Keys to developing a winning STAR story Crossroads Career Network Grace Church Eden Prairie, MN October 15, 2011

1. Keys to developing a winningSTAR story Crossroads Career Network Grace Church Eden Prairie, MN October 15, 2011 Facilitator Natalie Ackerman

2. What are employers looking for? Adaptability Maintaining effectiveness in varying environments and with different tasks, responsibilities, and people. Communication Skills Delivers ideas and concepts in a succinct, organized, and understandable fashion. High skill level with active listening. Customer Service Ability to understand/anticipate and meet/exceed the customer’s needs. Decision Making Identifying and understanding issues, problems, and opportunities; comparing data from different sources to draw conclusions and take action. Initiative Actively attempts to influence events and people to achieve goals; self-starting rather than passive acceptance. Taking imaginative, creative action to achieve goals beyond what is called for.

3. What are employers looking for? Leadership Utilization of appropriate interpersonal styles and methods in guiding individuals (subordinates, peers, superiors) or groups toward maximum results. Motivation The activities that stimulate and intrinsically reward an individual. Persuasiveness Ability to convince others, help groups to work together. Practical Learning Assimilating and applying, in a timely manner, new job-related information that may vary in complexity. Stress tolerance Stability of performance under pressure and/ or opposition. Handling disappointment and/or rejection while maintaining effectiveness.

4. What’s YourR.O.I.? How have you: Contributed to generating revenue… Saved money… Saved time (which saves money)… Made work easier (which saves time, which saves money)… Solved a specific problem… Helped your employer become more competitive… Strengthened the relationships or image with internal/external customers, vendors, or the public… Expanded the normal scope of business… Brought in new customers… Retained existing customers…

5. STAR Model Situation Frame the story with contextual details, offering specific numbers about the situation: What was the specific situation you were faced with? Use numbers to describe who and what was involved Where and when did it occur? What was the impact of the situation? What was the timeframe for the story? Task What was the overall outcome or target for the project?

6. STAR Model Action What specific action was taken to tackle the task, overcome the challenge, or resolve the issue? Were others were closely involved? If so, what interaction was had with them? Describe the thoughts and/or decision-making process. What was the specific role in relation to the team?

7. STAR Model Results • What measurable outcome was achieved? • How were others impacted, including boss, team, department, company, customers, community, or industry. • If the outcome wasn’t rosy… • What conclusions did you reach? • What positives did you learn from the experience?

8. STAR Model Results (cont.) If it was a group effort, what measurable outcome did the group achieve or contribute to? • contributed to a 5 percent increase in productivity; • supported a team that met or exceeded goal by 9 percent in a difficult economy; • participated in an effort that improved customer satisfaction scores; • collaborated with team members to accomplish work with 25 percent less staff; or • provided ideas that halted a conflict or impasse that had held up progress?

9. STAR Example Situation: The patients in a group I was facilitating weren't following through on their home treatments or exercises which was having a negative impact on our program results and program profitability. Task: I was tasked with developing a program to reward patients who were following through. Action: I developed a proposal for the program, gained my supervisor’s approval and implemented the program with the help of a co‐facilitator. The program involved bringing out a progress tally board and having the patients indicate how much time they’d spent in the previous week doing the exercises. Each then got up to demonstrate their progress. Results: Initially patients were hesitant about the technique but I made the environment as non‐threatening as possible. Soon, patients were doing their homework and progressing through their treatment regimen more efficiently and we saw a 72% increase in patient compliance.

10. STAR Example Situation: When I was working at an accounting firm we had a network outage resulting from a system capacity overload. It was during tax season and our accountants couldn’t process returns and our customer service agents couldn’t answer client questions. Task: I was tasked with getting the system running by the next business day. Action: I contacted our vendor and gave the details of what happened and told them we would need a new system with upgraded capacity – same day. They gave me the options and I selected the one that best fit our needs. The vendor came that same afternoon to load the new program . I was there as a subject matter expert to answer questions and troubleshoot. Once the system was loaded, I performed testing and did Q/A until I was certain the system would run seamlessly. I stayed until 1:00 in the morning to get this done. It Just happened to be the night of the big Halloween snow storm. All my colleagues left early and I stayed until the Job got done. Results: The system was implemented and up and running first thing in the morning so that our CSR’s and accountants had immediate access to the system. We upgraded our user capacity from 100 to 250 users. And averted a potential client service nightmare.

11. Putting it in writing… What accomplishment are you most proud of in your career? Situation: Task: Action: Results: What category does this story fit into?