26 Behavior-based Questions - Execution Suggested Behavioral Questions: 1. Projects rarely proceed without obstacles.

Tell me about a recent project you worked on in which you encountered a major obstacle. What did you do to get around that obstacle? 2. Give me an example of a time when you set a challenging goal and describe how you were able to meet or achieve it. 3. Describe a situation in which you saw a problem and took action to correct it rather than wait for someone else to do so. 4. What are/were your long-range plans at your current/most recent employer? How did you develop these plans and what have you done to achieve them? 5. Tell me about a time when you had to go above and beyond the call of duty in order to get a job done. What was the outcome? 6. Give me an example of a time when you tried to accomplish something and failed. What did you learn from this experience? 7. Describe a situation in which you needed information to prepare for a major presentation but had difficulty getting that information. What action did you take? What was the final outcome? 8. Tell me about a time when you organized or planned an event that was very successful. 9. Give me an example of when you showed initiative and took the lead. 10. You cant always please everyone. Describe a situation in which you spent a lot of time developing a presentation to meet a customers need and your efforts received an unfavorable response. What did you do? For Leaders: 1. Tell me how you are able to keep track of assignments that you have delegated to subordinates for completion? 2. Describe a time when you have delegated an assignment and it was completed poorly. What did you do? 3. Describe how you evaluate the productivity and effectiveness of your team. 4. Tell me about a time when because of your coaching you were able to assist your direct report in getting a difficult project completed. 5. Due to the size of many projects, they often need to be delegated. Describe how you are able to determine how and when to delegate large assignments. When has this system been successful and when has it been flawed? 27

Behavior-based Questions - Collaboration

Suggested Behavioral Questions: 1. Describe your leadership style and give an example of when you successfully led a group. 2. Describe a team experience you found disappointing. What did you do? What would you have done to prevent this? 3. Describe a time you worked with a group/team to determine project responsibilities. What difficulties did the group/team have? What was your role? 4. Interacting with others can be challenging at times. Have you ever had any difficulty getting along with peers/team members/others at work? Tell me about a specific time this happened. How did you handle the situation? 5. Describe a situation in which you were able to help a peer or team member. 6. Describe a situation in which you had to arrive at a compromise or help others to compromise. What was your role? What steps did you take? What was the end result? 7. What, in your opinion, are the key ingredients in guiding and maintain successful business relationships? Give examples of how you made these work for you. 8. What challenges have occurred while you were coordinating work with other units, departments and/or divisions? 9. What have you done in previous situations to contribute toward a teamwork environment? 10. Tell me about a successful experience youve had with managing cross-functional teams. What did you do to make it successful? For Leaders: 1. Describe how you seek input from your direct reports on a project. 2. Tell me about a time when you had to adapt your leadership style to better match your direct reports style. What did you do? What was the outcome? 3. Although we all value input, there are times when a tough decision needs to be made. Describe a recent time when you requested feedback from your team but had to make a tough decision against their recommendations. What was your approach? How was this message received? 4. When assigning projects, there are often conflicts within the group. Tell me about a time when one of your direct reports was unable to successfully collaborate with another team member. How were you able to resolve this issue? What was the outcome? 5. What was the toughest group youve had to lead and why was this group so difficult? Describe how you handled it and the outcome. 28

Behavior-based Questions - Respect

Suggested Behavioral Questions: 1. Describe a time where you had to build trust with someone you worked with. 2. Tell me about a difficult situation or conflict you had to deal with at workhow did you resolve it? 3. What do you do when you know you are right but your boss disagrees with you? Give an example. 4. When working with others, there can often be times when you and your colleagues have differences in perspectives. Tell me about a time where you had to deal with a difficult situation that involved conflicting interests. 5. Tell me about a time when you received negative feedback from a colleague an how you handled it. 6. Role models and mentors can be an important aspect of learning and developing within an organization. Can you tell me about a time when you mentored others to help them grow and develop in an organization? 7. Can you tell me a situation where you directly supported a colleague when you noticed that they needed your assistance? 8. Give me an example of something youve done to promote a motivating and enjoyable work environment. 9. Tell me about a time where you had to convey a difficult message to a colleague. What was the situation? What did you say? What was the result? For Leaders: 1. When giving feedback on work that has been submitted to you, what is your general approach? 2. How would you deal with a colleague that confided in you about his or her feelings of distrust towards another colleague? 3. Tell me about a time when one of your reports had respect issues. How did you address this? 4. Describe an instance when you had to address the issue of one of your direct reports making a mistake. How did you deal with that? 29

Behavior-based Questions Client Driven

Suggested Behavioral Questions: 1. Tell me about an effective presentation you have made to a customer. What was the presentation about and what made it so effective? 2. Describe a situation when you chose to involve others to help solve an internal or external customers problem. What was the customers problem and how did involving others help? 3. We cant always agree on the best approach to be successful. When was the last time your manager criticized the way you handled an issue with an internal/external customer? What did you learn from this experience? 4. Describe a time when you were able to convince a skeptical or resistant customer to purchase a product or utilize a service. 5. Tell me about a time when you were unable to complete a customer request on time and how you were able to handle that situation. 6. Tell me about a time when you made a mistake because you did not listen effectively to the customers request. What was the outcome? How were you able to overcome or what did you learn for future situations? 7. On occasion, we all wish we could change how we interact with customers. Tell me about a recent interaction you wish you could change. 8. Describe a time when you were able to take initiative and improve service to clients. 9. Tell me how you have been able to collaborate with your team and share common insight and feedback regarding clients and future needs. 10. Describe a time when you handled an internal or external client with an unreasonable request. For Leaders: 1. Tell me about a time when you needed to offer feedback to a direct report who had an unsuccessful client presentation. What was your approach? 2. Describe a time when you offered assistance and it backfired, how did you handle that situation? What did you learn? 3. When your direct report has a difficult external client exchange, how do you offer assistance? What is your response to the client? What is your response to your direct report? 4. Describe a time when an internal client made a negative comment about one of your direct reports. How did you respond? What was the final outcome? 5. Tell me about a time when your direct report had a successful client experience and you recognized and rewarded their hard work. How was this received by the employee? 30

