Behavioral Interview Questions For Leadership Skills

Hiring managers often focus on assessing the leadership skills of job seekers. To do this, many use Behavioral Interview Questions. A behavioral interview question asks the job seeker to tell a specific story from their experience, illustrating how they acted and the results they achieved in the past. The goal of a behavioral question is to predict how the job seeker will preform based on their past performance.

Below are a selection of questions targeting leadership skills:

• Tell me about a time when you led a team with low morale.

• Tell me about a time when you managed two people that did not get along.

• Tell me about a time when you fired someone that was very well liked at the company.

• Tell me about a time when you helped someone improve their performance.

• Tell me about a time when you had to get your team to make a major change that they disagreed with.

• Tell me about a time when you recognized the achievement of someone you managed.

• Tell me about a time when you hired someone that didn’t work out.

• Tell me about the most challenging leadership situation you have faced.

• Tell me about a time when you delegated effectively.

• Tell me about a time when you made an unpopular decision.

• Tell me about a time when you took over an under-performing team.

• Tell me about the biggest leadership mistake you have made.

• Tell me about a time when you had to adapt your leadership style to meet a challenge.

These questions touch on some of the aspects of leadership. There thousands of potential questions, and it is unlikely you will hear any of these specifically. If you prepare for these, though, you should be able to adapt to a wide range of leadership questions.