Give me an example of a time when your communication style helped you to be a more effective leader.
This is another question aimed at evaluating your leadership potential. How you answer this question may inform your interviewer of whether you'll be capable of relaying the company's vision and direction in a way that inspires every member of your team to feel like a stakeholder. Your response should demonstrate your ability to encourage your team, identify growth opportunities, articulate constructive feedback, and inspire change. Also, make sure you communicate your answer articulately while avoiding using any speech tics or crutch words, and add structure to your answer.
"I have a saying. Always play to your team's strengths, and never exploit their weaknesses. So, even when I am delivering feedback, I am playing to their strengths. Everyone communicates differently, and you have to take care not to trigger their defenses. For example, I recently noticed it was taking a member of my team more time than usual to turn in their reports.
So, knowing one of their strength lies in wanting to help others out on the team, preferring working more collaboratively than alone, I told them another employee could really use their help. I then asked them if they were in a position to help them out, and asked if they were in a position to quickly wrap up anything else they were working on.
They were eager to help, but expressed they had three reports they needed to finish. I then asked them what was going on with that and if there was anything I could do to help them overcome whatever they were struggling with. They volunteered what they were struggling with, and we were able to collaborate in creating a plan to tackle those growth opportunities, right then and there. They were very appreciative and expressed they found our conversation very motivating."
Being an effective leader requires being an effective communicator. This includes having strong mediation skills, a sense of diplomacy, and being skilled in persuasion. In fact, in many of the positions advertised on their site, they describe they are looking for candidates with "excellent interpersonal skills with demonstrated ability to inspire, motivate and influence people and engage resources across different areas and levels of the organization."
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
I always try to frame any criticisms or comments that require the team member to improve his/her performance in a positive light. For instance, I always try to give a compliment first and follow up on any criticisms with "how can we work on this". I feel that my communication style has worked really well in the past and will continue to serve me well in the future.
Marcie's Feedback
It's great that you try to communicate in a positive fashion. The question asks specifically for an example; consider using the STAR method to walk the interviewer through a particular instance when your communication style helped you successfully lead others. Good job!
Anonymous Answer
My communication style has always been to listen more and to be patient with others to catch up. I usually do this by asking questions instead of complaining.
Jaymie's Feedback
These are great skills to have. Be sure to answer the full question and give an example of a time your communication helped you be more effective as a leader. Did you communicate a project plan well and that led to completing a project ahead of schedule, or did you go through change management as an organization and you led the team through that with effective communication?
Unlock all 30 Teck Resources Limited questions
Prepare for technical and behavioral questions specific to Canada's mining industry leader.
Get Started