At Google, we seek to hire natural leaders. What leadership skills and qualities would you bring to this role?
Google's mission to unite the world through information while providing a world-class work environment takes true leadership skills and capabilities from every team member. In asking this question, your interviewer is looking to hear you talk about any leadership experiences and skills that you would bring to their team if hired for this position. Whether you are interviewing for an actual leadership titled position or not makes no difference when asked this question. Your interviewer wants to hear how you can be a natural leader if hired as part of their team.
"While I've never held titles like supervisor, manager, or director, I've always taken pride in my ability to take the lead with any team that I've been a part of. If I were to be hired at Google, you would quickly find out that I am a teammate that brings compassion, empathy, and integrity in all that I do on the job. My colleagues are drawn to these qualities and look to me to lead by example and provide assistance when needed. I also bring a sense of respect to a team by being courteous and civil in all situations."
"A true leader is one that creates and nurtures a culture for success. During my career over the last five years as a manager of a large team, I do this by giving every employee a voice and making them a part of any important decision-making processes. I keep open lines of communication among my entire team and operate with a total open-door policy. I also prefer to lead by example and take the bull by the horns when needed because people respect a leader that is willing to dive in when the going gets tough."
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
"Sure, let me tell you about a time when I drove changes to the physical environment for developers. The firm I was working for was rebuilding its floor to establish a collaborative environment. Engineers, security, operations, and development teams were being placed into this new environment. Teams were dispersed throughout the floor to drive interaction between disciplines. While this sounds like a good plan, it is not as productive for developers to be in such an environment. I worked with the planning committee to help them understand that developers needed low noise environments with minimal visual distractions. The focus they require is very different from an operations person. After they understood this, I worked with them to find a more isolated part of the floor where the developers could co-locate. We had desks arranged to minimize drive-by requests and visual distractions, noise-canceling headphones, and the space itself was sound dampened. I tracked a 20% increase in productivity in my team after moving into that space."
Rachelle's Feedback
It sounds as though you offered incredibly valuable insights in this instance. Great job in tracking the increase in productivity - this is a perfect addition to your already compelling answer.
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