questions to ask in a management presentation

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21 insightful questions to ask when moderating your next panel discussion (plus some great tips on creating your own)

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“I come up with dozens of questions for the panel ahead of time… I literally write 30-50 questions down in advance, knowing that I may only get to 5 of them, but when I do they will be phrased exactly how I want them, and the panel will be kept on track.”  -Tom Webster, writer, speaker, and panel moderator.

As a panel moderator, asking insightful and interesting questions is one of your biggest responsibilities.

Don’t make up your mind about the topic.

Rather, come in with the perspective that you are intensely interested in the topic and want to gain insights by questioning the panelists.

Your questions can spark a great discussion that will leave the audience both informed and entertained. So, make sure you know what you want to ask before you get on stage.

Here are some questions that will help get you started.

21 Questions to ask when moderating your next panel discussion

While creating questions specifically for your panel is the very best way to make your discussion unique and engaging, sometimes it can be difficult to know where to start. Continue reading below to find out how to create and crosscheck your questions, or you can ask the professionals from Edubirdie to help you with both creating and editing questions.

Here are 21 questions you could ask almost any panel to get it started or to keep it going if you run out of your own questions.

• How can we advance the [field/topic/industry]?  
• How has the [field/topic/industry] changed in the past 5 years? What do you predict will happen in the next 5 to 10 years?  
• What is the biggest challenge in the [field/topic/industry] at the moment?  
• What are the most critical changes that we must make to face the future effectively?  
• What effect has [specific technology] made on the [field/topic/industry]?  
• Who is making the greatest advancements in the [field/topic/industry], and what are they doing?  
• What is the most interesting trend for 2019?  
• What do you think the best outcome for the [audience/industry/planet] would be?  
• What is the number one way we can make a substantial difference?  
• In your publication [book/article/etc] you stated that [view point]. How did you come to that? [Follow up question to another panelist]: Do you have a different perspective?  
• What made you decide to tackle this subject? How did you get into the [industry/field], and why do you stay?  
• What are some of the ways people from your [industry/field] are making a difference in the world?  
• What has helped you get to where you are [influential/effective/in the forefront] and what advice would you have for others who want to set off in a similar direction?  
• What are common misconceptions people have? How can we combat these misconceptions and communicate more effectively?  
• Do you remember a specific experience of where you wished that [you/your organization/your industry] had done something differently? If you were to do it over, what would you change?  
• A follow-up to the previous question: By way of comparison, do you remember something you’ve done or something you wish everyone was doing, and why?  
• What’s the question you are most tired of hearing on this subject, and what would you like to say about it so you never have to answer it again?  
• What question would you like to hear [specific panelist] answer?  
• What is one piece of practical advice you would give to someone starting out?  
• What is the best resource for people who want to dive in deeper?  
• Is there anything we’re leaving out here that needs to be addressed?

Create your own questions

When creating your own questions, you need to start with going back to the purpose of your panel. Why are you here, and why should your audience care?

Each question should come back to this and constantly be pushing your panelists towards creating value and insights for your audience.

What kind of questions should you ask?

What will the audience be interested in learning about?

Will this question draw upon the panelist's experiences in a useful way?

Is this question open-ended, or will you get a simple “yes” or “no” answer?

Will the question start a deeper conversation? Does it have the potential to spark a debate?

Is this question something you can’t easily find the answer to on the internet?

Why is this particular panelist on the panel? What unique perspective can they add? How can you draw that out?

Question Checklist

After you’ve created your list of questions, go back through and check to make sure it passes the checklist below.

5-Point checklist - Is the question:

Clearly tied to the topic being discussed.

Reflective of the panelists’ perspectives, experiences, or interests.

Addressing the issues, challenges or interests of the audience.

An important topic to discuss right now.

Going to ignite a conversation (controversial/different perspectives or experiences).

Where do you start? Opening questions

The first question will set the tone for the panel and is crucial to sparking immediate intrigue.

Avoid over-generalities and try to make it interesting.

The first person to speak will also influence the tone of the panel, so consider who you want to start with and why.  

If you start with the quietest person on the panel, will this get them talking right away and keep them engaged in the conversation?

If you start with the person with the most experience, will they be able to give a well-rounded background to the topic right away?

What about the person who originally proposed the idea for the panel? Will they be the most likely to set the tone you are looking for?

