Teamwork Motivation

Teamwork related interview questions are designed to test your ability to interact and work with others in a productive manner. Interviewers want to find out if you can deal with diverse and often difficult personalities, if you can communicate effectively, if you can collaborate, mediate, motivate, or even lead when necessary. While there are no "right" answers to the questions above, each one provides you the opportunity to demonstrate that you're a team player.

Behavioral interview questions about teamwork can be general or specific. For entry-level positions you can expect the questions to be more general. The following are a few examples of general teamwork interview questions:

► Describe for me a team project you worked on?

► Tell me about a team experience that you found rewarding?

► Tell me why you consider yourself a team player?

When resolving problems among team members, I typically meet with them individually and collectively to collect facts and propose a compromise. I typically try to maintain an objective perspective and not involve myself in the conflict itself. However, on one occasion I felt compelled to take sides in a disagreement and directly reprimand a subordinate for breaking with company protocol and ignoring project guidelines. The subordinate quit the next day. If faced with a similar situation today, I'd try to find a less confrontational solution.

It's not uncommon for a team member to have had difficulty working with a manager, so if you an experience share it. Just make sure to use the experience to showcase your ability to deal with conflict in a productive mannner. The following is an example of an effective answer to this question.

I had a rocky start with a new project manager who was hired to replace our previous project manager. The new project manager had a very different personality than the previous project manager. He was gruff, unyielding, and it was his way or the high way. Many team members, including myself, felt like we were always walking on egg shells.

Project leaders are assigned important responsibilities. Managers rely on them to ensure work is performed on time and quality standards are adhered to. Job candidates must provide answers that demonstrate their competency and maturity. The following is an example of an effective reply to this question.

I have handled and resolved various problems while managing group projects. To resolve problems, I gathered data and relevant facts, determined root causes, spoke with team members, and developed solutions that presented as suggestions. I always tried to help team members see the solution that I felt were self evident without forcing the solution upon them.

Ask them on a regular basis and once you understand their professional needs and goals you are on the right track to know what can motivate them.

If you understand your employees, they will take more interest in understanding what you want from them.

Make note of - the leaders, the talents, the initiators, the hard-workers, the professionals, the creators, the individualists, those who are mature/responsible and those who really need directions to get the job done. Conduct your research and select the right mixture.

These insights of your team members will help you on deciding who needs extra motivation and how to start motivating these team members.

It goes without saying that selecting the right mix of talents, expertise and leaders for the team will ensure that the work they do leads to success.

And the right mix of people for any specific teamwork is the most important part of the process.

Don't skip answering these above questions. It would be wise to redefine and reshape your targets before any activity is launched.

Find out what motivates team members. Brings each and every one of them to the highest level of performance.

Set achievable goals with them.

Share your vision with the team members in order to drive initial teamwork motivation.

Your ability to demonstrate you're a team player will also depend on how well you understand what "teamwork" means for the position you're seeking. Before the interview, carefully review the job description so you understand what "teamwork" means for the position and the company. For example, if you're apply for a position with a start-up, they may be looking for someone who has the ability to wear different hats and interact with employees and clients on many different levels. For managerial positions, team leadership may be the exclusive focus of interview questions. For an entry-level position, the interviewer may simply want to find out how well you get along with others.

You, as a team leader, have to delegate tasks to the right person. For instance - if you assign these hard or uninteresting activities to a leader (in nature) in your team, don't expect for the best. How do you expect him to see thus work leading him to any significant professional growth? In time, he begins to resist the task.

Don't focus on personal issues here. Talk more about the challenges associated with collaboration, keeping everyone on track, managing conflict and ensuring everyone has a clear idea of what their responsibilities are. Focus most of your time talking about how you overcome these challenges.

You might want to talk about things like the ability to share ideas among team members, get feedback from people with a broad array of experience, learn from team members, and share your skills with others.

Be a bit careful here, because quite often the interviewer will be trying to understand if you give credit where credit is due. If your situation was truly an individual effort that's fine, but if not make sure you talk about the contribution of your team members. Highlight what specifically your role was on the project and how you contributed to it's success.