Top 16 Team Leader Interview Questions with Simple Answers

Team leader interview questions mostly revolve around gauging your situational and behavioural responses - how you approach management, coordinate, create a conducive atmosphere for your team. Brush up on the commonly asked questions and find some tips to answer them confidently.  

Assigning tasks, organizing work, reporting, and mentoring are some expected qualities of a great team leader. Besides the core management skills, they must also be good at managing projects and lead with example and motivation. Top organizations hire team leaders when they can showcase these characteristics during interviews. We have compiled the best team leader interview questions so that you can prepare them easily. 

Q1. How do you make the team understand goals?

Ans. It is crucial for a team leader to give direction to the members. They must be clear on what goals to achieve. 

As a team leader, you can 

• Make them understand the metrics that are not just important for the individual members but also for the organisation as a whole
• Track their progress during a specified timeline
• Create reports based on their contributions

It is crucial to show the recruiter that you know the difference between group and team. 

Q2. How do you delegate and prioritise work with productivity?

Ans. Here you can mention the theoretical management framework. 

You can explain the Eisenhower matrix, for example. 

It contains four boxes/quadrants with different work.

• Important and urgent, containing the to-do list
• Important but not urgent, that you have to put on a schedule
• Urgent but not important, that needs to be delegated
• Not urgent and not important, that you need to delete

Do explain why you use the Eisenhower matrix as well. Prepare examples when you mention the following benefits. 

• You do not overlook tasks as they are clearly defined as urgent, non-urgent, important, and not important tasks.
• Planning becomes more strategic
• It is a universally adopted method
• The capacity of individual team members is not overestimated or overestimated.  

Also, learn more on the meaning of delegation. 

Q3. How do you prefer to communicate with team members?

Ans. For this team leader interview question, emphasize your way of communicating every day with team members and not just for a specific task. Whether through a call, message or face-to-face, mention it and try to explain why your method works over others. 

Also, mention some communication tools you use, such as Microsoft Teams or Zoom. 

To prepare even better, there are many more types of interviews to explore.

Q4. What are the main steps you consider in terms of problem-solving?

Ans. There are some basic steps that you can highlight in your approach to problem-solving. 

• Identifying the problem
• Finding options
• Assessing the best option
• Executing the solution

Elaborate on these aspects, from defining the issue to implementing the solution for this team leader interview question.    

Q5. How do you involve team members in problem-solving?

Ans. Try elaborating on the following. 

• Asking for input from team members
• Breaking down silos for open communication
• Creating a strategy

Also, explain the don’ts when involving team members in problem-solving. Some are the following. 

• Blaming members
• Not monitoring the solution after it is implemented
• Not showing positivity or encouragement

You can also focus on explaining this answer through a transformational leadership standpoint that focuses on taking responses from everyone in the team and coming to a conclusion together.

Q6. Which tools do you use to manage and collaborate on projects?

Ans.  Here, you can describe your experience in using some project management tools. Elaborate on why you prefer one over the other, and describe the features of your preferred tool. 

Just to get an idea, our list of Jira interview questions will get you started on the key aspects of the tool.   

Q7. What kind of leadership can you offer in this new company, and how will it benefit us? 

Ans.  This is a team leader qualities interview question where you can explain your experience and characteristics as a leader. 

The recruiter or hiring manager knows that every team leader has a specific method or practice, such as coaching, participative, etc., when it comes to leadership. 

Keep the following in mind when you answer it. 

• Provide evidence of your success with your specific leadership style
• Ensure the leadership vision is coherent with the company’s objectives

It could be even better to showcase your familiarity with leadership styles, and how you may work around them given the situation. 

You could also frame this answer better with the following concepts. 

1. Situational leadership theory

2. Contingency theory of leadership

3. Behavioural theory of leadership

4. Difference between transformational and transactional leadership

Q8. What do your team members think about your leadership qualities?

Ans. Here you have to highlight how they perceive you and what you think of yourself professionally. 

Give examples of feedback from your previous colleagues. But focus on providing examples that pertain to your role. 

The answer should also be realistic. There are downsides of both practising leadership in a too authoritative or too lenient way. Finding a middle ground is often the toughest among team leaders, and you must acknowledge how you can navigate through such times.  

Q9. What steps do you take for team building?

Ans. Team leaders must motivate employees, so they do not miss deadlines or lose out on efficiency. 

You can give many examples for this team leader interview question. 

• Choosing ‘Employee of the month’ based on the exceptional performance
• Organizing weekly team-building games that are fun for all

But also explain to your hiring manager that you are open to learning and implementing new approaches as and when senior management or members suggest. 

Q10. How do you differentiate mentoring and coaching?

Ans. Mentoring and coaching differ based on the approach and end goal. 

Coaching helps improve performance, while mentoring is done for the employee’s professional development. Also, coaching is more supervisory, while mentorship is based on advice and suggestions. 

Q11. How do you let your team members be creative without compromising on efficiency?

Ans. One of the best ways to do so is to let the team members devise their way of solving a problem that also aligns with the company’s goals. 

Q12. In what ways do you evaluate team members? 

Ans. You should try to prove to the hiring manager that you do not just create reports to show quantity at the end of each month. While they are important to keep the engine's running, you should strive to highlight the key metrics that help in the overall growth of the company. Talk about quality improvement, morale, and innovation, and how these qualitative metrics are essential to evaluate team members at their best. 

MIS Executive interview questions can help you gather some valuable methods of preparing reports. 

Q13. How do you encourage teamwork?

Ans. This team leader interview question is related to how you approach team-building activities. 

You can say that as a team leader, you focus on regular team-building exercises. Secondly, you encourage transparent communication, starting with yourself, and never keeping anyone in the dark. Another way to encourage teamwork is to identify the strengths of each member and help them achieve their goals through mentoring. 

In short, the importance of teamwork at workplaces should be encouraged to boost morale and productivity. As an interview answer, you must focus on explaining them.  

Q14. How do you differentiate between a team player and one who is not?

Ans. There are ways to know the difference between a team player and one who isn’t. 

Some essential team player qualities include one who 

• Is dependable
• Thinks about meeting the company’s goal rather than individual success
• Is willing to collaborate
• Contributes ideas

Q15. When is an ideal time to give feedback to a team member?

Ans. It is best to provide feedback right after the project is completed, so the team is aware of whether their efforts worked. One way to do this regularly is to evaluate the progress, identify bottlenecks, and motivate team members throughout the project through constructive feedback. 

If at times you yourself need some motivation and learning, some business communication books are going to help. 

Q16. Have you led a team through change, and if so, how did you do it successfully?

Ans. Change management is stressful for a team. As a team leader, some best ways to lead them through change are

• Keeping teammates motivated before, during, and after the change
• Listening to coworkers, guiding them through perceived challenges
• Leading through action and example

Parting Thoughts

So these are the most commonly asked team leader interview questions. Hope these help you before your interview. You may check out the course on How to Succeed At Interviews on FutureLearn.