Example Competency Interview Questions
To Help You Prepare

If you've been invited to a competency interview, check out our introduction to competency based interviews, which includes tips on how to prepare. Once you've read this, it's time to look at some example interview questions.

Here we look at how interviewers might assess your Leadership and Management Skills in the workplace.

If leadership/management isn't a requirement of the job you're applying for, that's fine. We've covered other competences too so have a look at the list of competences and find ones relevant to your job.

What Do Employers Look For?

When assessing leadership and management skills, interviewers look for past evidence that you:

• Have vision and can communicate this to others, getting buy-in
• Can drive through changes effectively
• Lead by example in terms of attitude and performance
• Are consistent, fair and act with integrity
• Create a culture that encourages positive actions and behaviour

Example Competency Interview Questions About Leadership

Here are some example competency interview questions assessing leadership and management skills.

• Tell me about a time when you developed a vision or strategy and communicated this to a team

- What was your vision?
- How did you communicate it?
- How did you get buy-in from the team?

• Describe a time when you had to drive a team through change

- What was the change?
- Was it successful?
- How did you ensure success?
- What would you team have said about you?

• Tell us about a time when you needed to inspire a team to deliver in challenging times

- Why were the challenges?
- How did your inspire the team?
- What obstacles did you face?
- What was the outcome?

• Describe a situation where you faced resistance from your team to the direction you were taking

- Why did they resist and how?
- What steps did you take to overcome the resistance?
- How successful were you?

• Tell me about a time when you had to deal quickly and appropriately with poor performance

- What did you do?
- How did you feel about your actions?
- What was the outcome?

• Tell me about a time when you delegated authority to someone

- What did you delegate?
- How did you go about it?
- What happened?

• What is your preferred leadership style?

- When have you had to adapt this style and why?
- How did you feel about this?
- What was the end result?

• Tell me how you encourage your team to follow your direction and behaviours

- What specifically do you do?
- Why is this important?

• Describe a time when you had to work with another leader to ensure resources were optimised across different parts of the business

- Why was this so important?
- What did you do?
- What was the outcome?

Other Competency Interview Questions

As well as questions on leadership and management, we have other example competency interview questions on Developing Self and Others, Decision-making, Conflict Management etc... Just go back to the list of competences and find ones relevant to the job you're applying for. We have many.

And don't forgot there's tips on preparing for competency interviews there too!

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