The question “What is your management style?” It is one of the most common interview questions if you are interviewing for a job that involves supervising others. When an interviewer asks you this question, they want to know what you do to direct, motivate, and manage a team of employees.
Not every management style works for every company, and the interviewer is trying to figure out if you'd be a good fit for their team.
What is your management style?
To give a good answer, you need to demonstrate your ability to handle situations and problems as a manager, while talking about real experiences. Read on for more details about the different management techniques and how to answer this question.
Some other formulas
There are many formulas for the question “What is your management style?”, including:
- How would you describe your management style?
- How would you describe your preferred management style?
- What management style do you use when leading ambitious projects?
- How would you describe your leadership style?
- Can you describe a situation in which he led a team successfully?
- Have you ever trained or supervised someone?
Why does the interviewer ask you this question?
Employers often wonder about a supervisor's management style because they want to gain an idea of how they lead their team to see if it fits the current needs of their employees.
Many departments and their employees can differ depending on the tasks they complete, how quickly they complete them and how well they respond to different types of leadership.
For example, an IT team may respond better to managers who give them plenty of space and ask managers for help when needed.
The marketing team may need constant support and cooperation from their supervisors to deliver effective work.
Employers can assess the needs and performance of their departments and select a supervisor with a management style that matches those needs.
This can lead teams to produce more valuable work due to their managers' motivation.
How to prepare for the answer
If you are interviewing for a job that requires supervision, any sane hiring manager will ask you, “What is your management style?” And for some reason, this question always seems a bit awkward to answer.
How can you respond in a way that shows that you can be an effective team leader while not being too arrogant (and not too humble)?
The best managers are strong but resilient, and that's exactly what you want to show off in your answer. Then share a few of your best management moments, like when Grow your team from five to 15 years or train a poorly performing employee to become the best salesperson in the company.
While there are plenty of ways to make an impression strike this balance, here's one that I think works well when it comes to discussing your management style:
- First, Think about the management style of previous supervisors
- Second, Identify the qualities that make you a good manager
- Third, Define the skills you think a good manager has
- Fourth, Decide what type of management style you have
- Finally, Tell a story about when you used a particular management style
Examples of answering the question
Consider these sample answers to help inspire you to prepare your own answer:
Management style is very tricky, but I generally think that a good manager gives clear directions and actually stays out of reach, but is ready and available to leapfrog to provide direction, expertise, and help when needed. I'm trying my best to make this a management style.
I also do my best to make sure I know when my team needs help. I don't hang around and wait to be called by my direct reports - I go to them. This means a lot of casual check-ins, both on the work they do and on their overall job satisfaction and mental well-being.
I remember one project in particular in my last position which involved everyone working on a separate aspect of the product. This meant a lot of independent work for my team of seven, but instead of annoying everyone with frequent meetings to keep me and others on progress, I created a project wiki that allowed us to communicate new information as necessary without others interrupting the team member's work. Then I did my job to make sure no one was stuck in trouble for too long without a soundboard. In the end, despite the disparate project responsibilities, we ended up with a very cohesive product and, most importantly, a team that wasn't exhausted.
Once, I had to finish a project with a tight deadline while shorting. The first job order was to redistribute the workload. I had a meeting, and we sketched out the project. I asked the volunteers to take over the additional tasks, after delegating most of them to myself. You chose a speed-bound management style. You set a fast pace, taking work from team members who can't perform and assigning it to others. We finished the project in an exhausted state. But the team liked the fact that I rolled up my sleeves and joined them. My supervisor asked me to turn the experience into a workshop for others. Later on, the project won an industry award which made the team very proud.
I think a good manager is motivating and encouraging. I always take myself out of my comfort level and enjoy doing the same with my employees. They are often able to achieve many challenging obstacles, so I use my Transformational Management technique to help guide them through this challenging task when needed. I accomplished this with a content writer I once supervised. I encouraged them to write long content pieces on topics they had little knowledge of. This has led them to become the most powerful research writer on the marketing team.