt well to
changing priorities,
deadlines and
directions; work to
eliminate all processes
which do not add value;
is willing to take
action, even under
pressure, criticism or
tight deadlines; take
informed risks;

Firefighter Teamwork

Basic levels
(proficiency
level) 1-5
5/5

Able to effectively
5/5
work and complete
tasks in-group
settings. Works
cooperatively, with a
positive attitude with
others to achieve
common goals. Treats
others with dignity
and respect and
maintains a friendly
demeanor, values the
contributions of
others, works
strategically in
cooperation with
other team members,
crucial for
firefighters.

Questions asked

1. Tell me about a time

where practical
improvements
needed to be made
based on large
amounts of data?
2. Describe a situation
in which the cause
of a problem was not
initially clear?
3. When have you
needed to solve a
problem using
abstract,
lateral thinking?

1. How do you deal

with team
breakdown ?
2. Describe a situation
in which you were
able to build team
spirit during a time
of low morale
3. What kinds of
people do you have
problems getting
along with?
4. What are in your
opinion key
ingredients in
guiding and
maintaining a
successful team
relationship?

Financial
Analyst

Analytical
thinking

Ability to visualize,
articulate,
conceptualize or
solve both complex
and uncomplicated
problems by making
decisions that are
sensible given the
available
information.

5/5

1. Give me an example
on how you
demonstrated your
quantitative ability.
2. Describe the project
or situation that best
demonstrates your
analytical abilities?
What was your role?
3. Tell me about a time
when you had to
analyze information
and make a
recommendation.
4. To whom did you
make the
recommendation?
5. What was your
reasoning ?

Exercise nr.1(continuation)
No
1

Competence
Problem Solving

Teamwork

Low(0)
Average(1)
Proposes solution to Reconciles
improve
customer
satisfaction
Determines cause of
workforce problem
and
recommends
corrective action
Addresses
routine
organizational
problems by leading
a team to brainstorm
solutions

Establishes
guidelines to clarify
complex
and/or
controversial
processes
Works with team to
implement
operating
procedures within agency
Suggests utilizing team
exercises
to
improve
dynamics

Requires frequent

Strong(2)
conflicting
incomplete
to
develop

and/or
information
solutions

Applies
appropriate
methodology to discover or
identify policy issues and
resource concern

Addresses systemic barriers

inhibiting the achievement of
results by forming teams to
conduct focus groups and
develop solutions

Includes entire team in

decision-making
process
when developing mission and
goals for the division
Creates senior-level teams
to design and implement
requirements for new systems

Improves organizational
efficiency by developing,
planning, and implementing a
multi-tier solution to complex
or unprecedented problems
Develops and implements a
remediation plan restoring
stakeholder confidence in a
critical agency program
Synthesizes information from
internal and external sources to
develop an action plan
addressing program issues

Promotes cohesiveness of a
dysfunctional team by defining
roles and responsibilities of
each team member and
establishing overall objectives
Leads teams to implement

Analytical
thinking

guidance

and procedures
Leads team from various
organizational units to create
new systems or processes

Applies the competency in

the simplest situations
Requires close and
extensive guidance
Ensures the result is
accurate and
complete
Monitors income and
expenditures for projects

Applies the competency in

somewhat difficult situations
Conducts research to
determine resource needs and
guides
the
procurement
process to acquire resources
Conducts
a
cost-benefit
analysis to develop sound
financial
plans
with
programmatic impact

Follows
established
guidelines and procedures to
ensure approval of funding
for key initiatives
Prepares and monitors
office's annual operating
budget

Congressional programs and

interact
with
legislative
representatives
Inspires interagency team to
accomplish long-term strategic
goals
Designs and implements an
agency-wide
financial
management system to meet
organizational objectives

Develops
agency-wide
financial
procurement
procedures and policies
Audits major acquisitions
having agency-wide impact,
presents
findings,
and
recommends corrective actions
Applies the competency in
exceptionally
difficult
situations

Exercise nr. 4
5. Please evaluate at which development level (D1 to D2) Kaspars is related to each
task:
a. Kaspars is a capable and energetic middle level manager in a medium size organization
(about 70 people). He has more than 10 years work experience, and he has been working
hard to build his career. He has good project planning and collaboration skills, and
Kaspars likes working in a team. He has a good sense of humor and he is well-liked
among his office, as well as he is informal leader
of his team. As Kaspars' line manager is sure that he is ready to be promoted, he is being
given several tasks to see if he is ready for the next career level.
Kaspars is asked to create the budget for the Sales department for the next fiscal year. So far
his line manager has been doing it. Budgeting is always a stressful time, because every
number has to have justification behind it, you should not forget anything and quite often all
estimates have to be defended fighting with the Finance Director of the region. Budget has
very many lines and positions (business, travel, staff salaries, taxes and benefits, training
etc.), one needs to acquire a lot of new information and work closely with Accounting to
obtain it. Every mistake can influence the work of the next year. And this has to be done on
top of regular responsibilities which already usually take more than 8 hours of a day.

Kaspars already finds it difficult to have enough quality time with family and kids, and now
on top this is coming! It would be good if his boss could help with this, but unfortunately he
is on a long-term business trip in Poland and will not return before the deadline for
submitting the budget.
Development level D2 as a result of low commitment and to some extent low or
middle competence.
b. There is high level management visit planned in Riga office. All the local management is
very
excited about it. They would like to avoid any misunderstandings and leave the best
impression- the atmosphere is not far from painting the grass green. Kaspars has experienced
organizing similar visits of lower management, but only as a team member, as the
Commercial Director Baltics has
been leading everything (general visit agenda, logistics, introduction to the organization,
presentations of local Lead Team etc.). The Commercial Director has big experience dealing
with such issues, as he is from Poland and has been part of hosting guests there. In Poland
such visits take place every two months, in Riga - once in 5 years! 2 days before the
management visit the wife of the Commercial Director, who has stayed back in Poland,
breaks her leg during a car accident. It is a complicated fracture, and she has to stay in a
hospital for several operations. During that time someone should take care of the other
family members (2 small kids and a dog). So the Commercial Director leaves for Warsaw
with the first possible flight, promising Kaspars to be available over the phone. Kaspars is
upset about the situation and really worried. Rumors say that the Global Finance
Director has a very short fuse
Development level D1, because I think that Kaspars wants to organize everything on
the top level, therefore he is very committed, however he doesnt know how to do it, so
his competence is low.

Exercise nr. 5
Peter Bergman describes his storyline according to the Kotter 8-stage model that you can see
on the right.

At first Peter thought that everything is going well and

had no worries as he had experience and thought that took

into

account all details. However everything went wrong and

Peter was demoralized as his approach didnt work. Peter was in
situation to embrace change or fail.
The urgency was from the very beginning in form

the
of

getting the project implemented. Peter started to

shape his

working environment. Peter changed his approach on

how to

obtain the desired result where he communicated his

project members in the most efficient
Peter implemented change and achieved
he could expect applied the Kotter model.

vision to the
way.
the best result that