Describe a time when you had a direct and difficult conversation at work.

Remember to demonstrate empathy for the individual you communicated with in the scenario you describe. Interviewers do not expect you to ultimately adopt the feelings of others, but they appreciate candidates who can understand how others feel and incorporate consideration of those feelings into their approach. Consider reviewing Meta's blog posts from leaders at Facebook and other groups at Meta. They discuss leading with empathy often.

"I work with several engineering teams in my current role as a program manager. One of the senior engineers I work with is a leader on his team and someone I highly respect. He was going through a rough time at home and his behavior shifted. He became erratic and acted out of character over the course of several weeks. He made a number of comments that were out of line for the workplace, and the situation spiraled to a point where it was affecting his team negatively.

I took him out to lunch to let him know that I was concerned for him professionally and personally. I communicated that I had a responsibility to our team to address situations like these and that his poor behavior could not continue. I asked if there was anything I could do to support him and let him know that he was well-liked, and everyone was concerned for his wellbeing.

It turned out that his family situation had triggered an underlying mental health issue. He had noticed how extreme his behavior was and confided in me he was afraid he would lose his job. I assured him that he would be shown understanding and grace and we partnered to brainstorm some ways in which I could help him out. We were able to shift some assignments around and let him work on less critical tasks he could do alone while he sorted things out medically. He was ultimately able to return to his regular work and leadership role and thanked me for my understanding and support during such a rough time in his life."