Can you share with me a situation where you needed to obtain information from someone who was hesitant to provide it and how you went about it?

Task:

1. My team analyzed the current workflows and identified that closing a customer account required manual steps across multiple systems. This process took an agent around 30 minutes per customer. With 20 agents handling tasks like closing fraudulent, dormant, or requested accounts, the inefficiencies were evident.

2. We discussed with business and product teams and found that APIs to close accounts in other systems already existed. By integrating these APIs and exposing the functionality on the CRM, we estimated reducing the time to 5–10 minutes per account, thereby saving the bandwidth of approximately 10–12 agents.

3. While gathering information about the APIs, we successfully acquired details for most systems, except for the API to close ledgers. Despite reaching out to the relevant team via Slack and scheduling meetings, they were unresponsive.

4. We escalated through emails involving stakeholders, but the documents shared were unclear and lacked the necessary details.

5. I started questioning whether we were even engaging the correct stakeholders or if something else was causing the delay.

Action:

1. I scheduled a meeting with the fellow Engineering Manager (EM) responsible for the other team to understand the situation.

2. During the meeting, I discovered that the ledger team had the integration on their roadmap but were hesitant to collaborate because they wanted to implement their API themselves to ensure they received credit for the work.

3. Recognizing the seriousness of the issue, I assured them that our intent was not to take credit for their work but to solve the problem together for the organization’s benefit.

4. To avoid such misunderstandings in the future, I updated the documentation to explicitly call out the owners of each API, ensuring transparency for all stakeholders.

5. I guided my team to use open-ended communication, such as, “Can you show us the request and response for this API?” and provide constructive feedback instead of outright complaints. This approach helped the other team feel included and respected.

6. I included the ledger team in all related communications, fostering a sense of ownership and partnership in the initiative.

Result:

1. We successfully launched the button on the CRM that orchestrated the customer closure process.

2. Trust was built between our teams, and the ledger team even provided on-call support for us during the initial days, including India off-hours.

3. My team learned how to work collaboratively and create win-win situations, strengthening cross-functional relationships within the organization.