Tell me about a time where you felt you hadn’t communicated as well as you could have. How did you remedy it?
Communication is integral to any position. This is a test of your communication skills. Whether you take clear communication for granted or are accustomed to working in an environment where clear communication with others is key, make sure you communicate your answer clearly. Communication is more than getting everyone on the same page. It's about how a message is conveyed.
Take care with your choice of words and what they might communicate. Acknowledge the importance of clear communication in the workplace. Describe what you contribute to enhancing clear communication. If the communication standards set into practice by your employer were not what you felt they should be, communicate this. Talk about how you'd find opportunities to clarify when communication was unclear. Provide specific examples of situations where you had to ask questions, mirror what was being communicated to you, and how a consensus was reached.
"I've always prided myself on being an effective communicator. It's been my practice to meditate on how I wish to communicate something, then communicate and ask if they have any clarifying questions. But early on, I learned this wasn't sufficient enough on its own. There are too many variables with macro behavior. I noticed that, for some, effective and thorough communication can be intimidating. Especially when that person might have had a question but was too embarrassed to ask it. So, asking if they had questions wasn't enough. Now, I take the adage, 'message sent is message received' to heart. Now I ask them to mirror what I've said to them and then ask what part of what I explained remains unclear in how I communicated it. That's worked better for me and yielded better results."
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
Communication is key to conveying a clear message. So I find effective communication comes down to having the individual repeat what I said and let me know what part they didn't understand. This method seems to work the best for me.
Jaymie's Feedback
This is a good strategy! Can you think of a specific time you gave someone instructions perhaps that weren't clear or didn't explain something thoroughly, and it caused confusion or a mistake? Using a specific example helps the interviewer better understand how you accept mistakes and take steps to correct them and prevent them from happening in the future.
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