How to Answer “What is Your Management Style?” Question

You should view this interview question as one that requires a two-part answer. There are answers and examples. If you only give half an answer, the hiring manager will doubt your experience or, worse, your listening abilities.

1. The answer

To give complete answers to these common job interview questions, you should take the time to prepare. Ask yourself what you consider to be the qualities of a good manager and management style, then try to think of examples where you yourself demonstrated those qualities.

If you’re not sure, you can contact previous team members or even friends to see what they say. While there are no wrong answers, it is important to remember that autocratic management styles are not very popular today. Examples of bad answers could be, “I don’t consider myself a leader”or “I am a natural leader. I take complete control of every situation.”

While one of these answers is too passive, the other is very controlling (especially if you’re not applying for a management position). None of these answers indicate that the person would be suited to a progressive work environment. Instead of choosing answers like, “I prefer a collaborative management style where I provide guidance to team members and delegate tasks as appropriate”or “I think a good manager should take the lion’s share of decision-making responsibility, but I want to get input from team members to make sure they feel valued.”

Although the management styles described by these answers remain largely the same, the first management style sounds more proactive, and the second management style sounds more confident than controlling and does not mean that the person likes to micromanage others.

2. Examples

Once you have provided a brief answer, it is time to provide a practical example of your management skills. The examples you give can be from the academic, personal, or work world, as long as they are appropriate and clearly demonstrate your leadership style. For example, if you have a participative or collaborative management style, you might provide examples of group projects conducted at work or on campus. For example:

“In college, I was part of a group presentation project. The group failed to make progress because there was no leader, so I stepped in to start discussing roles we could take. I encouraged teamwork and delegated tasks to those I thought would excel at them. Once all the team members agreed, I set a series of deadlines. We finished the project on time and got an A.”

Apart from providing a clear example of a management style, (in this case a democratic management style), this example also gives the recruiter an idea of ​​what kind of person the job seeker is. It even follows the STAR format which describes the method for answering behavioral questions as follows: Situation, Task, Action, and Result. If you follow this format when answering questions, you will be sure to provide complete and comprehensive examples.

Follow the tips above to provide clear answers and specific examples of your leadership style, and you’ll have a good chance of impressing the recruiter or hiring manager at your job interview.