How To Identify A Leader During Interviews

The next time you are interviewing a candidate and you want to access their leadership skills, consider asking the candidate these questions:

• What personal qualities define you as a leader?  Describe a situation when these qualities helped you lead others.
• Give an example of when you demonstrated good leadership.
• What is the toughest group from which you've had to get cooperation?
• Have you ever had difficulty getting others to accept your ideas?  What was your approach?  Did it work?
• Describe a situation in which you had to change your leadership style to achieve the goal?
• One leadership skill is the ability to accommodate different views in the workplace, regardless of what they are.  What have you done to foster a wide number of views in your work environment?

Thanks to Sharon Armstrong, author of The Essential HR Handbook, for these helpful questions!