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How to Answer What is Your Leadership Style | Leadership and Management Interview Questions - YouTube
Channel: Self Made Millennial
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- Hey everyone, this is
Self Made Millennial.
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I'm Madeline Mann.
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In this video, you'll learn
how to answer the question,
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what is your leadership style?
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What is your management style?
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With a four step framework
that'll be sure to impress
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that interviewer.
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My ultimate goal is to help you
find what makes you special,
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so that you can add value to the world
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in a way that brings you joy.
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So make sure you subscribe to this channel
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and hit the bell to get a
new video every Thursday.
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I will be completely honest,
I was on the job market
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several years ago and
you know, I pride myself
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on being a pretty solid interviewee.
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But the interviewer
asked me this question,
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what is your leadership style?
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And in the moment, I just
felt like this question
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was so big and abstract,
that I just started rambling,
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about how it's important
to respect people's time,
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and be on time.
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Suddenly I was obsessed with
time, I mean, who was I?
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Flava Flav.
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- [Flava Flav] Yeah!
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- I have no idea what I was saying,
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that is nowhere near what
is most important to me,
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I completely fudged it, and I
ended up staying up all night
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hating myself for it.
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So this video is dedicated
to all of you out there,
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who will hopefully never have
to have an awful experience
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like that with this question.
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All right, so with this
question they are trying
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to picture you managing other
people, which is tough to do.
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So your job here is to
help them picture it.
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So here are four steps for your answer.
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First, emphasize flexibility.
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There isn't a one size
fits all leadership style
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that works for every
organization and every person.
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I believe that it's worth
noting, so that they know
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that you're a dynamic person who can adapt
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to different environments.
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Second, think about what leadership styles
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you have shown in the past.
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And remember, a leadership
style doesn't have to be
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the very classic, a line on an org chart
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where these people report
to you, sir, yes, sir.
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But could also be the way
you lead external vendors.
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How you step in when working on a project,
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or how you plan and delegate.
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To inspire you with a few
styles you can mention,
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you can talk about how
you're all about coaching
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your team to be better.
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You're great at holding
your team accountable
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to hit deadlines.
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Or you lead by example,
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or you have a servant/leadership style,
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or you're very strong at delegation.
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Those are just a few examples
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to think about what rings true for you.
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Here are two more ways to
uncover your leadership style.
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Number one, ask people who
you know what they interpret
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your style as.
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I mean it can be tough
to see this in yourself.
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Number two, if you don't have
a lot of leadership experience
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frame it in a way that's more
about which leadership traits
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you would like to emulate.
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The way to do this, is
to ask yourself questions
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about what are those
traits that you value.
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Such as, what were the
behaviors of the leader
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you've had in the past
that you've really liked?
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And what were the behaviors
of leaders you didn't respect?
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Your management style can then be made up
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of doing more of what you
like and doing the opposite
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of what you don't like.
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The third step is to come
up with stories and examples
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of you showing these different management
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and leadership styles.
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So if you thought of a
heavy focus on coaching,
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think about an time you
took to really coach someone
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through a challenge.
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Now, you can also do this
the other way, right?
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So think of some of the
leadership moments you've had
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that you've been most proud of.
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Write out those stories for yourself
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and then identify the leadership qualities
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you showed in that moment.
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The reason why you need to tell stories,
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is because this helps them to understand
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what it would be like to work with you
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and to help them picture you in the job.
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If you just self-describe like,
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I'm an inspirational
leader, I motivate everyone,
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and they all want to follow me.
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Okay, that answer feels a bit hollow
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and we can't really tell if that's
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what you're actually like,
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or if you're slightly
deluded to feel that way,
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I don't know.
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Now, when I tell people
to given an example,
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they do it this way.
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There was an associate on the team,
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who didn't understand
Excel, and I was the one
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who stepped up and coached her.
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Folks, that's not a story, those
are just a series of facts,
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you need to present it in the PAR format.
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Which is also called STAR
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and other similar things like that,
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but I like to keep it to three
steps, keeping it simple.
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First start with P, problem.
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What problem did you need to solve?
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Paint the before picture for us.
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So tell us about that
associate's struggle with Excel,
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why was it so important that she learn it?
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What'd you notice, that
led you to to take action?
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Speaking of action, next is A for action,
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which is what did you
do to solve the problem?
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So how did you coach her,
what steps did you take?
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And finally is R for result.
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This is the so what of the story.
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What were the results of your coaching?
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How did this benefit the
department and the company?
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Okay, fourth step is to tie
it all back to the company.
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If you have an idea of the
management culture at the company
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you can completely tailor
your answer to that.
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Such as, that you are
flexible in your leadership
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but through your interviews
and your research online,
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you know that the company has X culture,
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and it expects Y employees,
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so you would adopt largely
a Z leadership style,
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which then you tell a PAR story
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of how you exhibited that in the past.
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Oh, wow, talk about impressing them,
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that would blow them away.
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Now, if you aren't feeling so confident
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in your knowledge of what
types of leadership styles
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they want, which are compatible
with what you can offer,
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then bring it up at
the end of your answer.
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Ask something like,
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knowing the direct reports for this role
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and the types of projects
this position will be leading,
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what do you think are
some of the most important
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leadership approaches?
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Or what types of leadership
styles have you seen
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be most successful here?
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Such helpful information, right?
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You can see if it's
actually a leadership style
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that you could jive with.
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And if their answer is
different than your answer,
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but you still for sure resonate
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with the management style they describe,
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you now have an opportunity
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to address that immediately
in the interview.
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Instead of them walking out going,
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well, that candidate was great,
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but too bad they can never lead
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in the way we'd want them
to lead here, oh well.
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No, don't let this slip
away from you like that,
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make it a conversation.
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Now, let's jump into an example.
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My leadership style has
morphed depending on the people
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I am leading in the type of
environment we're working in.
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Such as, I've managed a
workforce that was very junior,
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many of them it was their first job.
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They had to learn many new skills
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and it was an industry that
was heavily deadline driven.
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And so I found my leaderships
style in that case
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to be very hands-on.
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Such as when I brought on a team of five
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very junior new writers,
their articles often needed
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many rounds of edits, and it
was a steep learning curve.
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And I also noticed that many of them
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didn't know how to conduct themselves
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in a professional setting.
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I would work very closely with each writer
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for their first few assignments.
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And I was a bit strict like clockwork,
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if their assignment was due at 2:00 p.m.
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and I didn't see it in my inbox,
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they got a call from me at 2:01.
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My writers ended up being fully trained,
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several weeks earlier
than many other sections
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and consistently did
not miss any deadlines,
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because I knew that was so
crucial to the publication.
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Now I have led other teams where the work
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was longer term projects and
it was a bit more creative.
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And I found my leadership
style in that case
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was to step back a bit, give them a goal,
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and allow them to determine
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how they wanted to reach that goal.
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And then acted in a
servant/leadership capacity.
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Of making sure to support
them, remove roadblocks
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and to also course correct
when they got stuck.
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What types of leadership approaches
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have you seen work best at your company?
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Boom, good one.
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So you will want to create
what I call a story toolbox,
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where you have specific
examples of your leadership
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and also many other situations.
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I'll link a video of how to
create this story toolbox.
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When people email me with
their success stories,
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that video, number one
most frequently referenced
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for them getting job offers,
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so I will link that in the description.
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Also if you're interviewing
for leadership roles,
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you better have a strong answer
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to the common interview
question, tell me about yourself.
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Managers notoriously take too
long to answer this question.
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So I have created a worksheet for you
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to craft a high impact answer.
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I will link that free
download in the comments
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and in the description.
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You've got this, wifi high five!
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