Should you ask everyone the same opening question to get their initial perspectives at the beginning?

3 Types of opening questions

- Easy warm-up

Start with a broad, simple question so the panelists can get comfortable.

Some examples include asking for a state-of-play, some background on the topic, or how they got involved.

Don’t spend too long here, though. Quickly segue into more controversial topics, or you could risk boring your audience.

- Fire-starter

Skip the niceties, and start with a bang.

Establish perspective by breaking out a provocative question.

Some examples: ask each panelist to offer a strong opinion on the topic, or to describe the greatest challenge we (or the industry) face moving forward.

- Audience-reader

Sometimes, it is not possible to find out the knowledge level of your audience before the panel, so starting with a question that will help you, and the panelists, determine this at the beginning can be very helpful.

Find out the level of their knowledge by asking for a show of hands.

For example: “How many people have been in the industry for less than a year?”, “Over a year?”,  “Over 5 years?”, or “Who thinks they could probably run this panel?” (asked with light humor); or “How many people agree with [a certain perspective on the topic]?” “How many disagree?”

Now, get out there and ask some great questions!

You have a special role as a moderator to a panel. Your task is to make it as insightful, interesting, and informative as possible.

You might also like:

What can panel moderators learn from Charlie Rose, Larry King and Oprah Winfrey?

It ain't over ‘till it's over: How to expertly end a panel discussion

6 Ideas for Moderating Engaging Panel Discussions

Panel moderating experts: what are some questions you always fall back on? Please share your experience, and we may include your advice in a future article. Contact us.

Looking for more opportunities to moderate panels? Find out more about being listed on SpeakerHub.

Disclaimer: this article includes a paid product promotion.

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160 Questions to Ask After a Presentation

Asking questions after a presentation is not just about seeking clarity on what was discussed. It’s a golden opportunity to delve deeper, engage with the speaker, and enhance your understanding of the subject matter. But knowing which questions to ask isn’t always straightforward.

In this piece, we’re about to break down the art of crafting impactful questions post-presentation that will not only benefit you but also add value to the entire audience’s experience.

Table of Contents

Questions to Ask After a Presentation for Feedback

Questions to ask after a presentation interview, questions to ask students after a presentation, questions to ask after a research presentation, questions to ask after a business presentation, questions to ask after a marketing presentation, questions to ask after a book presentation, reflection questions to ask after a presentation, frequently asked questions, final thoughts.

