We are often asked for examples of questions to be used in an interview to get insights on each of the 25 Competencies.
These are just a small set of examples, use them to start a conversation or as a guide to build your own.
Appreciating Others: Identifying with and caring about others.
- Give an example of when you identified with someone else's difficulties at work. What, if anything, did you do to help them?
- Give an example of a time when a company policy or action hurt people. What, if anything, did you do to mitigate the negative consequences to people?
- Give an example of when you went out of your way to help someone. What were your thoughts and feelings about that situation?
- Give an example of when you had to make a decision that impacted many people. What were your thoughts and feelings?
- What positive contributions have you made to your community or society?
- Give an example of when you were acknowledged for your contributions to others.
- Describe a situation when you were criticized for being too concerned about the difficulties of others.
Conceptual Thinking: Analyzing hypothetical situations, patterns and/or abstract concepts to formulate connections and new insights.
- Describe a situation when you were correct in seeing a pattern that others didn't. What reaction did you have to those who did not see the pattern?
- Give an example of when you identified something that would happen in your department, organization or industry. What caused you to make that prediction?
- What, in your opinion, are the concepts or patterns that will impact this organization and its industry?
- Describe a work situation when you took a hypothetical or non-traditional approach to get results. What caused you to take this approach?
- Describe a situation where the proven methods caused a failure. What was the solution?
- Give an example of when your ability to analyze hypothetical situations, patterns and/or abstract concepts led to new insights.
Conflict Management: Understanding, addressing and resolving conflict constructively.
- Describe a difficult conflict you had to resolve. How did you handle the emotional component? What, if anything, did you do to resolve the conflict?
- Describe a situation when you resolved a conflict between two people. What did you do to help them resolve it? What happened to their relationship going forward?
- Give me an example of when you identified the most important issues or concerns in a conflict situation.
- Describe a situation when you were confronted directly by someone with whom you worked. What was your response? What is your relationship with that individual today?
- What have you done to improve your ability to deal with conflict?
- Describe a situation when you were acknowledged for resolving a conflict.
- Tell me about a time when you were able to calm someone who was upset.
Continuous Learning: Taking initiative to regularly learn new concepts, technologies and/or methods.
- How do you keep current on what's going on in your field?
- What resources do you utilize to keep abreast of what's new in your field?
- What was the last book you read?
- What recent learning activities have you experienced?
- Give me an example of when you were able to apply a concept, theory or knowledge to a work problem or situation.
- Describe how something you learned made a significant difference in your career.
- Give me an example of when you did not know enough about something to be effective. What did you do about it?
- In what ways have you invested in yourself to improve your performance?
- Give me an example that illustrates how other people have used you as a resource for knowledge in your field.
Creativity and Innovation: Creating new approaches, designs, processes, technologies and/or systems to achieve the desired result.
- Describe a work situation when you created or adapted a concept, design, process or system to meet a need. How did you go about it?
- Describe a work situation when you took an unusual or non-traditional approach to get results. What made your approach so unusual? Why did you take that approach? How did others respond to your approach? What was the outcome? What, if anything, would you do differently?
- Give me an example of when you were recognized for a new idea, method or process that improved results.
Customer Focus: Anticipating, meeting and/or exceeding customer needs, wants and expectations.
- Give me an example of when you went out of your way for a customer. What was the outcome?
- Describe the most difficult customer you've ever had to deal with and how you handled them.
- Describe a situation when you were given outstanding customer service. What made it stand out?
- Describe a situation when you felt a particularly demanding customer may have been trying to take advantage of you or the organization. What was the outcome?
- Give me an example of a situation when you improved the level of customer service in your organization. What did you do to improve it? What was the outcome?
- Give me an example of when you were given special recognition or acknowledgement for going the extra mile to satisfy a customer.
- Describe a situation when you took a stand for a customer.
Decision Making: Analyzing all aspects of a situation to make consistently sound and timely decisions.
- Give me an example of when you had to make a decision in a timely manner. What information was necessary to make the decision? What was the outcome?
- Describe how you handled a situation when a decision you made was challenged. What was the outcome?
- Give me an example of when you solved a particularly difficult problem when others couldn't. What key questions did you ask to resolve the problem? What made your solution work?
- What kinds of problems have you been most successful at resolving?
- What decision are you most proud of making?
Diplomacy: Effectively and tactfully handling difficult or sensitive issues.
- Describe a situation when organizational politics played a major role in your career. Who were the key players? How were you able to identify the key players? What part did they play in the situation? What was the outcome?
- Give me an example of when you used tact and diplomacy effectively.
- Describe a situation when organizational politics negatively affected your career. What, if anything, would you do differently?
- Describe a situation when your sense of what was politically correct proved to be an asset.
- Give an example of when you were acknowledged for handling a sensitive organizational issue effectively.
- Describe a situation when you gave someone good advice on how to handle a politically sensitive issue.
Employee Development/Coaching: Facilitating, supporting and contributing to the professional growth of others.
- Describe your personal experience as a mentor or coach.
