LEADERSHIP SKILL interview quesions

Question1: What is the difference between Leader & Manager?
Answers:

• A Manager in business terms ensures tasks are done through others..
• A Leader in practical terms motivates others to do the task.
• A Manager who can not motivate others to a certain task is not a Leader.
• No difference but it is the combination of both which move things forward.
• Leader-Person who leads people and develops them to have faith in him.
• Manager-Manager himself should be a leader and able to manage other activities which are beneficiary to management.Link between management and his subordinates
• A Manager is a person that gets things done
• A Leader is a person that tells you what are the things to be done
• In other words, a manager makes sure the process is followed and that the goal is achieved. While the leader shows the team the way and decides what are the goals of the team.

Question2 :Do you feel you work more effectively on a one to one basis or in a group situation?

Answers:

• Effectiveness can be only accountable in a group and I feel more effective in a group, because everyone in a group has some special quality so I can eventually grasp it, we develop inter-personal skills by helping our junior's and learning from seniors.

Question3 :How do you get people who do not want to work together to establish a common approach to a problem?

Answers:

• Firstly,we should concentrate on fixing their difference of opinions. then we will work on making them realize the goal and how their difference is going to affect the goal.
• Try to be an effective mediator by finding a position that everybody compromises but nobody feel as a looser. In other words, try to find common ground. In addition to that,try to demonstrate how their collaboration benefit both of them and team as a whole.

Question 4: How do you motivate your team members?

Answers:  
The following are eight quick tips to motivate your team:

• Everyone Has Motivation. Your employees are motivated on some level. It is your job to find the level of their motivation and move your employees to the next level.
• To truly be a motivator, you must always be in tune to your employees?  Find out why it is beneficial for your employees to do a task, etc. Once you find out the employees? motives, you find out how to motivate them.
• It?s about Pain or Pleasure : Motivate your employees toward pleasure or away from pain. You motivate toward the pleasure by providing recognition, incentives, and rewards for doing a good job. You motivate away from the pain of a corrective action, losing a position, or doing a poor job. The key to this motivation is to be consistent with all your employees at all times.
• Give Me a Reason :Do it because I said so! Well, with our educated workforce these days, that does n't work anymore. Employees like to know why tasks are being requested of them so that they can feel involved and that the task has worth. Let your employees know why doing the task is important to you, the organization, and for them.
• Let Me Understand You : Take time to show sincere interest in your employees as people. Understand what your employees are passionate about in their lives. What are their special passions? What are their personal needs? What brings them joy or pain? What are their short-range and long-range goals? Once you understand the answers to these questions, you can move them to a new level of motivation, because you cared enough to ask the questions and show interest in their success. Once you understand your employee?s needs and goals, they will take more interest in understanding and achieving your goals.
• Make Me Proud : Napoleon Bonaparte once said, ?A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.? Give your employees the opportunity to be proud of their work. Reward team members publicly for a job well done. Give them an opportunity in a team meeting to explain how they accomplished the job. Have your organization?s Director, President, Vice President, etc., give recognition to these employees by personally sending a note, recognizing them in an organizational or team meeting, or creating a ?Hall or Wall of Fame? recognition for employees that really have gone beyond the call of duty.
• Expect the Best : Expect the best and your employees will rise to that level. How do you do this? You do it with the words you use. Are you expressing positive expectations, or are you using words (kind of, sort of, we?ll try, we have to, we haven?t done that before, and that will never work) that communicate negative expectations? What does your body language say about you? Does it say, ?I?m ready to take on any challenge, and I expect you can also;? or does your body language say ?Please don?t give me another problem. I can?t handle it.?     Do our recognitions and rewards move our employees to do their best? Do we consistently communicate our standards and expectations for the best? Do we coach our team to always do better?
• Walk the Talk : Our employees model our behavior. If we are confident about a major change in the organization, our employees will follow our behavior. If we come in late and leave early, guess what will happen? Remember, even when you don?t think someone is watching?they are always watching. Set the example for others to follow.                                                                                                     Apply these eight simple rules of motivation and you, too, will have the skills to motivate your team to be inspired, innovative, self-directed, and highly productive employees.

Question 5 :What approach do you take in getting your people to accept your ideas or department goals?

Answers:

• Never take any predefined approach to make people follow your idea's ,be yourself and think why your approach is good and how it can be beneficial to your people and your organization ,if you get this answer,this is the approach one should follow.
• There is no predefined or fixed set of ruled for this,but a generic concept for putting forward your point is that Idea explained along with concrete/significant value addition to their stack holders as well as their surroundings, value could be in term of money, moral or visibility, because things never work-out without usability/ value addition, to their consumers.

Question 6 :How frequently do you meet with your immediate subordinates as a group?

Answers:

• Once a week (Monday). Other than this. Start of a new project (Kickoff).
• When some milestone happens (1-2 months).
• When the reported Defect Density is very high.
• When a Technical Meeting is done. Appraisals inputs. Awards & Promotions announcement.
• When attrition is going up. 

Question 7 :If you do not have much time & they hold seriously differing views, what would be your approach?

Answer:

• Best use one of the team oriented technique, Like 6 thinking hats; Just tell the whole team to focus on each type of act for 3 mins; Like … information- what is the subject/objective of the meeting with given information,
• feelings ( 30 secs)- to know how the whole group reacts
• Caution- the fear of doing it or not doing it
• Creativity- how to overcome with better solutions
• Benefits- on the whole to the company
• Managing the whole show as a leader, will bring down your time and make the team to be more focused with short time.

Question 8 :"What do you feel has been your greatest work-related accomplishment?"

Answers:

• Choose one example from your past that was important to you and helped the company you worked for. Give specific details about what you did, how you did it, and what the results were. Try to pick an accomplishment that relates to the position for which you are applying. Employers like to hear about accomplishments that reduced expenses, raised revenues, solved problems or enhanced a company's reputation.

Question 9 :"What is your greatest strength?"

Answers:

• This is a great chance to highlight your best skills. Don't pick just one, focus on your top three or four. Some examples are: leadership skills, team-building skills, and organizational skills. Determine which strengths would fit best with the position for which you are applying. For example, if the job announcement stresses the ability to handle multiple tasks, you could say: "I'm good at organizational skills, prioritization and time management. But my greatest strength is my ability to effectively handle multiple projects and deadlines."

Question 10 : "What is your greatest weakness?"

Answers:

• Be careful with this one. Most interview guides will tell you to answer it with a positive trait disguised as a weakness. For example, "I tend to expect others to work as hard as I do," or "I'm a bit of a perfectionist." Interviewers have heard these "canned" answers over and over again. To stand out, be more original and state a true weakness, but then emphasize what you've done to overcome it. For example: "I've had trouble delegating duties to others because I felt I could do things better myself. This has sometimes backfired because I'd end up with more than I could handle and the quality of my work would suffer. But I've taken courses in time management and learned effective delegation techniques, and I feel I've overcome this weakness."