• Can you summarize the key points of the presentation?
• What aspect of the presentation did you find most engaging?
• Were there any areas that were unclear or confusing? If so, what were they?
• How would you rate the overall organization and flow of the presentation?
• Did the visual aids (such as slides or charts) enhance your understanding of the topic? Why or why not?
• Did the presenter maintain good eye contact and use body language effectively?
• Was the presenter’s tone and pace suitable for the content and audience?
• Were there any statistics or facts presented that stood out to you? Why?
• Did the presenter address potential counter-arguments or opposing views adequately?
• Were the objectives of the presentation clearly stated and met?
• How well did the presenter handle questions or interruptions during the presentation?
• Was there anything in the presentation that seemed unnecessary or redundant?
• What would you suggest to improve the presentation for future audiences?
• How did the presentation change or influence your thinking about the subject?
• Did the presentation feel tailored to the audience’s knowledge and interest level?
• Was there a clear and compelling call to action or concluding statement?
• Did the presentation feel too short, too long, or just the right length?
• What was your overall impression of the presenter’s credibility and expertise on the subject?
• How would you rate the relevance and importance of the topic to the audience?
• Can you identify any biases or assumptions in the presentation that may have influenced the message?
• How did you determine what content to include in your presentation?
• Can you explain the rationale behind the structure and flow of your presentation?
• What challenges did you face while preparing this presentation, and how did you overcome them?
• Were there any points in the presentation where you felt you could have elaborated more or less? Why?
• How did you decide on the visual elements and design of your presentation?
• Can you describe your intended audience and how you tailored the content to engage them?
• How did you ensure that the information presented was accurate and up-to-date?
• Were there any counter-arguments or opposing views on this topic that you considered including?
• How would you adapt this presentation for a different audience or context?
• How do you handle unexpected questions or interruptions during a presentation?
• Can you give an example of how you’ve handled negative feedback on a presentation in the past?
• How do you measure the success of a presentation? What metrics or feedback do you seek?
• What techniques do you use to engage an audience that may not be familiar with the topic?
• How do you balance the need to entertain and inform in a presentation?
• How do you prioritize information when you have a limited time to present?
• What strategies do you employ to ensure that your main points are memorable?
• How do you deal with nerves or anxiety before or during a presentation?
• Can you describe a situation where a presentation did not go as planned and how you handled it?
• How do you keep up with the latest trends and best practices in presenting?
• Is there anything you would change about this presentation if you were to do it again?
• How did you feel about the presentation? Were you confident or nervous, and why?
• What was the main message or goal of your presentation, and do you think you achieved it?
• How did you decide on the structure of your presentation?
• What research methods did you use to gather information for this presentation?
• Were there any challenges you encountered while preparing or presenting, and how did you address them?
• How did you ensure that your visual aids or multimedia elements supported your key points?
• What part of the presentation are you most proud of, and why?
• Were there any areas where you felt uncertain or that you would like to improve upon for next time?
• How did you tailor your presentation to fit the knowledge level and interest of your audience?
• What techniques did you use to engage the audience, and how do you think they worked?
• How did you practice your presentation, and what adjustments did you make as a result?
• Did you feel the time allotted for your presentation was sufficient? Why or why not?
• How did you decide what to emphasize or de-emphasize in your presentation?
• What feedback did you receive from peers during the preparation, and how did you incorporate it?
• Did you have a clear conclusion or call to action, and why did you choose it?
• How do you think your presentation style affects the way your audience receives your message?
• What would you do differently if you were to present this topic again?
• Can you reflect on a piece of feedback or a question from the audience that made you think?
• How has this presentation helped you better understand the subject matter?
• How will the skills and insights gained from this presentation experience benefit you in the future?
• Can you elaborate on the research question and what prompted you to investigate this topic?
• How did you choose the methodology for this research, and why was it the most suitable approach?
• Can you discuss any limitations or constraints within your research design and how they might have affected the results?
• How do your findings align or contrast with existing literature or previous research in this field?
• Were there any unexpected findings, and if so, how do you interpret them?
• How did you ensure the reliability and validity of your data?
• Can you discuss the ethical considerations involved in your research, and how were they addressed?
• What are the practical implications of your findings for practitioners in the field?
• How might your research contribute to theoretical development within this discipline?
• What recommendations do you have for future research based on your findings?
• Can you provide more details about your sample size and selection process?
• How did you handle missing or inconsistent data within your research?
• Were there any biases that could have influenced the results, and how were they mitigated?
• How do you plan to disseminate these findings within the academic community or to the broader public?
• Can you discuss the significance of your research within a broader social, economic, or cultural context?
• What feedback have you received from peers or advisors on this research, and how has it shaped your work?
• How does your research fit into your long-term academic or professional goals?
• Were there any particular challenges in conveying complex research findings to a general audience, and how did you address them?
• How does this research presentation fit into the larger project or research agenda, if applicable?
• Can you provide more insight into the interdisciplinary aspects of your research, if any, and how they contributed to the depth or breadth of understanding?
• Can you elaborate on the primary objectives and expected outcomes of this business initiative?
• How does this strategy align with the overall mission and vision of the company?
• What are the key performance indicators (KPIs) that you’ll be monitoring to gauge success?
• Can you discuss the risks associated with this plan, and how have you prepared to mitigate them?
