When looking for a new manager to join your team, you'll need to assess for a specific set of skills. Along with many of the competencies an individual contributor needs, you'll want to understand a potential manager's leadership skills and style, ability to develop talent, and experience navigating the challenges of people management. In this article, we lay out some of the best interview questions to ask potential people managers.

Interview questions for people management

• How would you describe your leadership style? How has it evolved over time?
• Can you tell me about a time you’ve had to deliver a difficult decision or bad news to your team?
• What’s the most helpful piece of feedback you’ve been given by a report? How did you adjust your management style as a result?
• Describe how you support your team's professional development.
• Can you tell me about a time you gave constructive feedback to a report?
• What methods do you use to measure and review your team’s performance?
• What would you consider the highest-performing team you’ve led? What made it so?
• What strategies do you use to motivate your team?
• Can you tell me about a time you led a team through a big change or transition?
• What is your experience with managing remote or distributed teams?
• How do you address and prevent burnout on your team?
• Can you give me an example of how you've navigated different personalities and work styles in your team?

Interviews questions to understand leadership style

An important aspect of evaluating management capabilities is understanding a candidate's personal leadership approach. You'll want to understand how they characterize their own leadership style and what influences have shaped it over time. It's also helpful to dig into how they've sought out and responded to feedback on their leadership skills and how they've contributed to the betterment of company culture.

Questions to ask:

• How would you describe your leadership style? How has it evolved over time?
• Can you tell me about a time you’ve had to deliver a difficult decision or bad news to your team?
• What’s the most helpful piece of feedback you’ve been given by a report? How did you adjust your management style as a result?

What to look for in responses:

The key here is to understand the candidate's capacity for self-reflection as it relates to their management style. Understand what principles and experiences have influenced their leadership approach. It can helpful to dig into any forces that have changed their style over time, especially if they're a candidate for senior management and have been in a leadership role for some time.

Getting a sense for how the candidate solicits and responds to feedback from their reports is also a good way to understand how someone approaches management. Do they have the requisite humility and self-awareness to know when they're receiving feedback that should be implemented? Similarly, do they know how to deliver tough news with empathy and conscientiousness? These are all things you'll want to tease out with these questions.

Team development and performance management interview questions

Another central component of a management role is being able to develop reports and manage their performance effectively. You'll want to explore how the candidate grows team members, provides feedback, and measures performance. It's also important to uncover how the candidate motivates their team, including what their strategies are for inspiring others and driving performance.

Questions to ask:

• Describe how you support your team's professional development.
• Can you tell me about a time you gave constructive feedback to a team member?
• What methods do you use to measure and review your team’s performance?
• What would you consider the highest-performing team you’ve led? What made it so?
• What strategies do you use to motivate your team?

What to look for in responses:

The candidate should also be able to demonstrate concrete examples of how they've enabled reports to achieve professional growth and development. Getting a sense for how they manage and measure team performance is also important. You'll want to understand how they've defined success in the past and what measures they've used to motivate and reward top performers as well as provide support to an underperforming team member.

Team dynamics and managing challenges

Finally, it's important to understand how a manager handles team dynamics and challenging situations. You should seek to understand a candidate's experience with fostering team cohesion, leading through changes, and managing different personalities.

Questions to ask:

• Can you give me an example of how you've navigated different personalities and work styles in your team?
• Can you tell me about a time you led a team through a big change or transition?
• What is your experience with managing remote or distributed teams?
• How do you address and prevent burnout on your team?

What to look for in responses:

With this set of questions, you'll want to get a sense for how the candidate deals with challenges as they relate to managing people. For example, you'll want to understand examples of how they've been able to bring together diverse teams or how they've dealt with a difficult team member. Again, empathy and understanding are important characteristics to look out for here.

You'll also want to see that the candidate has been able to successfully lead teams through difficult or disruptive situations. How did they bring their team along with them during times of change? How did they maintain morale during tough times?

It's also important to understand that managers know how to look after their team's wellbeing. Are they attuned to their reports' needs outside of just delivering work? Do they ensure team members have the support they need to thrive in the workplace?

Summary

These people management interview questions will help you uncover a candidate's people management skills, including everything from personal leadership style, to performance management, to how they approach challenges. Use these questions next time you're interviewing a manager to get a deeper understanding of all facets of their leadership skills.