“How” and “What” questions are also behavioral questions, even if it seems like they’re not
Which of these is a behavioral question, A or B?
A. What is your leadership style?
B. When was the last time you built a team?
Did you pick B? Most people do. But both of them are behavioral, even A.
Behavioral questions are not always easy to spot
Sometimes it can be hard to decide if a question is a behavioral one.
Some hard-to-spot behavioral questions:
“How do you manage employees?”
“What is your method for conducting performance reviews?”
“Have you ever had a difficult conversation with a customer?”’
“What is your leadership style?”
These are also behavioral questions.
Really? Yes they are. Even though they aren’t asking explicitly for a story or example, the interviewer is expecting one, exactly like any other behavioral question.
I know these questions don’t sound like they’re asking for an example, but you need to give one.
But aren’t those questions asking for my method/process/system?
Yes, some of them are.
If you look at the examples I gave above, “How do you manage employees” and “What is your method for conducting performance reviews” and “What is your leadership style” are all basically asking for your process.
But a process isn’t the same as a story is it?
I was just saying that you need to give a story, but now I’m saying you need to give your process. Are you supposed to give both?
Yes.
A “process” answer (one with just the process/method/system without a story) isn’t as strong as an answer with the process and also a specific example.
Formula for answering process/method questions
your process/method + example = answer
Question: “How do you manage employees?”
Process: “I try to give consistent and ongoing feedback so there are no surprises. By consistent I don’t mean quarterly or annual performance reviews, I mean it should be built into the day. Although I do set quarterly goals that ladder up to the business goals so that employees feel a sense of connection and purpose that can sometimes be lacking for technical teams. I try to find a balance between trust and oversight. I treat everyone like a future leader rather than an order taker but do frequent check-ins and course correct fast if they make the wrong decisions.”
Example: “I’m doing that now with my Product team. An employee recently came to me with a project - she wants to explore a new product idea. She' was just looking for my take as a manager. I responded by asking how that fit into our product plan? She had a good answer I said run with it, work it into a product brief. When she comes to me with the product brief, if it makes sense I’ll start working with her to sell the proud internally and get it scheduled and resourced.”
You never want to just give the process part of your answer because it will make your answer weaker than it could be. The point of the examples you use to answer behavioral questions is to show you know something. You can say you know something, but an example will use words to paint a picture of your experience.
What if you’re not sure if it’s a behavioral question?
If you’re not sure you’re being asked a behavioral question, you should answer with process + example, because it will make your answer stronger.
What about “Have you ever” questions?
What about the question “Have you ever had a difficult conversation with a customer?” That doesn’t sound like it’s asking for a process, it sounds like it’s asking for a yes or no answer or an answer that’s just a few sentences.
Yes, that’s what it sounds like, but what they want is process + example. “Yes, I’ve had those many times. The last time was when…”
Related topics:
The STAR method for answering behavioral questions
Amazon leadership principle Deliver Results interview questions