• How does this proposal fit within the current market landscape, and what sets it apart from competitors?
• What are the potential financial implications of this plan, including both investments and projected returns?
• Can you provide more detail about the timeline and milestones for implementation?
• What internal and external resources will be required, and how have you planned to allocate them?
• How did you gather and analyze the data presented, and how does it support your conclusions?
• How does this proposal take into account regulatory compliance and ethical considerations?
• What are the potential challenges or roadblocks, and what strategies are in place to overcome them?
• Can you explain how this initiative aligns with or affects other ongoing projects or departments within the company?
• How will this plan impact stakeholders, and how have their interests and concerns been addressed?
• What contingency plans are in place if the initial strategy doesn’t achieve the desired results?
• How will success be communicated and celebrated within the organization?
• What opportunities for collaboration or partnership with other organizations exist within this plan?
• How does this proposal consider sustainability and the potential long-term impact on the environment and community?
• How have you incorporated feedback or lessons learned from previous similar initiatives?
• What are the key takeaways you’d like us to remember from this presentation?
• How can we get involved or support this initiative moving forward?
• Can you elaborate on the target audience for this marketing campaign, and how were they identified?
• What are the main objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs) for this campaign?
• How does this marketing strategy align with the overall brand values and business goals?
• What channels will be utilized, and why were they chosen for this particular campaign?
• Can you discuss the expected return on investment (ROI) and how it will be measured?
• What are the creative concepts driving this campaign, and how do they resonate with the target audience?
• How does this campaign consider the competitive landscape, and what sets it apart from competitors’ efforts?
• What are the potential risks or challenges with this marketing plan, and how will they be mitigated?
• Can you provide more details about the budget allocation across different marketing channels and activities?
• How have customer insights or feedback been integrated into the campaign strategy?
• What contingency plans are in place if certain elements of the campaign do not perform as expected?
• How will this marketing initiative be integrated with other departments or business functions, such as sales or customer service?
• How does this campaign consider sustainability or social responsibility, if at all?
• What tools or technologies will be used to execute and monitor this campaign?
• Can you discuss the timeline and key milestones for the launch and ongoing management of the campaign?
• How will the success of this campaign be communicated both internally and externally?
• How does this marketing strategy consider potential regulatory or compliance issues?
• How will the campaign be adapted or customized for different markets or segments, if applicable?
• What lessons from previous campaigns were applied in the development of this strategy?
• How can we, as a team or as individuals, support the successful implementation of this marketing plan?
• What inspired the main theme or concept of the book?
• Can you describe the intended audience for this book, and why they would find it appealing?
• How did the characters’ development contribute to the overall message of the book?
• What research was conducted (if any) to ensure the authenticity of the setting, characters, or events?
• Were there any challenges or ethical considerations in writing or presenting this book?
• How does this book fit into the current literary landscape or genre? What sets it apart?
• What do you believe readers will find most engaging or thought-provoking about this book?
• Can you discuss any symbolic elements or literary devices used in the book and their significance?
• How does the book’s structure (e.g., point of view, chronological order) contribute to its impact?
• What were the emotional highs and lows during the writing or reading of this book, and how do they reflect in the story?
• How does the book address or reflect contemporary social, cultural, or political issues?
• Were there any parts of the book that were particularly difficult or rewarding to write or read?
• How does this book relate to the author’s previous works or the evolution of their writing style?
• What feedback or responses have been received from readers, critics, or peers, and how have they influenced the presentation?
• What are the main takeaways or lessons you hope readers will gain from this book?
• How might this book be used in educational settings, and what age group or courses would it be suitable for?
• Can you discuss the process of editing, publishing, or marketing the book, if applicable?
• How does the book’s cover art or design reflect its content or attract its target readership?
• Are there plans for a sequel, adaptation, or related works in the future?
• How can readers stay engaged with the author or the book’s community, such as through social media, book clubs, or events?
• How do you feel the presentation went overall, and why?
• What part of the presentation are you most proud of, and what made it successful?
• Were there any moments where you felt challenged or uncertain? How did you handle those moments?
• How did you perceive the audience’s engagement and reaction? Were there any surprises?
• What feedback have you received from others, and how does it align with your self-assessment?
• Were there any technical difficulties or unexpected obstacles, and how were they addressed?
• How well did you manage your time during the presentation? Were there areas that needed more or less focus?
• How did you feel before the presentation, and how did those feelings change throughout?
• What strategies did you use to connect with the audience, and how effective were they?
• Were there any points that you felt were misunderstood or could have been communicated more clearly?
• How did the preparation process contribute to the overall success or challenges of the presentation?
• What did you learn about yourself as a communicator or presenter through this experience?
• Were there any ethical considerations in the content or delivery of the presentation, and how were they handled?
• How does this presentation align with your long-term goals or professional development?
• How would you approach this presentation differently if you had to do it again?
• How has this presentation affected your confidence or skills in public speaking or presenting?
• What resources or support would have enhanced your preparation or performance?
• How will you apply what you’ve learned from this presentation to future projects or presentations?
• How did your understanding of the topic change or deepen through the process of preparing and presenting?
• What steps will you take to continue improving or building on the skills demonstrated in this presentation?

