Leadership questions

1.Tell me about a time when you accomplished something significant that wouldnt have happen
ed if you had not been there to make it happen.
2.Tell me about a time when you were able to step into a situation, take charge, muster support, a
nd achieve good results.
3.Describe for me a time when you may have been disappointed in your behavior.
4. Tell me about a time when you had to discipline or fire a friend.
5. Tell me about a time when youve had to develop leaders under you.
1.Give me an example of a situation where you had to overcome major obstacles to achieve your
objectives.
2.Tell me about a goal that you set that took a long time to achieve or that you are still working t
oward.
3. Tell me about a time when you won (or lost) an important contract.
4.Tell me about a time when you used your political savvy to push a program though that you rea
lly believed in.
5.Tell me about a situation that you had significant impact on because of your followthrough.

1.Give me an example that would show that youve been able to develop and maintain productiv
e relations with others, though there were differing points of view.
2.Tell me about a time when you were able to motivate others to get the desired results.
3. Tell me about a difficult situation with a coworker, and how you handled it.
4.Tell me about a time when you played an integral role in getting a team (or workgroup) back o
n track.
1. Tell me about a time when you delegated a project effectively.
2. Tell me about a time when you did a poor job of delegating.
3. Describe for me a time when you had to delegate to a person with a full workload, and how yo
u went about doing it.

