Interview questions for Team leader
1. Tell me about yourself?
This might appear as the most common question which has open ends and can be answered in many ways. An applicant can give details about his family or any other things, but the interviewer is just interested in knowing the preparations that the applicant has done for the interview. The applicant shall present his best side in front of the interviewer.
2. What are the qualities of a successful team leader?
TOP TIP – Use ‘POWER’ words and phrases in your response that focus on your ability to:
• Communicate
• Support your team.
• See projects and tasks through to completion.
• Understand your team’s strengths and weaknesses.
• Be a positive role model.
• Work towards the organization’s
3. How would you solve a dispute or disagreement between two team members under your control?
Always look to resolve problems and disputes quickly, Show the panel you have the confidence and expertise to resolve disputes and When resolving issues between team members, always get those involved to genuinely agree to the resolution.
4. What is leadership and how do you define a ‘good leader’?
Leadership is all about influencing others and is an art of leading deliberately to create a result that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. Leaders are tagged with power and authority who guide the team towards achieving the goals. A good or a great leader leads the team by being an example, inspires, persuades and develops personal connections that help in the success of the organization.
5. How do you make the team members emotionally committed to the overall goals & priorities?
Team management is very important for any leader to achieve the set goals. The team should be aware of the macro picture of the project and what each every individual is contributing to. This makes the team feel enlightened and helps them understand how important they are for the accomplishment of the project. This helps in making the team emotionally committed to the goals. Conducting project review meetings and discussing the way forward ensures no one being lost in the mid and motivates them to finish the tasks given them on time.
6. Have you ever failed as a leader?
Yes, I have. In the early days of being a leader I remember leading a team by using an entirely autocratic approach. I was basically dictating what I expected of the team and what I wanted them to do. This was a mistake, simply because I failed to get to know my team and also what motivated them as individuals. I soon realized that my approach to leadership would fail and so I decided to change quickly.
7. Leader need to be empathetic with the team members. Do you agree?
Yes. Empathy touches the soul of any individual. I feel it is merely misunderstood by many that being empathetic is being lenient. Empathizing with the problems one is facing consoles the individual and gives a feeling that people care for him\her. We spend more than 60% of our time at office and developing good relations with peers, superiors and subordinates is very important. Organizations will surely be benefited with the leaders being empathetic with the team members.
8. Change is inevitable and there will be resistance for change; give us an example of one such instant where you handled change successfully.
Change is essential with the improving science and technology in the modern day world. But there will be resistance to move out of the comfort zone which is human psychology?
You can illustrate a situation where you anchored and lead the change. A narration for example, I faced a strong resistance when wanted to move from the existing Six Sigma methodology to a Lean Six Sigma methodology where both quality and process speed are taken care of
9. How will your previous boss describe you?
A little preparation in advance will be of great help. Never take a chance on this question because the answer has to be given by someone else.
It is always better to get a letter of recommendation from your previous boss, it will be of great support to the applicants’ answer.
10. What are the qualities of a successful manager?
The answer to this question lies in two words: vision and leadership.
A manager is one who has the vision for the long run. The desired results will be achieved if has the leadership qualities to achieve them.
11. How will you praise other employees?
If I have to praise some other employee then it will be done in the presence of all the other members of the team.
By doing I will not only appreciate the hard work done by the employee but will also motivate others to work hard.
12. How do you ensure that the goals of your team are in line with the overall company goals?
The company I currently work for publishes an annual report of KPIs relating to the goals they hope to achieve that year. I extract the company goals that are relevant to my department and break them down into weekly objectives. I then use these objectives to ensure that my team is constantly contributing to the overall goals of the organisation.
13. How creative are you in comparison to your colleagues, i.e. in managing, developing, encouraging and motivating your team?
This question gives you the opportunity to tell the interviewer about how you developed a Monday-morning prize-giving incentive to get your team fired up for the week. Or how you introduced daily staff meetings to keep your team engaged with the goals of the organization or implemented a buddy-up training programmer to help your new recruits settle in faster.
14. How did you recognize the level of trust or respect your team held for you and how did you ensure this continued?
Only you will know if your team really trusts and respects you. Respectful employees will usually make you coffee, hold a door open for you, properly carry out tasks assigned to them and rarely undermine your judgement.
To maintain this level of respect, you should make time to recognise your employees’ efforts, occasionally explain how you reached a solution to a problem (this can help with buy-in for larger changes or projects) and do your best to be consistently level-headed and successful in your judgement – as it only takes one slip-up to undermine your credibility.
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