Behavior-based Questions Global Mindset

Suggested Behavioral Questions: 1. Tell me about a time when you anticipated the future organizational goals and made changes to your current responsibilities to meet these challenges.
2. Describe a time when you anticipated the changing needs of another department/group/team. What action did you take as a result of anticipating this changing need? 3. In todays world, many of our work environments are global. Describe a situation when you didnt take the time to learn and understand a colleagues culture and the impact. What have you learned from this experience? 4. In the next six months, what major organizational issues do you expect to handle? How did you learn about these issues? How to do you expect to tackle these issues? 5. Its important to understand as much as possible about internal customers. Tell me about one of your most important internal customers and how you learned about their needs and priorities. 6. Tell me about a cross functional team/committee/project you participated in and how you learned the varying needs of each function. How are you better prepared to achieve future successes with a cross-functional team in the future? 7. Give me an example of how your knowledge of your organizations culture helped you make a decision. 8. Explain how you are able to remain current in your industry knowledge while still ensuring you are able to complete all of your responsibilities. 9. Tell me about a time when you experienced unsuccessful communication with an internal client due to a cultural difference. 10. Describe a time when you were able to embrace varying global perspectives to solve a problem.

For Leaders: 1. Tell me about a time when you led cross-functional cross cultural team to a successful outcome. 2. Describe a time when you managed from afar. How did you adjust your management style? What were some of your challenges? 3. Some people are not interested in embracing other cultures. Tell me about a time when you have faced this situation with an employee. What was your approach? What was the outcome? 4. Its hard to keep up with all of the changes in todays world. Describe how you are able to constantly keep your team informed of the important changes. How do you know that your efforts are working? 5. When you learn about the changing needs of your organization, when and how do you communicate that information to your team? How do you decide what information is appropriate? 31

Behavior-based Questions Professional/Technical Expertise

Suggested Behavioral Questions: 1. Describe how you are able to continually learn new skills to assist you in completing your day-to-day responsibilities. 2. Tell me about a time when you were assigned an unfamiliar task. What did you do? 3. Describe, in your opinion, the top three technical skills that are necessary to complete your job effectively. Give me an example of how these contribute to your success. 4. Tell me about a time when you were asked to a complete a project which was beyond your technical scope of expertise. What did you do? 5. Describe a project or situation which best displays your _____________ abilities. What was your role in making this project successful? 6. Describe a time when you had to apply strategic thinking and/or detailed analysis to your area of expertise. 7. Give me a specific example of a time when you used good judgment and logic in solving a problem. 8. Tell me about a time when your colleagues looked to you for guidance and a final recommendation on an issue. What was your thought process? 9. Describe how your position contributes to your overall departments goals. 10. Tell me about a situation when a colleague questioned your expertise. What additional information did you need to gather? How were you able to persuade them to listening to you for guidance? For Leaders: 1. Describe how you are able to deal with a direct report whose work exceeds your own abilities. How do you respond to the employee? 2. Tell me how you are able to constantly keep your direct reports engaged so that they are producing at a high level. 3. Tell me about a time when one of your direct reports was performing below their level of expertise. What did you do? What was the final outcome? 4. Describe a time when you provided coaching to assist a direct report learn a new skill from you. 5. Tell me about a time when a direct report had an inflated view of his/her own abilities. How have you handled those situations? What do you do? 32

Behavior-based Questions - Innovation

Suggested Behavioral Questions: 1. Describe a project that was implemented primarily because of your efforts. What was your role? What was the outcome? 2. Tell me about a time when you worked with your direct reports/team members to develop new and creative ideas to solve business problems. 3. Its impossible to always be the first company to develop an innovative product/service. Tell me about a unique and successful product/service one of your competitors developed before your organization did. What did your organization do and what was your role? 4. Give me an example of a new way you were able to apply existing knowledge to solve a problem. 5. What new or unusual ideas have you developed at your company? How did you develop them? What was the result? How were your ideas implemented? 6. There are many roles in which well-established methods are typically followed. Give a specific example of a time when you tried some other method to do the job. 7. Tell us about a suggestion you made to improve the way job processes/operations worked. How was your suggestion received? What was the result? 8. Unfortunately, some solutions do not correct problems. Can you think of a creative solution you generated that did not correct a problem? What was the solution? How did you come up with that idea? 9. Describe the most creative work-related project which you have completed. What made this project so unique? 10. What was the last time you thought outside of the box and how did you do it? For Leaders: 1. Describe how you are able to encourage your direct reports to propose and implement new ideas. 2. Tell me about a unique approach you developed and were able to convince your team to implement. 3. Describe how you have been able to encourage new cross-functional relationships between your team and others to develop new ideas. 4. Tell me about a time when you have led a team to devise a creative solution. What were the steps involved? What was the final outcome?