What is Team Leader(TL)?
Team Leader is a person who is responsible for managing a group of people or a team for achieving the desired result.
What is Teamwork?
Teamwork is the combined effort of a team to achieve the common goals/tasks efficiently.
Team Leader Qualities
The qualities of a Team Leader should inspire trust and have confidence in the team members.
Source:careermetis.com
What are the Roles of a Team Leader?
- Develop a strategy
- Provide any needed training for team members
- Communicate Clear Instructions for team members
- Collect team members feedback
- Manage the flow of day-to-day activity
- Distribute reports to the appropriate team members
What are the Responsibilities of a Team Leader?
- You lead by Example
- Long-Term Organizational Success
- Improve the Organization from your starting day of the Job
- Focus on the Goals of the Company
- Have a Basic Understanding about the Job and Organization
- Be Committed with the Organization
- Maintain Integrity with the team members
How to become a Team Leader – 5 Steps:
Whenever an applicant has to appear for an interview, he shall always be prepared for the most difficult and vague questions that he might have to come across.
A question that might seem direct can have a large variety of answers to it. The way the applicant answers the question can have a great impact on the interviewer and can say a lot of things about him.
Here is the List of Certain Team leader Interview Questions and Answer which a TL Applicant has to come across when he appears for an Interview of team leader post:
Best Team Leader Interview Questions and Answers:
Leadership qualities for an interview are many but for your help, we have summed up a few top leadership questions and answers. The following mentioned are few common leadership interview questions for leadership roles.
1. Tell me about yourself?
This might appear as the most common question which has open ends and can be answered in many ways.
An applicant can give details about his family or any other things, but the interviewer is just interested in knowing the preparations that the applicant has done for the interview. The applicant shall present his best side in front of the interviewer.
2. Why should I hire you?
The best answer to this question can be “because I am the best”, but the applicant shall support his answer with some firm points.
Like he shall list out all the possible qualities which differentiate him from the rest of the other applicants. The applicant shall show how he will add to the value of the company.
3. Has your education prepared you for your career?
The applicant shall support this answer with some examples. He shall clearly and smartly say that his education has not only given him theoretical knowledge but also trained him to meet the practical difficulties that he might have to face while he starts working in the real business world.
4. Have you got involved in conflicts with the boss?
The applicant shall avoid saying no to this question because then the interviewer would drill him till the time he gets satisfied.
The applicant shall answer in the way the interviewer gets satisfied. He shall say that he had been in the conflict with the boss and he has resolved it.
5. What is your greatest weakness?
The applicant should never present his strength as his weakness because this will portray his wrong image in front of the interviewer.
Suppose, if he says he likes only work and work, then this might go against him. He shall list his weakness, but at the same time, he shall also list the steps that he has taken to overcome them.
6. How will your previous boss describe you?
A little preparation in advance will be of great help. Never take a chance on this question because the answer has to be given by someone else.
It is always better to get a letter of recommendation from your previous boss, it will be of great support to the applicants’ answer.
7. What are the qualities of a successful manager?
The answer to this question lies in two words: vision and leadership.
A manager is one who has the vision for the long run. The desired results will be achieved if has the leadership qualities to achieve them.
8. What qualities will you demonstrate as a leader?
The applicant shall highlight his quality of being honest and showing integrity towards others as the most essential qualities of a leader.
The applicant shall make the interviewers believe in what he says and shall have the confidence in his being a great leader.
9. Have you ever failed as a leader?
For this question, the applicant shall share the experience and that how he learned from the mistakes that he has made. He now knows how to deal with failure and motivate other team members in such a situation.
10. How will you differentiate between a manager and a leader?
Here the applicant will have to clearly explain what are his thoughts about this. A manager is one who gets the work done and manages the other work along.
On the other hand, a leader is a person who motivates the employees to work hard and achieve the goals decided.
11. How will you praise other employees?
If I have to praise some other employee then it will be done in the presence of all the other members of the team.
By doing I will not only appreciate the hard work done by the employee but will also motivate others to work hard.
12. Describe some situations where you acted as a leader when you were not?
To answer this question the applicant will have to give some examples where he due to certain conditions had to act as a leader even when he was just a part of the team. More effective the example, the greater the impression he will have upon the interviewer.
13. How will you make others agree on a single point of view?
The applicant shall highlight his quality of being a great listener. He will listen to all the members of the team and will try his best to get them agreed on a single point of view.
Also, make them understand that if they will not work together then they will not be able to achieve the goals of the company.
14. What kind of leader would you like to become?
I would like to be one who will not only motivate others but will also help them to overcome all the problems that they might face while achieving the objectives of the company.
Such an answer would surely impress the interviewer and increase his chances of being selected.
