IntermediateLEADERSHIP
Think of a time when you had no formal authority over teammates but were still responsible for the outcome of a deliverable. How did you set expectations, gain buy-in, and keep people accountable, especially when someone was not following through?
Custom Role
General

Sample Answer

In my last role I led a cross-functional launch of a new internal dashboard used by about 300 sales reps. I owned the outcome, but all 6 contributors reported into different managers. On day one, I pulled everyone into a 45‑minute working session where we co-wrote the success metrics (on-time launch, <2% bug rate in first month, and 20% reduction in manual reporting time) and a simple RACI so responsibilities were crystal clear. To build buy-in, I tied the work to each person’s goals: for sales ops, fewer ad-hoc report requests; for engineering, deprecating a legacy system. Midway through, one data engineer repeatedly missed deadlines. Instead of escalating immediately, I met 1:1, shared the impact on the critical path, and asked what was blocking him. Turned out he was at 120% capacity, so we split his work with another analyst and trimmed non-essential scope. We still launched on time and cut manual reporting by 27% in the first quarter.

Keywords

Led cross-functional project with no direct reports but clear ownership of outcomeCo-created success metrics, RACI, and timelines to set expectationsTied project outcomes to each stakeholder’s personal goals to gain buy-inAddressed underperformance with a direct, supportive 1:1 and rebalanced workload
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