Tell me about a time when you had to take a firm stand with a co-worker. What was
the situation? What was difficult about the co-worker? What was the firm stand you had to take?
Describe how you instruct someone to do something new. What were you training them
to do? Walk me through how you did it.
Tell me about a time when you had to win approval from your co-workers for a new idea
or plan of action.
Tell me about a new idea or way of doing something that you came up with which was
agreed to by the boss. What did you do to get it to the right person? What did you
do to get the boss to agree? Be specific.
Describe any supervisory or leadership training, schooling, or work experience you
have had and its relevance to this position.
What leadership skills and experience do you have that would qualify you as an effective
leader? Be specific.
Would your staff consider you to be “approachable”? Why or why not? Give an example.
Tell me about a time when you set a vision for the future and how you tried convince
others to “buy into” that vision.
Do you tend to favor being a decision-maker or implementer?
Was your previous team of direct reports very similar to you or very different from
you? How so? What were the advantages and disadvantages of that type of team composition?
Tell me about a time when you approached a problem from a variety of different angles.
How did you do this? What was the outcome?
Tell me about a time when you had to run interference or “take an arrow for the team”
to help ensure your teams success.
Tell me about a time when one of your team members didn’t perform satisfactorily.
How did you react? What action did you take to ensure the problem didn’t occur again?
Tell me about a time when you had to fire a member of your team. What was the cause/reason?
How did you handle it? How did the rest of your team react?
Tell me about a time when your team was given a project/assignment, but was provided
insufficient resources to get the job done. How did you react?
Tell me about a time when, as the leaders, you had to admit you did not have all the
answers. How did you do it? How was it received by your team?
Describe a leader who has influenced you in your work. Tell me how you experienced
this person’s influence. How was that person inspiring?
