When you’re applying for a job, you must prepare yourself to answer different kinds of interview questions. Not only should you be able to discuss your skills and how they match the job requirements, but you should also be able to discuss your work behavior and how you approach work situations. Teamwork skills and effective communication skills are essential in the workplace, and you can expect these questions during your interview.
Interviewers are interested in how you approach and handle challenging work situations. This specific question regards how you deal with teamwork situations and how you streamline processes. This is, for instance, a question that you can expect for managerial, coordinator, or project manager positions. However, interviewers can use this question, in general, to test your growth potential by hypothetically asking how you would handle situations.
In this article, we discuss why the interviewer is asking you about your effective communication skills and how you should answer them. Furthermore, read more about frequently asked job interview questions here and check our job interview preparation checklist.
Why Interviewers Are Interested in Teamwork and Communication Skills?
Functioning within a team and having clear communication skills are crucial in the workplace. Employers want to assess whether or not you possess these skills by asking you behavioral interview questions such as: ‘Can you tell me about a time you had to cooperate and communicate with a team to effectively work through a problem?’ The interviewer expects you to give an answer that includes a real-life work situation that you encountered in the past.
How you answer such questions gives the interviewer more information about how you communicate and how you go about your work in common work situations. By asking you behavioral interview questions, the interviewer assesses your suitability for the job.
Effective communication and the ability to work together to get a result are regarded as essential skills by employers. In the workplace, a lot of processes rely on sharing information with the right people. Therefore, strong communication skills are needed to deliver and understand the information accurately and quickly.
Poor communication skills and not being able to work together can negatively impact business processes and can lead to misunderstandings, frustration between team members or coworkers, or even failures.
As you can imagine, employers try to avoid such situations at all costs. This starts by hiring the right people for the job by asking them the right interview questions to assess their abilities and behavior in the workplace.
Tips to Answer: ‘How Do You Communicate Effectively to Work Through a Problem?’
Provide the interviewer with a concise and to-the-point answer in the form of a logically structured answer. Behavioral questions such as Can you tell me about a time you had to cooperate and communicate with a team to effectively work through a problem?’ require you to provide the interviewer with an example of work experience from the past.
The best way to structure your answer is by using the STAR interview technique. STAR is an acronym that stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result. By structuring your answer by the STAR method, you can provide logically structured answers that directly answer the behavioral question of the interviewer.
Below we break the STAR method down in steps to ensure you understand how it works.
Situation
Start your answer by telling the interviewer about a specific event, project, or challenge you were facing.
Task
Next, explain what your tasks, assignments, and responsibilities were in that particular situation.
Action
After describing your task, describe the steps or procedures that you followed to address or rectify the situation that you were in.
Result
Finish your answer strong by telling the results you got from your actions. You can also include what you learned from the situation. Always prepare to answer the question ‘What would you have done differently if you encountered this situation again?’, which is commonly asked as a follow-up question by interviewers.
Sample Answers to Demonstrate Effective Communication
Effective communication example answer 1:
‘I genuinely believe that a team is made up of ‘us’ and not individual entities. Everyone has a different view, and as a team, I believe every team member should be treated equally to discuss their thoughts and speak their minds. Clear communication is, therefore, key to achieving success. If everyone on the team is aware of their strengths and responsibilities within a project, you get the best results. Everyone’s input holds value and should be considered when encountering challenging situations.
There’s always a possibility that differences in opinion occur, especially in challenging situations, but these are the moments where clear communication is key to avoiding misunderstanding. Each member needs to respect each other’s view and work efficiently and effectively towards a solution.’
Effective communication example answer 2:
‘In my previous job as a project manager, my team and I were assigned an important project with a tight deadline. Just like every project, we started by making a plan of action in which we created a well-outlined plan for our brand’s next product launch event. All members of the team were assigned tasks and responsibilities.
However, due to an unfortunate turn of events, two team members left our company just weeks before the deadline. The deadline was too close to start looking for new members to add to the team, and the remaining members of the team were already under pressure due to the tight deadline.
We organized a brainstorming session with the team to discuss the situation. All members of the team were asked to pitch their ideas on how they thought we should approach and handle this situation.
The idea behind this was to reach a consensus on how to go about it because we all understood what it meant to work overtime and additional responsibilities for every one of us. By involving every team member in the decision process, getting everybody on the same page, and agreeing on the new action plan, everybody would be more motivated to take on this challenge.
Every day we would start with a standup meeting in which each team member would discuss their tasks for the day and any challenges they were facing. This way, everybody would be up to date, and we could help each other out where and when needed. Even though it was an unexpected and difficult challenge, the team managed well and delivered everything within the deadline.’
Common Job Interview Questions & Answers
Below you can find a list of common job interview topics. Each link will direct you to an article regarding the specific topics that discuss commonly asked interview questions. Furthermore, each article discusses why the interviewer asks these questions and how you answer them!
- Accomplishments
- Adaptability
- Admission
- Behavioral
- Career Change
- Career Goals
- Communication
- Competency
- Conflict Resolution
- Creative Thinking
- Cultural Fit
- Customer Service
- Direct
- Experience
- Government
- Graduate
- Growth Potential
- Honesty & Integrity
- Illegal
- Inappropriate
- Job Satisfaction
- Leadership
- Management
- Entry-Level & No experience
- Performance-Based
- Personal
- Prioritization & Time Management
- Problem-solving
- Salary
- Situational & Scenario-based
- Stress Management
- Teamwork
- Telephone Interview
- Tough
- Uncomfortable
- Work Ethic
