Leadership is one of the most essential qualities required to excel in the professional world. You must be a leader to become a competent performer and professional in a company. Any employer will try to check this attribute of yours before selecting you as a part of their organization. A job seeker in any industry is bound to face the leadership interview questions, wherein you are expected to prove your leadership skills, the style you maintain and the way you implement it at work. They will also give attention to your accomplishments as a result of your qualities.
Leadership is a crucial management skill which helps you to be at the forefront, thereby managing and influencing a group of people to obtain certain objectives. It defines your skills in motivating the team and taking the ownership of a job. Thus, when a recruiter is hiring a candidate in certain position, he/she wants somebody who has a sense of responsibility and understands his/her task well. It is only then that he/she can can lead a team, job, or critical situations at any given point of time. He/she should be well organized, effective decision maker, problem solver, good communicator and confident. This type of skill is usually sought after in managerial or senior level positions.
The questions asked by the employer in the selection process will cover behavioral based questions assessing your expertise in being a good professional who can be followed by others. Here are a few samples given below which will help you to frame the best answer.
This is a common question in any interview. You may simply talk about the matching profile of your interest or the preferred company of yours. You can also talk about the skill sets and the possible contributions you can provide to the organization.
The interviewer will check your experience level and whether you have been involved in leadership activities. Thus, prepare your answer in an organized way. Talk about all the inspiring responsibilities you have handled and put more stress on the success stories.
Determination and sincerity are the integral part of making any task important. Try to focus these factors and mention that you are a kind of person who considers all tasks important. Emphasize on the rewarding jobs and avoid the other aspects.
Don't neglect this question. It will assess how you can handle crisis or critical issues at work. Give examples from your experience and illustrate in detail how you managed the situation from understanding the issue, analyzing it, searching several options to finally opting the best solution.
Be positive and talk about your contributions to the team, project and the organization. You have to highlight the particular achievement because of which the company benefited in terms of revenue/recognition/new clients, etc.
Enumerate your skill set with major focus on your leadership qualities. It will be good if you can provide real examples describing each skill. Talk about your experience level and the job responsibilities you have handled. Then you can relate them with the open position's requirement.
We all commit mistakes or face failures in our life as a result of several situations. The purpose of this question is mainly to know how you deal with difficult phases at work. So don't be afraid to share an example of your failure. You have to illustrate your learnings from the failure which you took positively. Also, share that you have been able to find out solutions to control those failures in future (with examples as to how).
List out the important characteristics of a good leader like motivator, problem solver, trustworthy, honest, fair, good communicator, etc.
There is a thin line of difference between these two. A leader can be a manager, but a manager cannot be a leader always. However, a true manager is a good leader.
"A manager gets the work done by others, while a leader motivates others to complete a task or reach a goal..."
Talk about the different motivating tips you will consider to inspire a non-performing team. You have to be careful and give good examples in this case because that will showcase your abilities.
"I will sit with each member and try to understand their problems. Then we can engage in a friendly chat to find out solutions...."
Share the incidents of success in your professional journey, which has been the major determinants of your learning, growth and success. Establish the facts as to how each experience has enriched your knowledge, learning and eagerness to learn more.
The success stories of employees are directly responsible for making a difference to the organization. Give examples on the benefits received by the organization.
Here your convincing or influencing skills will be evaluated.
"A disagreeing customer has to be treated with patience. His/her knowledge should be respected, while trying to make him/her understand my point of view..."
The above leadership interview questions need to be answered in a unique way with examples or real incidents, while demonstrating your competencies amongst a number of applicants. Most of them will come to you as a challenge to nail your creative mind, communication skills, flexible and positive attitude, and confident approach. You have to ensure that you showcase all these attributes to the employer and impress him/her to the core.