What if I disagree with a point made during the presentation?

It’s important to frame disagreement in a constructive and respectful way. You might say, “ I found your point on X intriguing. From a different perspective, could Y also be considered…? ” This opens up a dialogue without dismissing the presenter’s viewpoint.

How can I formulate my questions to encourage a more detailed answer?

Use open-ended questions that start with “ how ,” “ why, ” or “ could you explain… ” as these require more than a yes or no answer and encourage the presenter to provide depth. For example, “ Could you explain the process behind your research findings in more detail? “

By asking insightful questions, you’re not only cementing your understanding of the material presented but also opening doors to further knowledge and collaboration. Remember, the quality of your questions reflects the depth of your engagement and willingness to learn.

So, the next time you find yourself in the audience, seize the opportunity to ask meaningful questions and watch as simple presentations transform into dialogues that inspire and illuminate.

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Bea Mariel Saulo

Bea is an editor and writer with a passion for literature and self-improvement. Her ability to combine these two interests enables her to write informative and thought-provoking articles that positively impact society. She enjoys reading stories and listening to music in her spare time.

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Data & Finance for Work & Life

Management Presentation: 8 Tips, Examples & a Template

In a corporate context, presenting works wonders for a career. Most professionals get exposure to presenting to informed colleagues and department managers. It’s an ideal way to get visibility and show value. But a management presentation to senior executives who aren’t familiar department nuances is a different ballgame.

A management presentation is a high-level summary to senior executive that optimizes reports to include only the details relevant to directorial decisions . They are notoriously difficult to navigate for two reasons: 1. most executives do not have working knowledge of the nuances in each department , 2. presenters rarely have time to understand executives’ preferences .

More than anything else, good management presenters learn how to strike a balance in the degree of detail: they provide enough detail so executives make informed decisions, but not so much detail that they cause confusion.

This article explores how to make a good management presentations in PowerPoint using 4 management presenting best practices , 4 management presenting techniques , providing examples for each, and finishing with a management presentation template you can apply in real life. You can use it as a jumping off point for deeper communication curriculum .

5 management presenting best practices are:

• Ask what managers prefer ahead of time.
• Have 1 message, and 1 message Only.
• The only words should be “Thought Starters.”
• Keep it short.
• Practice 7 times in advance.

4 management presenting techniques are:

• Use a CSP model – Challenge, Solution, Progress.
• Begin with a summary of exactly 3 points.
• Use only these 3 chart types: bar, line, scatter.
• Design slides with the company logo.

I will use a financial analyst perspective in this article, but everything here applies to data and business analysts as well.

Ask Executives Their Preference Ahead of Time

If you’ve ever taken a class on presentation techniques, you’ve heard the old adage “know your audience.” It’s true, the best way to deliver a great presentation is to align your message with what your audience already understands. The same applies to a management presentation.

The challenge is that, more often than not, executives are too busy for you to get to know them well. This means you hardly get the chance to understand how they like presentations. So what can you do? Well, ask them! There’s no harm in sending an email to understand better. And what’s more, once you know, you can always defer to their preferences in the future.

For a financial management presentation, common questions to ask include the following:

• Do you prefer to see raw data, or only visualizations?
• Do you prefer charts or table summaries?
• Would you like a written explanation on paper for each slide?
• Do you like averages alone, or do you prefer means, or standard deviation?
• What interests you most in a presentation?

If you gather some helpful insights, then your presentation will be that much better. That said, you may not get a response, or it may be quick and not insightful. But most senior executives will appreciate you asking .

The best part is you will be able to surprise them. Using the best practices and techniques below, in additional to any insights gathered form your email, will work wonders for you.

Have 1 Message, and 1 Message Only

The easiest mistake to make on a management presentation is trying to deliver multiple messages. Senior executives go through loads of meetings every day, and each meeting they have includes a wave of information. Your mission should be to deliver 1 essential message so they can easily understand and compartmentalize it.

This is no easy task. When I try to narrow down the focus of my management presentation message, it seems like I leave out critical information along the way. The key is to tell a story to incorporate critical information as part of a story towards the essential message.

For example, imagine you work for a wholesale watch company called Batch Watch . You want to explain a financing operation in which the company has the option of two loans to fund the initial costs of 10,000 watches. These loans have different interest rates and maturity dates. Loan A is better if the company expects to sell the watches within 3 months, while Loan B is better if the company expects to sell over more than 3 months. Each has cancellation fees and cash flow impacts.

