What do you do if you want to demonstrate your leadership skills in an engineering management interview?

I feel, real instances will always gives positive impact on all employee specially when you are working on critical projects. Relating work with timeline and its outcome which will change future course of action will boost the employees confidence and it will also make them to realized which extra skills required for completing the task within project timeline!!!

In my experience, a good strategy while sharing stories is to avoid phrases like “I led”, “under my leadership”, “I guided” etc. as they sound like overcompensating for an inadequacy in you candidature. Instead, narrate the story without any self bias from a neutral perspective. “I led the team towards” becomes “we changed direction”, “under my leadership” becomes “my team executed” and “I guided” becomes “we brainstormed as a team and reached the conclusion”. These phrases narrate the same story, but with much more humility and empathy - some of the most important traits of a leader.

Yes, story telling from real scenarios and experiences where along with technical expertise, you are able to show case engineering leadership by providing guidance or delegating to the right owners, or taking calculated risks by generating energy and leading with clarity will help the listener to get a broader perspective of your skill set

Stories are a powerful way to get a point across or convince people of your abilities. In order for this to successfully work, it has to be a story that people can relate to on an emotional level. It doesn't have to be overly complicated or impressive, it's more important that the story is genuine. Make sure the story plays to your strengths but it's also okay to tell a story about how your leadership style changed and how you learned from a specific event.

1- Provide examples 2- Highlight my communication skills 3-Showcase my problem-solving abilities 4- Discuss my ability to motivate and inspire others 5- Emphasize my ability to make tough decisions 6- Show my ability to delegate and empower others

By highlighting past experiences, and what you learned from them. Discuss times where you led teams through complex projects, resolved conflicts and encouraged a culture of collaboration. Show your ability to communicate effectively, your proactive efforts, how you adapt to challenges, solve issues on spot and focus on results while prioritizing team development. Your soft skills are key to being growing leader such as communication, time management,resilience, adaptability and empathy towards your team members.

Being involved in this process, my opinion is, it completely depends on the background of interviewers. I have come across certain senior leaders who expects only technicalities while others only management though interview is for same role. Best course of action is follow Situation - describe an issue- explain the impact - as a leader how you have foreseen that and set action plan - what you learn from it. It's all about storytelling however no story is perfect but everyone likes a story for sure.

I believe both technical skills and soft skills are very important for a leader. But technical skills are easier to demonstrate, because most of the time you have artifacts for it. Highlight soft skills and demonstrate your approach. It's one think to know a leadership principle, a whole another when you have built a system around it. Real life examples go a long way.

A strong yes for skills highlighted by individual. Skills are best parameters for team leadership qualities. team management requires extensive soft skills while complex problems need technical guidance. Conflict management is like a complex situation at hand and proper team management is utmost important for handling conflict.

Risk abatement vs un-necessary initial cost is a reoccurring conflict that was difficult to prove. For example engineering companies have no incentives to reduce the oversizing of power delivery equipment but they must reduce risk for their insurance. I recommend measuring performance and ask for evidence stay away from guessing.

A leader needs to have a long term vision as it affects their ability to motivate and run a team. Talk about how you structure these thought processes, it may be brainstorming at a regular cadence to plan roadmaps and creating space for innovative collaboration. If I say, "As a leader I continue to think of what we will do next year" vs "In my current/previous role, there are few things we do to plan for the future, 1. Run an annual 5 year direction with the team, goal is to identify north star that our team want to tackle" 2. Trace the 5 year plan and break it into what we should do next year to take a step towards that direction 3. Plan quarterly to create OKRs and measure the performance of the team to identify areas for improvements"

You need to be to articulate examples of how to map the longer term vision to the current state and work with your team to create the steps to reach the vision together.

showcasing leadership stands on articulating a compelling vision for the team and the projects which shows that you’re a long term thinker. Discuss how you align team goals with organizational objectives, how you inspire collaboration, how you’re good at delegating tasks to team members accordingly to achieve efficiency and empower team members to innovate and share their creativity and solutions. Highlight your track record in previous projects of translating vision into actionable strategies that drive growth.

Sharing prior experience and achievements which one has made and achievements in the engineering management niche, certifications for training are also important

I always liked to use the definition of the engineering approach to problem solving. State all the objectives of the project. Examine proven alternatives for selection of the best fit. Execute while managing time and resources. The scientific approach proposes a theory and test that theory. If it fails you waste time and money and have to start over.

