“How Do You Delegate?” is a common interview question. (With Solutions)
Related: What NOT To Say in Interviews Plus 8 Quick Answers to the Toughest Questions
In this video, Sinead provides advice on how to respond to difficult interview questions as well as what NOT to say.
When you delegate a task at work, you are handing up control of that task to another individual. To determine whether you are a good fit for the position they are looking to fill, a potential employer would want to know how you delegate. You can prepare your response for this question during your next interview by learning how to respond to one concerning your job delegating style.
In this post, we’ll go over the rationale behind hiring managers asking the “How do you delegate?” interview question, how to prepare for it, and some sample responses you can use to practise.
Why do employers ask candidates during interviews, “How do you delegate?”
An employer might ask you this question in order to learn more about you and your working style and determine whether you would fit in with their company culture. When you’re overloaded with work, they want to know whether you can still communicate and if you can delegate jobs to your team members for assistance. Hiring managers want to know that you can assign tasks to the appropriate team members and provide them with detailed instructions. They also want to know that you can inspire your employees to work hard when you assign them a task. “How Do You Delegate?” is a common interview question. (With Solutions) “How Do You Delegate?” is a common interview question. (With Solutions)
The following steps can be used to assign assignments at work:
- Select the assignment you want to assign.
- Choose the team member who has the necessary skill set to finish the job.
- Clarify the instructions and your desired end result before giving them to the reader.
- Tell the team member what their role is in the project from the perspective of the business, and explain your decision to give them the assignment.
- Tell them when you want them to finish the task by and when you’ll check in with them while they’re working.
How should you react when asked how you delegate in an interview?
To prepare a strong response to this interview question, follow these steps:
1. Explain the significance of delegating at work.
In order to assess how helpful you find delegation in your work style, a hiring manager would be interested in learning your opinions on it.. To demonstrate your appreciation for your team, you can say that you believe it is crucial to distribute responsibility among them. Sharing responsibility between your team members may give them the impression that you value their expertise and have confidence in them to complete the task. Your team members will develop greater self-confidence when you assign them tasks and acknowledge them and offer helpful comments after they finish a project or assignment. “How Do You Delegate?” is a common interview question. (With Solutions) “How Do You Delegate?” is a common interview question. (With Solutions)
2. Provide examples of task delegation
It’s recommended practise to present your prior roles’ work delegation examples in a respectful and professional manner. You might discuss a period when you made the decision to delegate at work, the duties you chose to distribute, and the method you employed to choose a team member to carry out the assignment. Following that, you can discuss how your team handled the incident and how you followed up with them after they completed their tasks. This can make it easier for the interviewers to comprehend your delegation approach.
3. Describe your delegation skills
You can let the recruiting manager know that you can assign duties. You can either mention it in your example narrative or simply state that you are very confident in your abilities to accomplish this. Explain that you are aware that effective delegation increases your team’s motivation and facilitates their productivity in finishing tasks swiftly. Delegating is a great concept because a motivated and efficient team can complete the full task faster.
4. Describe the process you use to select the people you assign work to.
You can discuss your procedure for delegation after describing your area of strength. You can discuss how you view each task you have and how it compares to the skill set of the other team members. You can assign such tasks to team members you know can manage them effectively once you’ve decided which assignments demand what kinds of expertise.
To avoid overwhelming them, it can be useful to find out from the team members if they have the capacity given their current workload to take on this assignment. In that situation, having back-ups for the people you assign the work to could be useful.”How Do You Delegate?” is a common interview question. (With Solutions)
What are some examples of delegation?
Here are a few ways you could react to questions regarding the delegation procedures you use at work:
Example 1 “I managed a team for the first time at work in my previous position.. I immediately understood the need of delegation after realising that my team members were competent and that sharing responsibilities was effective. I had initially believed I could complete everything on my own. In order to implement my delegation technique with my team, I requested my boss for assistance. I discovered that collaborative delegation worked for me. After that, I called a team meeting to go over the tasks we had to perform in order to conclude the project by the two-month deadline.
To integrate their skill sets, we asked team members to volunteer to work on some assignments together. Others took on responsibilities that we knew they would finish successfully. Then, in an effort to make sure everyone was on target and following the instructions, we discussed the dates for our check-ins. We all gathered again after they finished their jobs to talk about any feedback and to congratulate one another on a job well done. “How Do You Delegate?” is a common interview question. (With Solutions)
Example 2 “I really value distributing jobs at work because it makes assignments finish sooner. Additionally, I’ve discovered that giving my staff additional responsibility at work inspires confidence and motivation in them. I consider everything we want to accomplish and decide to whom I will assign each task. Then I approach the person I believe has the best chance of succeeding at the task based on their skill set and expertise. To respect their boundaries, I approach them and inquire as to if they feel free to add another item to their list.
I was told at my first management position that someone didn’t have the time to take on a new assignment right now, and I valued their candour. I then moved on to the next person I thought would be a success with the job. As a result, both team members were able to successfully perform their individual jobs on schedule and with the necessary space and time. I believe I am quite effective at delegation because I thoroughly analyse my choices and maintain effective lines of communication with my team.
Example 3: “While this would be my first job out of college, I have had similar situations while I was in school, despite the fact that I haven’t had prior experience delegating duties. I’ve discovered the importance in delegation even just working on my college campus and finishing group assignments, and I feel like I have a fantastic handle on it already. For instance, I collaborated with five other students on a group project. As part of our final, we had a month to see and critique a movie, write a group paper, and make a PowerPoint presentation.
When we had our group meetings, I took over as project manager. We then cast a vote to assign sections of the paper and presentations. This helped us because we all had manageable smaller assignments to accomplish, which made the larger project much simpler to complete once we had all the components. This skill would be helpful to me in this role, especially as I am aware from personal experience that it can aid in the management of challenging tasks.
