Behavioral Interview Questions by Competency: Team Work

Behavioral Interview Questions: Team Work

Team Work is the ability to share due credit with coworkers; display enthusiasm and promote a friendly group working environment.

  • Behavioral Interview Question: “Helping a team organize itself to get results is often a difficult thing to do. Tell me about a time when you had your greatest success in helping organize a team. What specific results were accomplished by the team?”
    Evaluating the candidate’s answer: Did the candidate help create a common goal/vision, and/or use a feedback/reward system, to coalesce a team? Were there an absence of team activity and/or use of pressure to achieve results?
  • Behavioral Interview Question: “The term ‘participative management’ has been used for years to describe a technique of building a team spirit by collecting suggestions from others. Describe a time when you used suggestions to build team commitment.”
    Evaluating the candidate’s answer: Did the candidate commit to productive participation by such things as asking meaningful questions, defining group authority and/or provision of adequate resources/time? Was there inexperience with, or rejection of, participative decision-making?
  • Behavioral Interview Question: “It is sometimes important to deal with a negative attitude to build team motivation. Give me an example of a time when you confronted a negative attitude successfully with the result of building teamwork and morale.”
    Evaluating the candidate’s answer: Did the candidate recognize a negative attitude in himself/herself or another person, have insight into its causes, and take constructive corrective action? Ws there a reaction to an attitude problem with little evidence for productive action?
  • Behavioral Interview Question: “We cannot do everything ourselves. Give me an example of a time when you dealt with this reality by creating a special team effort. Highlight the special aspects of the situation which best demonstrate your skill in this area.”
    Evaluating the candidate’s answer: Did the candidate use participative decision-making, goal setting, and/or constructive confrontation to build commitment to perform separate tasks in an integrated/productive way? Was there a directive/autocratic style in establishing team roles and supervising performance?

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