Talk candidly about the biggest leadership challenges you've faced in your career. What was at stake? What trade-offs did you navigate? Describe how you analyzed complex situations, made tough decisions, and course-corrected as needed. Showcase your critical thinking and adaptability. Reflect on what you learned from overcoming setbacks and failures. Emphasize your resilience and growth mindset. Probe to understand the hairy leadership challenges of the role you're interviewing for. Discuss how you would approach them with curiosity and courage.

Give examples of past challenges and how you successfully overcame them. Give examples if technology/software was useful in overcoming the challenges. It is ideal if you can illustrate how you empowered your team to overcome the challenges

Discuss openly the significant leadership hurdles encountered in your professional journey. Highlight the stakes involved and the trade-offs navigated in addressing these challenges. Share insights into your approach to analyzing complex situations, making difficult decisions, and adjusting course when necessary. Showcase your capacity for critical thinking and adaptability in dynamic environments. Reflect on the lessons gleaned from overcoming setbacks and failures, emphasizing your resilience and growth mindset. Furthermore, delve into understanding the intricate leadership challenges inherent in the role you're interviewing for.

Share how you've evolved and matured as a leader over your career. What were some key turning points? How is your leadership style different now? Describe how you've deliberately developed your leadership skills through stretch assignments, 360 feedback, coaching, mentoring, etc. Talk about your commitment to continuous learning. What's the latest leadership book you've read? What podcasts do you listen to? Ask the interviewer about leadership development opportunities at the company. Demonstrate your hunger to keep growing.

Detail your personal evolution and growth as a leader throughout your career. Reflect on pivotal moments that shaped your leadership style and how it has evolved over time. Illustrate deliberate efforts in skill development through stretch assignments, 360 feedback, coaching, and mentoring experiences. Emphasize your commitment to continuous learning by discussing recent leadership literature you've engaged with and podcasts you follow. Additionally, inquire about leadership development prospects within the company, showcasing your eagerness to further expand and refine your skills. This proactive approach underlines your dedication to ongoing growth and development as a leader.

Being a leader team work is the important aspect. To complete a project your team has to perform in an coordinated and all the goals are to be aligned. As a leader you have to motivate and influence your team

Provide examples of how you've built high-performing, collaborative, diverse, engaged teams. What are your secrets for hiring, onboarding, developing and retaining top talent? Describe your approach to delegating, empowering and motivating team members. How do you balance direction and autonomy? Share how you've fostered psychological safety, healthy conflict and team cohesion. What's your philosophy on giving feedback? Inquire about the current state of the team you'd be leading. Discuss how you'd assess and enhance their effectiveness.

Empower those around you. Use your past knowledge to help those around you grow with the project. Use your past experience to reflect how teammates can solve issues within the project.

Explain your thoughts to down the line, share your vision and most importantly motivate them. Army is best best example of nuturing great talent and keep everyone actively motivated and aligned with organizational goals. Talent hiring and retention of trained members are hardcore elements of growth. Empower them, build successful themes around them.

Effective leaders understand what motivates their team. Use some of the time in the interview to learn what your interviewer thinks a good leader is. Then point out how your experience resonates in a story you now know they will relate to.

Demonstrate your leadership through your Coaching & Development Philosophy. Articulate your core beliefs about how engineers learn and grow. Do you emphasize hands-on experience, mentorship, or a combination? Describe specific strategies you've used to develop your team members. Share examples of coaching sessions, training initiatives, or mentorship programs you've implemented. Quantify the impact of your coaching. Did mentored engineers take on more challenging projects? Did specific training programs lead to demonstrably improved skills? Hiring managers value leaders who invest in their team's growth. This showcases your ability to nurture talent and build a high-performing team.

the best interviews feel like conversations, not interrogations. Don't just wait for questions - proactively weave in stories and examples that demonstrate your leadership skills. Exude quiet confidence, not arrogance. And be sure to have thoughtful questions for the interviewer that show your genuine interest in the role and company.

Implement best practice at workplace. Demonstrate your leadership qualities, share your vision with them. Don't get into firefighting on daily basis.

Be flexible! A great leader can pivot quickly and is at ease with uncertainty. Demonstrating your ability to adapt to change in the moment while maintaining an eye on your objectives to both learn about and evaluate the organization against your potential fit/contribution will reinforce your qualifications as a leader who understands and respects their value.