1. How would your staff and colleagues describe your leadership style? Give us an example
to support your answer.
The purpose of this question is to find out if the style is congruent with the organizational
culture. The perceptive leader is able to adapt his or her style to fit the follower's, employee's and
organizational needs.
2. What are the most important values and ethics you demonstrate as a leader? Give us an
example of these in practice.
Integrity- being truthful and trustworthy and having conviction - is an essential leadership
competency. The effective leader demonstrates values and ethics in personal behavior and
integrates these values and ethics into organizational practices and activities. A good leader acts
with the courage of his/her convictions. While leaders are open with their employees and model
honesty, transparency and fairness, they do not violate confidences or divulge potentially
harmful information.
3. Name some situations in which a leader may fail. Tell us about a time when you failed as
a leader?
A number of factors can fall outside a leader's control such as the available skill pool in the
organization, time constraints, the economic climate. If employees are lethargic and negatively
orientated, it can create a situation ripe for failure. In answering leadership interview questions
that explore how one deals with difficult challenges, listen for how the candidates were able to
analyze the setback and seek honest feedback to learn from failure and how they used the
difficult situation to encourage constructive questioning of policies and practices. This is an
opportunity to show what their ability is to be resilient in the face of failure and to constantly
work towards improvement.
4. What role does leadership play for a manager? How have you demonstrated this with
your managers?
The leader's role is to communicate the strategic vision to management with clarity...to translate
the vision into concrete direction and plans; to identify and communicate priorities, short term
objectives, timelines, performance measures, clear accountabilities and performance agreements
to management; and to provide quality judgment and advice.
5. Tell us about an innovative solution you developed to a non-traditional problem.
Effective leaders promote change and innovation. Finding solutions to unique problems are
facilitated by encouraging a constant information flow in all directions and emphasizing
responsiveness to changing demands.
6. Tell us about a time when the going got really tough. How did you rally the staff and
build morale?
Leaders build a sense of common purpose by promoting the organizational vision both internally
and externally. They develop and implement effective communication strategies within the
organization. Remove barriers to collaboration. Provide clear direction on priorities. This type of
question hopefully prompts the candidate to give clear and honest feedback to inspire trust.
7. What methods have you used to gain commitment from your team?
Leaders gain commitment by influencing and persuading the team to set objectives and buy into
the process. They establish a spirit of cooperation and cohesion for goal attainment. They take
the team into the performing phase as quickly as possible. Leaders encourage debate and ideas
from all stakeholders. They inspire a commitment to success and excellence by demonstrating
passionate personal commitment and promote a productive culture by valuing individuals and
their contributions. All leaders have to deal with conflict situations. Describe a recent
disagreement or conflict you personally had to handle. Leadership interview questions explore
how a candidate handles conflict and seeks responses that look at their ability to understand and
respect different views. Candidates demonstrate their ability to settle dispute by focusing on
solving the problem taking into consideration the personalities involved, to evaluate the viability
of different dispute resolution mechanisms available, and provide support and expertise to
othersto negotiate compromise.
8. How have you influenced employees to follow your strategic vision for the organization?
Leaders develop ownership by involving employees in the decision-making and planning
process. They provide resources to facilitate employee success and empower employees by
devolving authority to get things done efficiently. Effective leaders develop processes that
engage employees in achieving the strategic vision.
9. How have you encouraged learning and development of employees?
Learning happens at every opportunity. A candidates answers to leadership interview questions
like this should demonstrate that effective leaders develop employees by mentoring, coaching
and providing performance feedback on a daily basis. Leaders act as models for their employees
but the most effective leaders not only teach by example they take a personal interest in the
learning of others and serve as mentors. Additionally they manage learning throughout the
organization by continually focusing attention on the learning agenda and providing the
resources to facilitate it. Finally leaders monitor learning by getting regular feedback.
10. What was the most significant change you brought about in an organization?
Leaders can recognize new opportunities and anticipate long term opportunities. They determine
new business directions for the organization. They are able to create enthusiasm and acceptance
of the new vision or change and use the appropriate leadership style to inspire and guide
employees to embrace change. The question focuses on eliciting what the candidates concept of
leadership means to them. They should be looking back over their experiences and select
insightful examples of how they have demonstrated the competencies associated with leadership
1. Give an example of a time recently, when you were a group leader that you had a specific
task to accomplish. What was the assigned task and what was the outcome?
2. Tell me about the group members, how they participated and how you handled the situati
on of a member that did not participate. Behavioral-Based Interview
3. In regards to leadership, give me an example of a time when a group you were leading fai
led to meet expectations. Explain how you implemented service recovery.
4. Give a specific example or examples of how you helped your previous organization reach
