Top collaboration interview questions and answers that get you hired. Collaboration and teamwork skills are often integral to successful job performance and are ranked in the top 5 skills employers look for in job candidates.
Interview questions about collaboration provide valuable insight into how a candidate works with others to achieve a desired outcome. These interview questions evaluate critical collaborative skills including:
Prepare for these common interview questions about teamwork and collaboration.
1. How do you define collaboration in the workplace?
Collaboration involves two or more people sharing their skills, knowledge, ideas and perspectives with the purpose of achieving a common objective.
Go on to describe the value of collaboration in the workplace:
“Collaboration facilitates the blending of different expertise, perspectives and ideas to improve problem-solving, innovation and decision-making and typically results in an increase in workplace positivity, efficiency and productivity."
2. In your opinion, what are the qualities of an effective team?
Employers want to know what you understand by collaboration and what you consider the criteria for successful teamwork.
Core qualities of an effective team or collaboration include:
Example answer: “Regardless of the workplace, I believe that effective teams demonstrate several common core characteristics. These include clear and open communication, trust and respect, a solutions-focused and results-driven attitude, mutual accountability, a sense of belonging and a shared sense of purpose together with a willingness to contribute towards a common goal."
3. What do you consider the most critical skills for effective collaboration and teamwork?
Collaboration interview questions and answers about skills needed to promote collaboration and teamwork in the workplace should include these key skills:
4. How do you ensure effective communication for successful collaboration?
This collaboration interview question is designed to give employers insight into how you communicate with others when working together on a common goal. Effective communication that leads to successful collaborative outcomes involves these steps:
In answering collaboration behavioral interview questions provide recent examples of positive team experiences. Discuss past collaborative projects and tasks that were effective and highlight what you contributed to the successful outcome. Describe those critical teamwork skills that you demonstrated.
Use the STAR interview response technique when answering behavioral interview questions about collaboration and teamwork.
Tell me about a time when you worked closely with colleagues to achieve a specific goal. How did you ensure a successful outcome?
In order to optimize the success of the collaboration it is important to focus on these criteria in your interview answer:
Tell me about a time when you experienced a disagreement or conflict with a teammate What steps did you take and what was the result?
These type of collaboration interview questions and answers are designed to evaluate your ability to work through disagreements and solve conflict issues as part of a team.
In your interview answer highlight the following:
Tell me about a time when you had to adjust your approach to meet a colleague's or team member's specific needs.
The ability to adapt to other people's needs is an important part of the success of any collaboration or team. In your interview answer focus on the following :
Good communication skills interview questions and answers
Tell me about a time when you used your persuasive ability and influence to gain support for an idea from your team.
Collaboration interview questions and answers about the ability to influence others should focus on how the candidate selects the right communication style and approach for the situation and the team.
In your interview answer focus on identifying the needs of the team and project through:
Next highlight how you were able to persuade the team that your idea would help meet these needs by:
Influence is a key collaborative skill that can significantly
contribute to the success of a team. Collaboration interview questions like this assess a candidate's willingness to go beyond just doing what is
expected of them by actively taking steps towards improving the output of the team and evaluate the candidate's ability to guide,
inspire, and motivate others.
Tell me about a tough problem that you recently encountered while collaborating on a project. Describe how you handled it.
Describe a situation when you had to set aside your own priorities to accommodate the team.
Tell me about a time your team failed to reach a goal? What went wrong and how did you handle it?
Walk me through a team decision you were involved in recently.
Tell me about one of the toughest collaborations you have been involved in . What made it difficult and how did you handle it?
Describe a situation in which you were able to help out a colleague or team member.
Cross-functional collaboration involves employees from different departments or teams working together on over-lapping projects.
The value of cross functional collaboration lies in the effective blending of different skills, perspectives, expertise and ideas to achieve successful outcomes. These cross-functional collaboration interview questions evaluate those skills needed for effective collaboration across diverse teams and departments.
Tell me about a time you had to develop an effective working relationship with someone outside your department to complete an important project.
Tell me about a time you had to adapt your working style to accommodate working with diverse teams.
Describe a recent challenge you faced when operating in a cross-functional team. How did you handle it?
Tell me about a time your input significantly impacted on the work of a different team or department.
Tell me about a time you had to deal with conflict between your team and another department.
Describe a recent project when you had to manage the expectations of multiple stakeholders. What steps did you take?
How have you ensured effective communication and information sharing between different departments when working on a cross-functional project?