- What role have you played in career development?
- What developmental activities have you facilitated over the last three years?
- Give an example of when your mentoring or coaching helped someone develop. What process or approach did you take? What, if any, obstacles did you encounter? How did you overcome them?
- Describe a situation when you gave someone an assignment you knew would be a stretch for them. What was the outcome?
- What influence or role have you had in advancing individual and organizational learning?
- Describe a situation when you had to work with an individual who did not want to improve. How did you resolve it?
Flexibility: Readily modifying, responding and adapting to change with minimal resistance.
- Give me an example of when you were forced to change priorities or direction. How did you feel when you were first confronted with this change?
- Describe a time when there was an extraordinary amount of change in your life. How did you handle it?
- Describe a situation when you were a part of or an architect of a change. What were the barriers to implementing the change and how did you get beyond them? What was the reaction of others? What was the outcome?
- Give me an example of when you were one of the first to get on board when a major change was introduced.
- Describe a situation when you were acknowledged for your ability to adapt quickly to a change.
Futuristic Thinking: Imagining, envisioning, projecting and/or creating what has not yet been actualized.
- Describe a situation when you were correct in seeing a future trend that others didn't. What reaction did you have to those who did not see the trend?
- Give me an example of when you predicted something that would happen in your department, organization or industry. What caused you to make that prediction?
- What was the most "far-out" concept you've ever had or supported? Why did you believe in it? What was the outcome?
- What, in your opinion, are the trends or events that could impact this organization and its industry?
- Give me an example of an idea you had that others thought was too far out but has since proved to be visionary.
- Describe a situation when you maintained your commitment to a futuristic idea or venture even though others predicted failure.
Goal Orientation: Setting, pursuing and attaining goals, regardless of obstacles or circumstances.
- Give me an example of the most significant professional goal you have met. How did you achieve it? What were the obstacles? How did you overcome them?
- Give me an example of when you took a risk to achieve a goal. What was the outcome?
- What are your future professional goals? How do you plan to achieve them? What might keep you from achieving them?
- Tell me about a time when you overcame great obstacles to achieve something significant.
- Give me an example of when you achieved something by your persistence that others couldn't.
Influencing Others: Personally affecting others’ actions, decisions, opinions or thinking.
- Describe a situation where you were able to convince others to your way of thinking. How did you do it?
- Describe a situation when the only way you could accomplish a goal was to get buy-in from others. What obstacles did you have in obtaining their buy-in? How did you overcome them? What was the outcome?
- Give me an example of when you were able to facilitate a dramatic shift in the thinking, actions or beliefs of others. What techniques or methods did you use?
- Give me an example of a situation when you were acknowledged for your ability to get others to say yes.
- Describe a situation when you accomplished something significant as a result of your persuasive ability.
Interpersonal Skills: Effectively communicating, building rapport and relating well to all kinds of people.
- Describe the most difficult working relationship. What specific actions did you take to improve the relationship? What was the outcome?
- Describe the types of people you prefer to be around and why.
- Describe the types of people you have difficulty getting along with and why.
- Give me an example of a situation when you demonstrated sensitivity to diversity issues.
- Describe a situation when you were able to strengthen a relationship by communicating effectively. What made your communication effective?
- Describe a relationship that requires a great deal of effort.
- What have you done in the past to build rapport and relationships with people?
- Give me an example of your ability to communicate effectively and build relationships with people regardless of differences.
- Describe how your ability to communicate effectively and build relationships has contributed to one of your greatest accomplishments.
Leadership: Organizing and influencing people to believe in a vision while creating a sense of purpose and direction.
- If you have held a leadership position in the past, draw the organizational chart above and below your position to illustrate the scope of your leadership responsibilities.
- Give me an example of when you inspired people with a vision.
- Tell me about a time when you significantly improved the performance of a group of people who reported directly to you. How did you motivate the top performers? Did you use the same techniques with the poor performers? If not, what did you do differently? What actions did you take to improve poor performance?
- Describe your leadership style.
- Tell me about a situation when you were able to maintain the trust and commitment of people after making or implementing a decision that negatively impacted them.
- Give me an example of when you took a significant risk for the sake of purpose, vision or mission.
- Describe a situation when you failed to obtain the commitment, dedication and trust of others. What, if anything, would you do differently?
Negotiation: Listening to many points of view and facilitating agreements between two or more parties.
- Give an example of when you were able to facilitate a win-win agreement between two or more parties. How did you get them to agree? What were the obstacles? How were you able to get the parties to see the obstacles from a different point of view? What was the outcome?
- Give an example of when you were able to facilitate an agreement concerning a very sensitive issue. What factors facilitated the agreement? What, if anything, would you do differently?
- Describe a situation when you had to negotiate an agreement with someone who took an unreasonable position. What did you do to bring them closer to agreement?
- Give an example of when you played a key role in negotiating a significant contract.
Personal Accountability: Being answerable for personal actions.
- Describe a situation when you made a mistake and had to deal with the consequences. What reaction did you have to this situation?
