STAR Answers - The way to frame your answers
Before you start writing your answers to the frequently asked questions in each Leadership principle, let us look at how you should frame your answers. This will enable you to project your strengths against each leadership principle in an impressive way. The questions will be confusing, as they might sound similar but each interviewer is collecting a different response in their round of the interview with you.
For example: Describe a situation where you made an important business decision without consulting your manager ? and have you ever worked against a tight deadline to make an important decision where you did not have time to consult your manager/peers ? - While answering to these questions you would not know if you are answering a question against the leadership principle Earn trust or Deliver Result or Bias For Action. Hence, there is a need to understand the importance of the leadership principles in depth so that you are able to form a response that is projecting your strength on all of these leadership principles.
From the questions above, you would have noticed that the questions from the interviewers are going to be situation based, irrespective of the level or domain you are interviewed for. The objective is to assess your behavior in a situation and the impact you have created in that particular situation.
STAR = Situation - Task - Action - Result
Situation - Be clear and concise in describing the “What and When”. A good explanation of the situation sets the tone for the example. Powerful opening statement will trigger the curiosity in the interviewer. For Example: “I would like to talk about a scenario when a customer called and expressed his dissatisfaction over the service received from us….and detail the real event.
Task - There is often a confusion between laying out the situation and task. Many candidates mix up or merge both situation and task. Situation is about the event or incident at a high level - It happened, it occurred. Task is about, what was your role in the entire incident. Task follows the situation, as you should now talk about how this situation matters to you. For example: “(situation starts) I would like to talk about a scenario when a customer called and expressed his dissatisfaction over the service he received from us…. (task starts) Being the manager for that team or I was in the role where i was responsible for….and talk about your role.
Action - This again is a tricky one as candidates often tend to mix up Task and Action. Task is about your role but Action is about your contribution. “Being a manager” is a role and providing a solution to the customer or even failing to provide a solution to the customer is your contribution. What did you do - is what the interviewer wants to know. The heaviest part of your answer that describes your behavior, the approach you take, the effort you make, analysis you do. For Example: “(Situation starts) I would like to talk about a scenario when a customer called and expressed his dissatisfaction over the service he received from us…. (Task starts) Being the manager for that team or I was in the role where I was responsible for…(Action starts) I listened to the frustrated customer, looked into the information/data, analyzed the data, reached out to people. Clearly call out “I have done so and so”
Result - And finally, conclude your answer with describing the end result from your actions. For example: “(Situation starts) I would like to talk about a scenario when a customer called and expressed his dissatisfaction over the service he received from us…. (Task starts) Being the manager for that team or I was in the role where I was responsible for…(Action starts) I listened to the frustrated customer, looked into the information/data, analyzed the data, reached out to people..(Result starts) I was able to get the resolution for the customer. A refund/a workaround, it can be anything...
Read as much as you want but keep it simple while writing the answers!