Tell us about a time you disappointed the others on your team.
"I was on vacation when a group project was announced. One group member claimed responsibility get me up to speed when I returned to work the next day. I took notes as they relayed the details of what we needed to accomplish, deadlines and all. I handed them my notes for them to review to make sure everything looked good. They gave me the thumbs up. However, I failed to run my notes by my supervisor and make sure I didn't miss anything. My supervisor even came by and asked if I was up to speed, which I said I was, and they said if I had questions to let them know. The next week, they announced in a group meeting that the deadline was coming up at the end of the week and wanted to check in on the progress of each individual on the team. What I missed was that the rest of the team was going to base their projects on my findings. It was at this point I discovered I had one less week than I thought before my deadline. My work was due at this meeting. The extra week was for everyone else to turn in their work. So I wasn't ready and had to inform everyone else, and they all had to jump on board and tackle extra work to help me get it all done on time. I blame myself for not clarifying those details. We met our deadline, but everyone had to put in overtime a couple of days in a row, and our supervisor had to stay late waiting for us to turn in our work so we could meet the deadline the following morning. It wasn't ideal. Knowing what I know now, I would've handled things differently. I haven't made a mistake like it since."
This question tests your ability to take responsibility for your actions, whether you can step outside of your comfort zone and publicly own your mistakes, and even more so, what you learn from such growth opportunities. It evaluates how you handle disappointment, your attitude towards life, and what you learn from such experiences.
Describe your mistake, how you dealt with it, and what you learned from it. Explain the situation, what you would've done differently, and how you avoided repeating it. Demonstrate your emotional intelligence by discussing how you learn from and let go of your failures. Additionally, you want to exhibit that you have a clear view of the big picture and that informing the rest of the team of your mistakes is nothing more than damage control. It's common to have an emotional response to failure. Resist that impulse if you feel it. The only emotional tell you to want to reveal is the confidence you have that this event will not repeat itself because of what you've learned from it.
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