How do you facilitate the success of your teams?

"I am a natural leader who loves to inspire and support others. I always start a project by assembling strong teams that are filled with hard workers who are passionate and smart. From there, I can easily recognize the various stages a team moves through as I've witnessed it many times now.

First, they experience 'forming' when they start to learn about each other. Then, there tends to be 'storming' when conflict arises between team members as they realize they have differing opinions about things. My role at this point is to encourage them to hear each other out and be respectful. Next, comes the 'norming' stage as they begin to accept each other and truly work as a team.

My favorite is the 'performing' stage, which is when my team begins to function like a well-oiled piece of machinery - many parts all working toward one goal! It's always kind of sad when we get to the end of the project (the 'adjourning' stage), and they move on to other projects and responsibilities. But throughout the entirety of the project, I listen, remind, offer encouragement, guide, and help resolve conflicts so we all together reach our final project goal."

Discuss how you've supported and led teams before and consider framing your response linearly. Walking your interviewer through your approach step-by-step will demonstrate your project management and communication skills at the same time.

For example, you could describe how you facilitate success through the various stages of team development (forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning). Alternatively. you could describe the actions you take to lead and support your team during the phases of the projects you work on (i.e. discovery, approval, analysis, design, development, implementation, support).