Answer a job interview question about leadership skills

What are the attributes of a good leader?

Leadership is an important skill. Hiring Managers often like to see leadership potential in a candidate, even if the job currently on offer does not involve leadership. In many cases, you will need to show leadership if you are going to be promoted later on.

Below is an example of a possible answer in two steps:

First, answer the question.

Second, tell a S.T.A.R. story. I have split the S.T.A.R. story into its 4 parts.

Answer

I think good leaders set clear goals for their individual reports and for the team that they lead. They strive to match the human, logistical and material resources available to the project, as well as defining the time-frame and project management process. ??

In general, that means taking account of the fact that people are so much more effective when they are given the space, time and tools to work to the best of their abilities towards challenging goals that are bite-sized, realistic, and attainable.

In my opinion, a good leader should believe in his or her strengths and abilities, and at the same time be credible.

I think a good leader earns the consensus and willing cooperation of the group they lead. While that is easier for charismatic leaders, all leaders should lead by example, not manage by fear, micro-management or regular negative criticism.

I have aimed to live by these ideas throughout my career.

Situation

For example, last October my manager had an unexpected family emergency and she put me in charge of our unit for a week.

Things went fine for the first two days, but then a new, huge order come in and at the same time another key account that we had recently acquired was unhappy with some late Christmas deliveries.

Task

We had to get the existing customer's deliveries back on schedule asap, and simultaneously fill the new, big order.

Action

I had to change my co-workers’ priorities and convince a couple people to work late so that we could get the warehouse to deliver to the key account and the new client in the following 3 days.

Result

I was able to take the initiative and make quick decisions about how to handle the situation. Because I had developed good relationships with my colleagues, I was able to get the cooperation of the team to do what was needed: placate the key account and welcome a future key account to our business.

When my manager came back, she admitted that if I had needed to call on her for help, she wouldn’t have been able to do anything and we could easily have lost two new key accounts on her watch.

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P. S. To be able to give “spontaneous” answers like this one, you have to deep dive into your professional experiences. You then need to practice telling those stories often enough so that you can fit the right story, told in the right way to the question being asked.

No hesitation, no eyes searching for inspiration, no hoping that it will all be “OK on the day”.

P. P. S. Any comments are welcome :-)