- Give me an example of when you identified something that went wrong in your department, organization or industry. What caused you to identify the problem?
- What, in your opinion, are the consequences when people try to hide a mistake?
- Describe a work situation when something good came from admitting a failure. What caused you to take this approach?
- Describe a situation where a failure occurred and who was at fault. What was the solution?
- Give me an example of when you had to defend your actions.
Planning and Organizing: Establishing courses of action to ensure that work is completed effectively.
- Describe the most complex assignment or project you've worked on. What actions did you take before starting the assignment or project? What were the most challenging aspects of the assignment or project? How did you determine what steps needed to be taken to complete it? How did you determine what resources were needed? What obstacles did you encounter that you didn't anticipate? What could you have done differently?
- Describe a situation when your planning and preparation was a major factor in the success of a project.
- Describe a work situation where lack of planning and organizing had a negative effect.
- Give me an example of when you were acknowledged for your attention to detail.
Problem Solving: Defining, analyzing and diagnosing key components of a problem to formulate a solution.
- Describe a situation when you identified and defined a problem. What, if anything, were the next steps?
- Give me an example of when your diagnosis of a problem proved to be incorrect. What approach did you take to correct the diagnoses? What was the outcome?
- Describe a difficult problem you've encountered. What made it difficult? What steps did you take towards developing a solution? What factors did you consider in evaluating solutions? What solution was implemented and how successful was it in solving the problem?
Project Management: Identifying and overseeing all resources, tasks, systems and people to obtain results.
- Describe a large project you had responsibility for managing. What process did you use to manage it?
- Give an example of when you avoided delays in a project. What did you do to keep the project on schedule?
- Give an example of when you had a quality problem and what you did to resolve it.
- Describe a time when you were able to achieve extraordinary results by effectively managing resources, systems or procedures.
- Describe how you handled a situation when you had to juggle resources and people to complete a project.
- Give an example of when you took a significant risk by changing the direction of a project to get the desired results.
- Describe a situation when you had to hold people accountable for results.
- Give an example of how you removed a significant barrier in order to meet objectives.
- Describe a situation when you had to adhere to very high standards to manage a project.
Resiliency: Quickly recovering from adversity.
- Describe a situation when you overcame a challenge to positively impact the organization. What was the reaction to this impact?
- Describe a situation when the only way you could accomplish a goal was to confront a negative situation. What were the outcomes?
- What, in your opinion, are the consequences when you let an adverse situation get the best of you?
- What obstacles did you have to overcome during a successful venture?
- Give an example of when you were able to facilitate a dramatic shift to overcome a major setback.
- Describe a situation where a failure occurred because someone could not handle personal criticism. What could they have done differently?
- Describe a situation when you accomplished something significant as a result of overcoming adversity.
Self-Starting: Demonstrating initiative and willingness to begin working.
- Why is it important for you to jump in and get started?
- Give an example of when you were able to accomplish something others didn't believe you could. What allowed you to accomplish it?
- Describe a time when getting started quickly allowed you to accomplish a difficult task. What were your thoughts during this time?
- Describe a situation when other peoples’ procrastination allowed you to excel. How did that impact the organization? What happened next?
- Describe how taking initiative has affected your career.
- Describe a difficult circumstance you had to overcome to get a project started.
Teamwork: Cooperating with others to meet objectives.
- Give me an example of one of the most significant contributions you made as a member of a high performing team. What, in your opinion, made it a high performing team? Describe how you felt about the contributions of the others on the team.
- Give me an example of a situation when you had difficulties with a team member. What, if anything, did you do to resolve the difficulties?
- Describe how you would you deal with a team decision you didn't agree with.
- Describe a situation where the team was having trouble agreeing on a decision and what you did to facilitate consensus.
- Give me an example of when you were on a team that failed to meet its objectives. What could the team have done differently?
Time and Priority Management: Prioritizing and completing tasks in order to deliver desired outcomes within allotted time frames.
- Give an example of when you were able to meet a professional deadline.
- Describe a situation when you had to exercise a significant amount of time management.
- Describe a situation when you demonstrated initiative and prioritized tasks to stay on schedule. What was the outcome?
- Give an example of when your ability to manage your time and priorities proved to be an asset.
- What have you done in the past that demonstrates your commitment to reducing non-essential activities?
- Give an example of when you were responsible for a major project with a strict schedule. What was the outcome? What, if anything, would you do differently?
- Describe a time when you had to make a difficult choice between your priorities and time management.
Understanding Others: Understanding the uniqueness and contributions of others.
- Describe a situation when your understanding of someone’s unique talent positively impacted the organization. What was the reaction to this situation?
- Give an example of when you identified how others could contribute in your department or organization. What were the outcomes?
- What, in your opinion, are the consequences when management does not capitalize on individual strengths?
- Describe a work situation when something good came from pointing out an individual’s unique abilities. What caused you to see this?
- Describe a situation where a failure occurred because others’ individual talents were not recognized. What was the solution?
- Give an example of when you had difficulty identifying a colleague’s talents.
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