Prompt
You are the director of a small community food bank that feeds about 400 families a week. Your volunteer coordinator, Rosa, is the only paid staff member besides you, and she has worked 65 to 70 hours a week for two years without a vacation. In the past month she has double-booked shifts twice, forgotten a large donation pickup, and snapped at a teenage volunteer, who then quit. When you suggest she take two weeks off, she refuses. She says no one else understands the scheduling system and that families will go hungry if things fall apart while she is away. Meanwhile, the board has voted to give her an award for dedication at next month's fundraising dinner. What would you do?
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After you practice: what this question tests and how to approach it
What this question tests
- Empathy and compassion
- Teamwork and collaboration
- Critical thinking
How to approach this question
This MMI station tests whether you can protect a devoted employee from burnout while keeping 400 families fed, in an organization about to give her an award for the very habits wearing her down. Name the people involved: Rosa, the families, the volunteers she has driven away, the board, and you as her manager. Point out that her recent mistakes already put families at risk, and that one person holding the whole scheduling system is a weakness you share responsibility for. Compare letting her carry on, ordering leave, and a gradual plan to write down her system and train a backup before she takes time off. When a follow-up reveals a personal crisis, show compassion for what she's carrying without dropping your concern about her workload and the families who depend on her.
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