Talk about a time when you worked on a team, and other group members were not performing their share of the work. How did you react?
Interviewers look for a candidate that works harder around underperformers rather than becoming defeated and giving in to an attitude of inaction. Show the interviewer that you have excellent leadership abilities by discussing how you redistribute the workload when a team member is not pulling their weight.
Behavioral-based interview questions that begin with 'Talk about a time when...' are best answered using the STAR method. STAR is an acronym for Situation, Task, Action, Result. Organizing your response using this framework will ensure that you provide the interviewer with the right amount of information and detail to form a compelling answer.
Perhaps you were able to step in and reallocate the work among your team members. Maybe you took on the extra workload yourself. Avoid speaking negatively about anyone and keep your answer focused on the solution you created and the positive outcome of your actions.
"(Situation) In my current sales role, one of my teammates is always looking for the easy way out. (Task) As a competitive person, this bothers me because I want our team to be in the lead for all sales categories. (Action) I recently addressed the situation with him directly and in private. I explained how his inaction was impacting the group and affecting our sales results. Still, he goes through the motions, avoids his cold-calling responsibilities, and provides vague or incomplete client documentation in the CRM. After approaching the Sales Manager with my concerns, the issue has not yet improved. Now, I've decided that I can only control my actions. I give an extra 25% output for all cold calls, documentation, and prospecting activities. (Result) So far, my increased output has compensated for my co-workers' lower metrics. The added benefit to working even harder is that my sales numbers have increased, showing my leadership team that I am a top performer. My commission percentages have increased as well, which is a welcome benefit!"
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 was leading a hackathon team of ten people, but only 3 of us were doing any work. There was a lot of work to do to meet the deadline. We were all volunteers, so it wasn’t like I could force them to contribute. But what I could do is give them the benefit of the doubt. So I contacted them privately and asked if they could help with a specific task. Some responded positively because they hadn’t known how to contribute. Others said they didn’t have the skills and they’d joined the team to observe and learn. Some others apologized because work pressures prevented them from contributing.
Marcie's Feedback
Perfect. Reaching out privately to each person was a smart way to handle the issue. It sounds like you got mixed results but at least were then able to know where each person stood and who you could count on to contribute or not. What was the end result? Did your team ultimately finish its work? Great response!
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