Instead of showing the cancellation fees and cash flow impact of the each loan, all you need to say is “ we expect the company to sell them within 3 months, and we recommend loan A for that reason.” If the executives disagree on the sale timeline, they will ask for more information.

This is how you keep senior executives engaged, by integrating them in the story you tell. Ultimately, the essential message of your presentation should be how much profit the company will make from the watch funding operation. Senior executives should leave feeling like the project is in good hands with you, and they only feel that way when you tell a story around the essential message .

Whatever the Message, Use Data

Whatever message you want to send, it needs to be backed up by data. In the example above the data was financial, but it’s not always that simple. Context may require you to provide KPIs and perform extensive data analysis that culminates in a small output that your viewers can easily digest.

You need to be strong with data to deliver a good management presentation. To get started or refresh your memory, you can read AnalystAnswers’ free Intro to Data Analysis eBook .

The Only Words Should be “Thought Starters”

As a general presentation principle, you should not write many thoughts down on presentation slides. Words have two negative impacts on the audience: they demand energy from the reader, and they make the reader feel compelled to read, lest they misunderstand.

If you can avoid putting text blocks altogether, do. If you don’t need any writing at all, don’t. However, if you need guidance as you speak or want to provide reminders for a later data, use “Thought Starters.”

Thought starters are phrases of 3 words maximum that contain ideas leading to the essential message. People often call them “bullet points,” which is common for list-style thought starters. Personally, I prefer to place thought starters at different places on a slide. When I use a chart, for example, I put thought starters at relevant places on the slide.

Keep it Short

Your presentation should never consume more than 80% of the allotted timeframe. This means that if you plan a 5 minutes meeting, deliver the presentation in 4 minutes. If you’re given 30 minutes, do it in 25 minutes. If you have 1 hour, do it in 45 minutes.

By keeping the presentation short, you relieve the audience and you allow for some question buffer. Have you ever sat in a meeting planned for 1 hour, and at 45m it ends early? It’s a pleasure for everyone. Most of us feel like we’re running behind — when you put us ahead of schedule, we love you!

At the same time, senior executives may bombard you with questions throughout the presentation. If you planned to fill the whole timeframe, you won’t finish. But if you planned to finish early, you still have a chance.

And if you use the rest of these best practices and techniques, those senior executives shouldn’t need to ask too many questions!

Practice 7 Times in Advance

There’s a mix of opinions on the number of times you should rehearse a presentation before doing it live, but most people agree that it’s somewhere between 5 and 10 times. If you take nothing else from this article, take this. To deliver a good presentation, prepare excellent slides; to deliver a great presentation, practice presenting them 7 times.

To deliver a good presentation, prepare excellent slides; to deliver a great presentation, practice presenting them 7 times. AnalystAnswers.com

But just practicing isn’t enough, there are a few criteria you must meet:

• Practice in the room you will present in. There’s something about envisioning yourself live that really makes a difference. When you practice in a space other that where you’ll present, it’s good. But when you practice in the “live” room, you’re able to sensitize yourself to the environment, which calms nerves so you can focus on the message.
• Have an audience. We all behave differently when there’s stimulus of other people around. Whenever possible, get one or two people to whom you can present. In addition to getting used to having an audience, you’ll also get some feedback.
• Use the same volume of voice. When we’re not “live,” we have a tendency to hold back on our voice. This is detrimental to the presentation because you feel taken off guard by your own voice. Make sure to envision yourself in front of the senior execs when you practice.

Best Practices Recap

We’ve addressed 5 best practices — now let’s turn our attention to 4 specific techniques you can easily implement. And when you do, that work wonders for management presenting.

Use a CSP Model (Challenge, Solution, Progress)

Every presentation needs structure, but it’s easy to forget that we need to guide our audience. A great way to structure management reports is using the CSP model. CSP stands for Challenge, Solution, Progress, and it’s exactly what it sounds like.

You need to explain the challenge or goal, explain what the solution to the challenge is (or how to achieve the goal), and show where you are in the steps to completing that goal.

For example, let’s look at our Batch Watch case. Imagine you need to find funding for a new product launch — $100,000 to be exact. A sample CSP model for this would be a slide that shows:

By using the CSP model, you guide the audience. However, it’s important to note that the CSP model is not a summary . It’s an overview of the process, but a summary should always come before. Let’s talk about it now.