its organizational goals.
5. Describe a situation that happened recently where you were leading a small group that ha
d been assigned a task.
6. Give specific examples of how you have promoted your organization's missions and valu
es in the past.
7. Tell me a time when you motivated a care team to implement new organizational goals.
8. Provide an example of a time when you took on the role of a leader in a committee
or group. How did you lead the team and what were the outcomes?
9. Tell about a time when a group you led failed or did not meet expectations. What happen
ed? What did you do?
10. Give an example of how you have motivated your staff, a team or a group of coworkers
11. How have you recognized and rewarded others for their performance?
12. What is the toughest group that you have had to get cooperation from? Describe how you
handled. What was the outcome?
13. What is the most important skill of a good leader? Describe a time when you effectively
used this leadership skill on the job.
14. Tell me about a team project when you had to take charge of the project? What did you
do? What was the result?
15. Describe a leadership role of yours outside of work. Why did you commit your time to it?
How did you feel about it?
16. What is the toughest group that you have ever had to lead? What were the obstacles?
How did you handle the situation?
17. What has been your greatest leadership achievement in a professional environment? Talk
through the steps you took to reach it.
18. What have been the greatest obstacles you have faced in building/growing a team?
19. Describe a time when you have not only been responsible for leading a team of people
but for also doing the same job as your team members? How did you juggle/balance your
time?
20. Describe some time in your work at ___________ when you felt most tired. What caused
this?
21. In your work at ___________, describe the amount of physical effort you put out and
what you have/had to do in a typical day.
22. In your experience at ______________, describe the most tiring duties.
23. There are days or times of day for everyone where energy level may be a bit low. Can
you think of a situation where your energy level was low and you were able to re-fuel?
24. Tell me about a time you had to revitalize a stagnant team? What techniques did you find
particularly successful?
25. Can you think of a specific example of what you have done to show your employer that
you are more than an average employee?
26. Tell me about a time you went above and beyond the call of duty to get a job done.
27. Give me an example of a time you showed initiative and took the lead.
28. Describe a situation in which you saw a problem and took action to correct it?
29. What has been your biggest achievement at ______________? What steps did you take
to achieve it?
30. Describe some ways you changed your job at ______________? What prompted you to
make those changes?
31. Tell me about the toughest group you had to get cooperation from. What did you do?
32. What is the most difficult on-on-one meeting that you have had with a subordinate?
Why was it difficult?
33. Tell me about a new policy or idea that you recently implemented which was
considerably different from the standard procedure. What approach did you take to get
your employees to go along with it?
34. Can you think of an example where you had to lead a task force, committee or group
that didnt report to you, but from whom you had to get work? What did you do to get
what you wanted from the group? What were the satisfactions and
35. Can you think of a recent example of a problem that you have had in which you included
your subordinates in arriving at solutions or approaches? What approach did you take to
get them to accomplish the task?
36. Can you think of an example of when you have had problems getting your subordinates
to accept your ideas or department goals? What approach did you use (look for
involvement of subordinates in decision making)? How effective was it?
37. Can you think of an example where two subordinates did not work well together? What
did you do in order to get them to do so?
38. Can you think of an example of a subordinate that you have had with a performance
problem? What did you do to get them to correct the problem?
39. Can you think of examples of certain things that you have done in the past to set an
example for your subordinates?
40. Give an example of a time in which you felt you were able to build motivation in your
co-workers or subordinates at work.
41. Give an example of your ability to build motivation in your co-workers, classmates, and
even if on a volunteer committee.
42. Have you ever had difficulty getting others to accept your ideas? What was your
approach? Did it work?
43. Have you ever been a member of a group where two of the members did not work well
together? What did you do to get them to do so?
44. What is the toughest group that you have had to get cooperation from?
45. What is the toughest group that you have had to get cooperation from? Describe how you
handled it. What was the outcome?
46. Tell me about a time when you took on an informal leadership role with a group when it
was not in your job description. What prompted you to take the lead?
47. Tell me about a situation in which you had to coordinate several people to achieve a goal.
How did you go about coordinating and leading the group? How did they respond?
48. Tell me about a team member from whom it was tough to gain cooperation. How did you
handle this sensitive situation?
49. Tell me about a time when you tried to lead a group and were not as successful as you'd
have liked. What happened? What did you learn from the experience?
50. Give me some examples of how you have acted as a role model for your team - be
specific.
51. Give me some examples of ideas you've presented that required your team's "buy in".
How did you modify your behavior to influence team members' opinions?
52. Tell me about the toughest group that you have had to get working as a productive team.
53. How have you evaluated your effectiveness as a leader? What have the results been?
54. Give me an example of an idea you tried to present to your team members, but were
unable to gain acceptance. What was your approach?
55. When have you inspired someone to work hard to do a better job? How did you do that?

