TRAPS: You don't want to come across either as a hothead or
a wimp.
BEST ANSWER: Give an answer that's suited to both your
personality and the management style of the firm. Here, the homework you've done about the
company and its style can help in your choice of words.
Examples: If you are
a reserved person and/or the corporate culture is coolly professional. "I'm
an even-tempered and positive person by nature, and I believe this helps me a
great deal in keeping my department running smoothly, harmoniously and with a
genuine esprit de corps. I believe in communicating
clearly what's expected, getting people's commitment to those goals, and then
following up continuously to check progress.
"If anyone or anything is going off track, I want to
know about it early. If after that kind
of open communication and follow up, someone isn't getting the job done, I'll
want to know why. If there's no good reason,
then I'll get impatient and angry...and take appropriate steps from there. But if you hire good people, motivate them to
strive for excellence and them follow-up constantly, it almost never gets to
that stage." If you are feisty by nature and/or the position calls for a
tough straw boss. "You know what makes me angry? People who (then fill in the blanks with the
most objectionable traits for this type of position)...people who don't pull
their own weight, who are negative, people who lie...etc."