15. How will you accommodate changes in your plans?
A leader is one who shall have the vision of the steps taken today and its impact on the work process of the company. He will try to accommodate the changes in his way of achieving the goals and also make his team members understand the need and importance of undertaking the changes.
16. Who according to you is a successful leader?
A successful leader is one who is a hero in front of his team and all the team members respect him for what he does. He can achieve the goals which are being set by taking all the members of the team together.
17. What motivates a leader?
To me, a leader motivated by the hard work his team puts in achieving the goals of the company. The way the team grows under the leadership of a person is the most important motivating factor for any individual.
18. What are the assets that a leader needs?
The best quality of a leader is his ability to motivate others and he makes them work as a team and achieve the goals that are being set by him. The better the ability to motivate others, the better he will look upon as.
19. If you are unable to achieve the goals of the company what will you do?
If the leader is unable to achieve the objectives, then I will not hesitate to present the situation to my team and also ask them to suggest a possible solution to problems.
Also, I will act as a strong pillar that will stand in the way of all the obstacles that come in the way of achieving the objectives.
20. How will you give bad news, if any, to your team?
I will get all the team members together and will announce the news and will try to identify the point from where things have gone wrong and will ensure that such things don’t happen in the future. I will also encourage my team to share their point of view regarding such a situation.
21. How will you handle criticism?
If ever I get criticized by any of my team workers then I will surely look into the matter and will try to improve the reason for being criticized.
Further, I will discuss it with other members of the team and will try to find the solution for the same.
22. How will you delegate responsibility to your team members?
I will carefully analyze the strengths and weaknesses of all the members of the team and will delegate the authority and give the responsibility accordingly. Also, I will closely monitor the progress of all the members of the team.
23. If you have to decide your team, how will you handle it?
If ever I have to take a decision which is against my team and if somehow it fails, then I will take full responsibility for my decision and will be ready to bear the consequences of the same.
24. How will you handle various projects at the same time?
For this, I will list all the projects and will give priority to one which has their deadlines earlier to meet. Also, I will give the guidelines to my team to carry out the work accordingly.
25. How do you ensure the development of the employees?
I would develop my employees by being their guide and giving them proper instructions to carry out the work.
Also, will become their friend so that they don’t hesitate to share their problems with me.
26. What is your leadership style?
The leadership style depends on the type of project and also, the team that I have to work with. There is no fixed style of leadership, it has to change according to the requirement and need of the moment.
Few other important leadership interview questions frequently asked by interviewers are
Leadership Interview Questions:
- As a leader what are your plans for developing your team?
- Ever got in a job you felt unqualified?
- What is your leadership style?
- How leadership helps the role of a manager
- Have you ever labored to provide a great solution to a non-traditional issue or problem
- Did you bough any important change top your organization and tell us something about it
- How would you support the advancement of your workers?
- How have you helped your team at difficult or tough times?
- Share a situation where you were unable to complete the task within the deadline
- Tell us something about your organizing plans for tasks and projects
- How good are you in making a conversation
- Have you ever taken an unpopular decision and how you handled it
- How do you systematically specify arguments in an argument
- Have you ever made a decision with a lack of relevant facts
- How are you able to complete your milestones in this fast-paced environment
- Explain an instance where you had to make changes to a decision as per new rules
- How do you assign tasks to your team
- Do you have any specific important people in the team.
- Explain an instance when one of your colleagues disagreed with your decision
- How good are you in conflict resolution
- How do you deal with cross-functional teams
- Have you ever been a part of a successful team? What was your role in its success
- Which procedure do you use to reorganize the team
- How might you approach getting cohesion among a group that oppose this idea?
- Which type of criticism do you face most
- Explain some of the toughest decisions to take
- Is competition within a team taken in good spirits?
- How do you convey unhappy news to your team
- Written or verbal communication, which one is more comfortable for you
- What would you do when you have no clue about the achievement of your goal of the team
- What do you consider is the best asset of a leader
- What is the one thing that inspires you to be a leader
- How do you measure your success
- How compatible are you with change
- What do you consider is the toughest part of being a leader
- Do you flip roles for the development of your team
- How do you set an example for team members
- How do you inspire and motivate your team members
- What would your team say about you
- Explain an instance when you took the initiative of a leader when you were not one
- How often do you communicate with your team
- How effective are you, as an individual or in a group
- Do you appreciate your team members? How?
- How do you convince others relating your ideas
- What is your biggest weakness
- What is your greatest strengths
- Brief us the difference between the team manager and team leader
- Does a leader fail? share an example
- Did you gain commitment from your team members
- What are the vital values you showcase as a leader
Conclusion:
The above mentioned are a few tips on how to answer leadership interview questions. When a candidate is appearing for a leadership qualities interview, he should be confident enough to answer any kind of question that comes their way. He shall be ready to deal with the situation and present his best side to the interviewer.