56. Give me an example of a time when you came up with a clever way to motivate your
employees.
57. Under what style of management do you work well? Under what style of management do
you prefer not to work?
58. What are three effective leadership qualities you think are important. How have you
demonstrated these qualities in your past/current position?
59. What has been your experience in supervising a diverse group of employees with varied
backgrounds and skills, and what did you do to ensure the best fit of employees for each
job?
60. What has been your experience in dealing with poor performance of employees? Give me
an example.
61. Tell me about a leadership role that you have filled in the past. Describe the key
leadership skills you feel you have and how you demonstrated them.
62. Give me an example of a time when you came up with a clever way to motivate your
employees.
63. Describe a circumstance in which you recommended the dismissal of a worker who had
proven he/she could not handle the job. What procedure did you follow?
64. What are three effective leadership qualities you think are important. How have you
demonstrated these qualities in your past/current position?
65. Describe a leadership situation that you would handle differently if you had it to do over
again.
66. What one experience proved to you that you would be a capable manager?
67. Give me an example of a time when you helped a staff member accept change and make
the necessary adjustments to move forward. What were the change/transition skills that
you used?
68. Tell me about a specific time when you had to handle a tough morale problem.
69. Tell me about a time when you had to take disciplinary action with someone you
supervised.
70. Tell me about a time when you had to tell a staff member that you were dissatisfied with
his or her work.
71. Tell me about a time when you had to handle a highly emotional employee.
72. Discuss a work situation in which you felt you successfully directed the work of others.
73. Tell me about a time when your department was going through long-term changes or
working on a long-term project. What did you do to keep your staff focused?
74. What have you done to develop the skills of your staff? How many of your employees
have received training (any form) during the past year? What were the specific topic
areas? Did they ask for the training or did your suggest it to them?
75. Tell me about a specific development plan that you created and carried out with one or
more of your employees. What was the specific situation? What were the components of
the development plan? How long was the time frame from start to finish? What was the
outcome?
76. Please tell me about your most successful attempt to encourage others to take action and
get the job done. What led you to take these actions? Exactly how did you encourage
others to take action or responsibility? What was the result of your efforts? Did anyone
comment on your actions? Who? What was said? How often have you taken this type of
action in the past six months?
77. Tell me about a time when you were responsible for hiring and orientating a new
employee. What did you do to help them adjust?
78. Tell me about a time when you needed to delegate parts of a large assignment. How did
you decide whom to distribute them to? What problems occurred? What was the
outcome?
79. What specific information do/did you share with your staff, how often do you share this
information and why?
80. Give me a specific example of how you have empowered your staff to make independent
decisions.
81. Tell me about the expectations you create for staff. What are they? What factors do you
consider in setting/communicating expectations?
82. Tell me about the specific talents and contributions of your team/staff and how you have
utilized these qualities to increase the effectiveness of the unit.
83. Setting high expectations implies you believe the employee can deliver. Give me an
example of having done this.
84. Give me an example of how you and your staff have celebrated success in the past. What
was the occasion?
85. What consistent methods do you use to ensure that staff feels valued for their
contributions?
86. Tell me about a time when you felt your staff was under too much pressure. What did you
do about it?
87. How do you make your feelings known when you disagree with the views of your staff?
88. What kind of supervisor do you work best for?
89. Give me a specific example of a time when you used good judgment and logic in solving
a problem?
90. Tell us how you have built working relationships across an organization.
91. Describe a time when you demonstrated leadership.
92. Describe your experiences being a leader in a diverse environment. How did you model
mutual respect for differences?
93. Describe how you have gone about understanding the informal culture of an organization
for whom you worked.
94. Tell us about a situation where you influenced your supervisor to your way of thinking.
95. What did you say and/or do to influence your supervisor?
96. Describe a situation in which you demonstrated personal integrity.
97. Describe a time when you were persistent in finding resources to achieve a goal.
98. Did you achieve the goal?
99. What specifically did you do to help achieve the goal?
100. How often do you consult team members?
101. How do you motivate your team?
Negotiation questions
1. Give an example of a time when you successfully negotiated and
maintained the relationships involved. Specifically, what was the
negotiation situation, and what actions did you take so as not to damage
the relationships?"
2. Describe the tactical approach you take to negotiating. Tell me about a
negotiation you either initiated or responded to that demonstrates your
tactical approach."
3. Explain how you gain the trust of others involved in a negotiation. Give a
recent example that demonstrates your ability to gain trust."
4. Explain how you have worked to understand the motivations of
counterparts during negotiations and used that information to craft a
creative solution?
5. Have you had an experience where you realized that you had to be more
positive and persuasive when selling you ideas to others? What did you
learn from this experience?
6. When your credibility is compromised, what steps do you take to rectify
the situation?
7. Describe the most challenging negotiation you have conducted. What
was so challenging about it?
8. Which of your negotiating techniques was most effective? What were the
results?
9. When was the last occasion that you had to use your negotiating skills to
bring about a resolution that was in everyones best interest?
10. Do you need to make your attitude more positive when marketing
yourself and your ideas to others?
11. Some negotiations require us to strike a balance between being forceful
while at the same time using diplomacy and tact to maintain
relationships. Describe a time you found yourself in that situation?
12. Trust is an important factor in negotiating. Share a situation in which
your ability to gain the trust of the other person(s) was key to your
success in negotiating?
13. What skills do use when you need to influence the way other people
think?
14. When was the last occasion that you were given an assignment to
develop your mediating skills, and what was the conclusion?
15. Are you a good negotiator?
16. In your current role, how often do you negotiate?
17. What's the most complex negotiation you've handled?
18. What negotiation successes are you most proud of?
19. Can you tell me about a time you failed to reach an agreement in
negotiations?
20. What's your definition of negotiation success?
21. How do you plan for negotiations?
22. Is it important to research before walking into negotiations? Why / why
not?
23. Do you identify goals & objectives before negotiations? If so, can you
give me some examples?
24. What is your style of negotiating?
25. Are u good at public speaking?
26. What public speaking accomplishment are you most proud of?
27. Can you give me an example of an effective elevator pitch that you've
used?
28. How do you ensure that your proposals are compelling?
29. Can you give me an example of an effective elevator pitch that you've
used?
30. Have you resolved a conflict? Can you give me an example?
31. How do you establish rapport & trust? Why is this important?
32. How do you establish common ground in negotiations? Can you give me
an example of a time you established common ground?
33. Have you worked in negotiation teams? If so, how did you collaborate?
34. Why is win-win thinking important?
35. What techniques have you used to network?
36. Is a negotiation a debate? Why / why not?
37. Why do logical arguments sometimes fail to influence?
38. Why is it important to understand the other side's needs in negotiations?
39. How do you collect information in negotiations?
40. Are you familiar with BATNA? Why is it useful in negotiations?
41. What is social proof? Why is it important?
42. You're in negotiations and the other side uses unethical tactics such as
intimidation. How do you handle the situation?
43. You're in negotiations and the other side gives you inconsistent
information that leads you to believe they're lying. Do you point this out
to them?
44. Why are cross cultural negotiations challenging?
45. What does it mean to demonstrate good faith in negotiations? Why is it
helpful?
46. What is the difference between mediation and arbitration?
47. If you were mentoring a junior employee in negotiations, what advice
would you give them?
48. Do leaders make better negotiators? Why / why not?
49. How do you manage time in negotiations?
50. Are you a hard bargainer?
51. Do you think compromise is important for negotiation?
52. Tell me about the last time you had to negotiate with someone.
53. How did you prepare for it?
54. How did you present your position?
55. What was the most difficult part?
56. How did you resolve it?
57. Describe the most challenging negotiation in which you were involved.
What did you do? What were the results for you? What were the results
for the other party?
58. Have you ever been in a situation where you had to bargain with
someone? How did you feel about this? What did you do? Give an
example.


