How do you run a workshop with a room full of stakeholders who all want different things?

What the interviewer is looking for

• This question tests stakeholder communication. Facilitates groups with competing interests, translates between business and technical people, and builds trust.
• What to bring out: Prepares a clear agenda and goal, uses structured techniques, balances voices, parks side topics, and sends clear outcomes and actions afterwards.
• Expect a follow-up like: How do you handle one person who dominates the discussion?

Another way it may be asked: Ten people from different departments are in a room to agree on requirements. How do you keep it productive?

A structure to follow: STAR, with the weight on Action and Result

1. Step 1

   Situation

   One or two sentences: where, when and what was at stake. Pick a real example you were close to.

2. Step 2

   Task

   What you personally were responsible for. Say "I", not only "we", so the stakeholder communication you showed is visible.

3. Step 3

   Action

   The two or three things you did and why you chose them over the alternatives. This should be about half your answer.

4. Step 4

   Result

   What changed, in your own measure of it, and what you would do differently. Only use numbers you can stand behind.

This is guidance on shape, not a script. Use your own real experience and facts; never invent details to fill a gap. See the STAR guide and answer frameworks.

Common slips

• Describing what the team did without saying what you did.
• Choosing an example with no clear outcome, or one you cannot answer detailed questions about.
• Ending on the action and skipping the result and what you learned.

How to practise it

Write two bullet points for each STAR letter, then say the answer aloud in about two minutes.

Related questions

• Tell me about a time stakeholders gave you conflicting requirements. How did you resolve it?
• If a manager says their team's reporting process is too slow, what questions would you ask first?
• How would you write a requirement so that a developer and a tester both read it the same way?
• Tell me about a time you had to understand a process or business area you knew nothing about. How did you learn it?
• Walk me through how you would map how a process works today and how it should work in future, and which tools you would use.

Browse all questions