Tell us about a time you experienced a communication breakdown at work.
"The first time I led a team project, I didn't communicate properly what everyone's role was and what was at stake. I took for granted the report I had with everyone, but the work ended up being subpar. I remember my supervisor pulling me aside and asking what happened, and I vented about how each person let me down. My supervisor gently explained that the only common factor was me and that my instructions were more likely to blame. I learned a lot, took some courses on how to enhance my communication, and read a few books on the subject as well. Since then, that hasn't happened again."
"I had an employee who took on a team project for the first time. I performed several check-ins with them and every member of their team and discovered the instructions that each team member received were vague and didn't offer the big picture or the stakes involved. I pulled the employee challenges with leading the team and suggested they hold daily huddles to touch base with their staff and ensure their message was on point. Three days later, I realized they did not have a huddle, so I revisited this messaging, and the next morning when we held the huddle, the messaging was meek, unassertive, and unclear. I sat down with each employee, asked them how they were doing on their project, and touched base with each one of them, sharing the big picture and informing them of the stakes of their part of the project. Through this passive, one-on-one approach, I was able to steer the project around. When the project was completed, I touched base with the team leader, gave them detailed feedback, and clarified their growth opportunities and where they needed to focus on their communication skills."
Communication breakdowns occur often, whether with your teammates, leadership, or clientele. The trick here is to communicate that you are a highly developed communicator who can adapt to the communication style of others and carry the extra weight of those who have less developed communication skills than you. Some bullet points worth mentioning when exploring this topic are empathy, active listening, mirroring, and situational observation.
The HireVue algorithm will evaluate your communication skills, both verbal and non-verbal, putting your skills to the test. Before you sit down for your interview, record yourself answering some of these questions to study your body language and what it says about you, as well as your intonations and speech crutches or tics, such as "like," "you know," "um," "uh," "er," "ah," "so," among others. Also, try to choose words with positive associations rather than negative connotations. Take every measure to present yourself as a clear communicator and professional and practice.
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