Planning & organizing
1. Describe your system of planning and organizing your
work. Give me an example of how this system helped
you do your job.
2. Walk me through a recent or typical workday and
explain how you planned the days activities.
3. Tell me about a time you were faced with conflicting
priorities. How did you determine what was the top
priority?
4. Tell about a time you were responsible for planning an
event and had very limited resources. How did you
overcome this obstacle?

1. You have multiple tasks, each with the same due date. How do you handle multiple tasks at one time?
How do you prioritize the tasks to insure that you will meet the set due dates?


1. Tell me about a time when you had to meet a deadline at work in a relatively short period of time?
What steps did you put in place to ensure that the deadline was met?


1. Tell me how you have used your skills in the past to improve your day?


1. Describe a time when you had multiple requests due at the same time. Tell me what you did to
complete all of the exams in a timely manner.


1. What have you done or what "tools" do you use to be effective with your organization and planning?


1. How do you schedule your time and set priorities? How do you handle 20 things at once?


1. When you can't complete your daily work due to a special cause, how do you prioritize your workload
the next day to ensure the prior day's work is not overlooked?


1. Tell me about an experience in clinical when you had multiple patient situations. How did you
prioritize?


1. How do you schedule your time and set priorities? How do you do twenty things at once? Can you give
me an example of a time when you did this?


1. Tell me a time when you had multiple requests from different sources simultaneously and how you
prioritized your work to meet all the different needs.


1. Give me an example of a time when you were bogged down with projects and timelines and how did
you reorganize and prioritize to meet the deadlines?


1. Describe a time when you were pulled in many different directions at once. How did you prioritize?
How did it make you feel?

