How do you make sure important context from leadership reaches your team, and that your team's concerns reach leadership?

What the interviewer is looking for

• This question tests communication. Shares context clearly in both directions, tailors the message to the audience and is transparent about bad news.
• What to bring out: Regular structured updates, explaining the why behind decisions, honest translation of team concerns upward, and closing the loop.
• Expect a follow-up like: Tell me about a time you had to share news the team didn't want to hear.

Another way it may be asked: Leadership changes the company's priorities, and your team is worried about workload. How do you handle both directions?

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 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.

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