Tell me about a time you had to deal with adversity while in a leadership position.
It's not easy serving in a leadership position, and State Street wants to know that you can handle the stress that comes with it. As you brainstorm leadership experiences that you can point to during your interview, include challenges that you faced along the way. These challenges might have to do with pushback you received from colleagues, having to deliver unpopular news, or something completely different. Above all, demonstrate tolerance for adversity and emphasize the strategies you've developed to push through challenging situations while serving as a leader.
"A while back, I managed a team of ten individuals within our client services department. I learned quickly that there was quite a bit of animosity on the team, particularly between two team members who did not get along. This made it quite difficult to make progress on projects and also made for a hostile team environment. While this was a tough team to lead, I handled this challenge by meeting more regularly with each team member. As a leader, I place a high value on open communication, so I directly asked team members about the root causes of the various conflicts. From there, we developed strategies that sought to fix these challenges. Further, I strategically created smaller teams within the overall team for particular projects to ensure that team members worked in a pleasant environment suited to their professional strengths. After a few months, the team was running much more smoothly and with far less conflict."
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
During my time at _______, I was responsible for overseeing the living quarters of roughly 30 students. My role required me to ensure that the students were up and ready for morning meetings and accounted for at night. Occasionally I would meet with the students to ensure that everything was going well and guide them in the right direction if they ever had any questions or needed help. Basically, anything to make their life easier as a boarding student with a very demanding schedule. More often than not, I would have to deal with particular students who did not want to follow my instructions and would look for ways to avoid getting up early or being back on time, or even acting out of line within the dorm. As their peer, it was difficult for me to get their attention and get them to listen but I learned that if I could make an effort to get to know the troubled students on a more personal level and positively reinforce good behavior it might encourage them to be more subordinate.
Marcie's Feedback
Nice! This is a good example to use here as it shows your ability to deal with adversity within a leadership position. Is it possible to talk about one troubled student in particular (obviously without mentioning any names) and go into more detail about what they were doing and how you remedied this problem? Being more specific will further strengthen your answer. Great job!
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