Begin with a Summary of Exactly 3 Points

Any good presentation begins with a summary. And a good summary communicates the essential message simply in 3 points. However, the summary is not the same thing as the CSP model. Instead, it provides an alternative view on the challenge and and solution.

For example, using our Batch Watch case of funding a new product, you could address a summary in the following way:

• Challenge, Solution, Progress
• Funding acquisition
• Project Timeline

This provides additional details that are most relevant to the project and carry added value to the CSP model.

Use only Bar Charts (aka Column Charts), Line Graphs, and Scatter Plots

Whether it’s for data, financial, and business analyst topics , management presentations should only ever have bar charts, line graphs, and scatter plots. They are common, rich in information, and well understood. Any other kind of graph is distracting more than anything else.

A bar graph is useful when you want to compare like variables. For example, if you want to show the average size of Canadian trout versus American trout. A common mistake, though, is to use bar graphs to show change over time. While it’s not incorrect to do so, line graphs are better for this purpose.

A line graph is useful when you want to show change in one variable over time (we call this time series data). For example, if you want to show the progression of revenues over time, line graphs are the perfect way to do so.

A scatter plot is best when you want to compare a set of observations of one variable to a set of observations of another. It’s the ideal way to quickly visualize the relationship between two variables. For example, if you want to see how company revenues compare to GDP, you could use a scatter plot like this:

For example, let’s look at our Batch Watch case. If we want to see how our company is performing compared to the economy as a whole, we could use this scatter plot. As you can see, we have a positive (bottom left to top right) relationship, but a weak one (points not clustered closely).

Design Slides Using the Company Logo

When you’re presenting to senior executives, you want your slides to look professional. The best way to do that is by putting your company logo on them, including any corporate design standards (colors, fonts, etc). Show through your presentation that you belong to the same company, and that you’re in it in spirit. For example, let’s add the AnalystAnswers.com logo to our CSP slide:

Techniques Recap

Here’s a sample management presentation template below. I hope you understand after reading this article that management presentation is more about your delivery than it is about the slides you prepare.

Download Management Presentation Template for Free

While the techniques we’ve discussed will help you build a good presentation, your success really depends on how well you deliver the ideas needed to help senior executives make decisions. At the end of the day, it’s all about balance.

If you only remember two things from this article, remember that great management presenters give enough detail to inform senior executive but not too much that they cause confusion, and great management presenters make sure they do so by practicing 7 times in advance. You’ll have to practice, practice, practice.

About the Author

Noah is the founder & Editor-in-Chief at AnalystAnswers. He is a transatlantic professional and entrepreneur with 5+ years of corporate finance and data analytics experience, as well as 3+ years in consumer financial products and business software. He started AnalystAnswers to provide aspiring professionals with accessible explanations of otherwise dense finance and data concepts. Noah believes everyone can benefit from an analytical mindset in growing digital world. When he's not busy at work, Noah likes to explore new European cities, exercise, and spend time with friends and family.

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The 7 Questions You Must Answer in All Your Executive Presentations

Executive presentations can be the hardest nut to crack, yet will have the biggest bang for your buck when it comes to your career advancement.

Master the executive presentation, and you will get the visibility and recognition to drive your career upward. The alternative is to fumble and ramble through, and get labeled as “ not for leadership ” material.

It’s unfortunate because being smart, analytical, detailed oriented will work against you when developing your executive brief, unless, you follow a disciplined approach to clarify and broaden your message.

What is an executive presentation?

An executive presentation is a brief update or a proposal you deliver to the executives in your organization. You either do an update on a project you worked/ working on, or you make a proposal for something new.

An executive presentation is also called an Executive Brief

It’s called a brief because executives live in a “no time,” “no patience dimension,” and will not tolerate you wasting their time.

Executives live in a “no time,” “no patience dimension,” and will not tolerate you wasting their time.”

I know that you might be thinking – you are busy too and distilling your message to the essence is hard to do, and maybe unfair to expect it out of you, but that’s the reality we live in. The senior executives hold the key to your promotions and making their life easier by putting some thought into your presentation will make your career progress easier.

Demystifying Executive Presentations with the 4 Executive Thinking Styles:

To create excellent executive presentations, you need to understand the 4 executive thinking styles. Then you need to tailor your message to appeal to those thinking styles instead of your own

The four thinking styles of executives is an adaptation of Dr. Bernice McCarthy’s  4MAT learning style system developed for to enhance the educational experience of students. I adopted it over the years to communicate better with leaders and executives in a business setting.

