Have you ever been in a position where you had to lead a group of peers? How did you handle it?

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This is a behavioral question that seeks to understand your collaboration and leadership skills. Behavioral questions ask you about previous situations and how you reacted to them. The best way to answer a behavioral question is by using the STAR framework. This involves four steps; First, you state the Situation, then discuss the Task you needed to achieve. The next step is to describe the Actions you took, followed by a brief description of the Results you achieved.

"I am often asked to lead a group of my peers due to the leadership skills I learned in my previous jobs. An example of this was when I was designated to lead a team of other computer systems analysts on a project involving an OS upgrade. We had to determine which applications would be affected by the upgrade and how to mitigate any undesired impacts. I delegated a subset of the applications to each of the team members to analyze. After the analysis was complete, we compared the results and noted any common issues. We then created an implementation plan which addressed these. The result was that the OS upgrade went smoothly, and none of the identified applications were impacted."

Anonymous Answer

"Back at **** in my position as a systems analyst, I would have the help desk under my supervision. Quickly I understood that was essential for me to gain every individual's trust and make the team trust each other. The first week I decided to spend half a day with each one and made quite the effort to relate to them as a peer and not come off as a "boss". During the following weeks, I proceeded to pair them up in teams, Ex: Team A composed of Albert and Marie would spend half a day doing Albert's job and the other half doing Marie's job. This exercise allowed for all team members to become sympathetic with each other's job and the team as a whole while cross-training too. As a result not only did they open themselves more to each other but they became far more inclined to heed to my instructions. This allowed me to restructure the flow of work within the department and reassign the job duties of most of them thus increasing productivity by 35% within the first 45 days, with no internal dissent or push back."

Amanda's Feedback

Fantastic! You've used a very specific, clear example that illustrates your ability to develop and lead a high-performing team. I like that you also relate the specific steps you took to build trust and enhance team capabilities to achieve increased productivity.