1 Describe your involvement in a task or project that had to be done within an agreed time frame and be of an
excellent standard.
2 Tell me about a time when a project you were in charge of fell behind schedule. What did you do about it?
3 Tell me about a time when you had too many things to do and you were required to prioritize your tasks.
4 Tell me about a time when you had a lot to do in a short space of time. Explain how you managed to complete all
of our assigned tasks.
5 Give an example of a project that you have had to plan and organise from beginning to end.
6 Tell me about a time when you had a lot of work to do? How did you cope? Where did you start? What did you do
to ensure it all gets done?
7 Give me an example of when you were effective in dealing with the constant "emergencies" and surprises in your
work environment. How did you deal with the unexpected?
8 In planning a project/event etc., how have you allowed for unanticipated setbacks? Tell me about a specific project
and what happened.
9 Describe a work situation that required you to perform several tasks, or work on several projects at the same time.
What did you do?
10 When organizing a project, how have you determined which resources to use? Give an example of a specific
project and how you made those decisions.
11 What procedures have you used to organize information in your work area? Tell me about a time when the
procedures worked and when they didn't work.
12 We all have had times when we couldn't complete everything on time. When and how has this happened to you?
13 What types of scheduling have you done on your job? Tell me about some of the specific things that you've had to
schedule.
14 Tell me about a very complex or detailed assignment or project that you have worked on. Walk me through how
you accomplished it?
15 Describe how you have organized your work or work area to ensure maximum efficiency.
16 Tell me about a time when you were very busy with clubs, sports, school, and/or family commitments. How did you
cope with it?
17 Give me an example of a time that you were overloaded with work. What did you do?
18 Walk me through how you have planned and scheduled a recent project that your team had to accomplish.
19 Describe a task that has required you to attend to a large number of details. What was required? How did you go
about handling the details? What details were missed? How did the task turn out?
20 Give me some specific examples of how have you helped your team get more organized around their work.
21 Tell me about a situation where you received a lot of last minute assignments? How did you stay organized amid
the requests and interruptions?
22 Tell me about a time that you wish you had spent more time in planning before starting on a project. What
happened?
23 Tell me about a time when you had several assignments or projects due at the same time. How did you plan out
your work to get everything done?
24 Describe how you develop a project team's goals and project plan?
25 How do you schedule your time? Set priorities? How do you handle doing twenty things at once?
26 What do you do when your time schedule or project plan is upset by unforeseen circumstances? Give anexample.
27 What have you done in order to be effective with your organization and planning?
Tell me how you personally organize yourself when you have a lot of work.
28 Where do you start?
29 On what basis did you make your decisions?
30 What do you do to ensure that it all gets done?
31 How do you feel inside when you have so much to do?
Describe an occasion when you had to prepare in advance for meeting or project.
1. What did you do?
2. How much time did you have to prepare?
3. What could you have prepared better?
Give me an example of when you had to work to an important deadline.
1. How manageable were your timescales?
2. What did you do to ensure that the deadline was met?
3. How would you organize your activities differently next time?
Tell me about the last project plan you had to produce piece of work or event you had to organize).
1. What did you do specifically that was effective?
2. How did you prepare and plan for it?
3. What timescales did you set?
4. What could you have done to be more effective in your planning?
5. How do your planning skills compare with those of your peers?
6. What are the key stages in project planning as you see them?
Tell me about a time when it was necessary for you to plan several alternative courses of action in response
to a change in an organization's direction.
1. How did you re-prioritize?
2. How far did you plan ahead?
3. How did you monitor the progress of the plans?
When have you considered strategic issues when developing goals?
1. Why was this important?
2. What advice do you give others on strategic implications for goal-setting?
3. What is the impact of failing to align goals with an organization's strategy?
4. How might you address this?
A. How do you decide what gets top priority when scheduling your time?
B. Give me an example of a change you saw coming and how you planned for that change.
C. Tell me about your current top priorities. How did you determine that they should be your top priorities?
D. Give me an example of a time when you were effective in doing away with the "constant emergencies" and
"surprises" in your work environment.
E. Think about the assignments you completed over the past few months. Tell me about the one that required the
greatest amount of effort with regard to planning and organizing.