The “Why” thinkers:

The first executive thinking style is called the “Why” thinking style, these are the executives who care mostly about why we are doing things and why now. These executives tend to be in sales, marketing, and a lot of times the CEOs.

The “What” thinkers:

The second executive thinking style is called the “What” thinking style, these are the executives that care mostly about answering “what based questions” like what is the background, what is the science, what is the history, what is the science? Etc. These executives tend to be in engineering and technology like the CTO of companies or the VP of engineering.

These executives tend to be in engineering and technology like the CTO of companies or the VP of engineering.

The “How” thinkers

The third executive thinking style is the “How” thinking style. The how thinking executives, tend to think by asking “How based questions” like how do we get it done, how do we go forward, How do we get over this obstacle? Etc. The COO or the VP of project management would have this style.

The COO or the VP of project management would have this style.

The “What if” thinkers:

The fourth executive thinking style is the “What if” style. This is a funny group because they have “what if negative,” and “what if positive.”

The what if positive thinkers are the entrepreneurial executives like the CEO and co-founders of a startup (CEOs of established companies tend to be Why thinkers for the most part).

The what if negative are the executives that usually focus on what could go wrong like corporate counsel, CFO, and VP of quality. Note- there is nothing wrong with being what if negative, in fact, this type of thinking, is essential for strong organizations.

If you want to create an executive presentation, the safest route is to assume that all these thinking styles are present in the room and create a presentation that addressed all these learning styles.

Warning: if you do not consider all these thinking styles, then you will create a presentation based on your thinking style as a default and as a result, you will resonate with people who think like you and miss the rest.

[easy-tweet tweet=”if you do not consider all these thinking styles, then you will create a presentation based on yours.”]

When you are communicating with your peers, communication-based on your learning style is OK because your peers will probably think like you.

However, as you go higher in your organization, your message must have a broader appeal. Being able to communicate in all four thinking styles will allow you to reach more people and influence more executives with your message.

The 7 Questions to answer in every executive presentation or briefing:

Now that you know the thinking styles, all you have to do is create a presentation based on all these styles. Below is the template to guide you the next time you have to create a brief.

When used, this template will ensure that you have a concise, precise and laser focused executive presentation that will get the eyes of officials to jump out of their sockets.

The 7 questions you need to answer in every brief:

1. why are you there.

You have to be explicit in front of executives. You can’t be vague and wishy-washy. You got to be upfront with why you are there presenting to them.

Some examples of good answers: I am here today to give you an update on project x, or I am here to propose a new way of doing business.

2. Why does it matter (why is what you are saying important now)?

When executives are making a decision, they are always trying to assess the importance of what you are talking about. You tell them the importance of your idea, proposal, update, to make sure they don’t check out trying to figure it out on their own.

It’s amazing how many executives space out during a technical project update because they have no idea why the project is important anyway.

So you got to tell them why it is important now .

3. What is the background?

If you see 10 project updates a day, then after a week all these projects start to blur in your mind. That’s what happens to executives unless the project is one of their baby projects (a project they are directly involved in).

Most likely they will forget about your project unless you remind them and give them context by giving some background on what you are doing. It is easy to overdo this step, so be careful, and just give some background to establish common ground but not so much to bore and distract the executives with the minutia.

4. What is the update or what is the proposal?

This is the part where you get to the meat of the topic. Everything you said before this step was the ramp up for this.

I know what you might be thinking: don’t the executives want this part only. No, they also want the context and the importance of the update. Otherwise, they will be confused.

5. How to go forward?

This is where you tell the executives the next steps. Again, don’t get too much into the weeds here, talk about next steps in big blocks. You don’t need to tell them the timeline one hour at a time; you just need to explain the next steps from a broader perspective.

Instead of saying today, we will do x, tomorrow we will do y, and so on for an hour. Say we are working on getting manufacturing approval by the end of this month, and we will roll out the change in beta mode by the end of the quarter, and if everything checks out, we will launch with full force in Q3 this year.

Notice, no minutiae, just logical and zoomed out perspective .

6. What if negative

Remember, the what if negative people are the ones who will point out what’s wrong with you presentation. Ideally, you want to handle these people and their objections offline by lobbying their support. However, that might not always happen, so what you want to do here is bring up objections, alternatives and quickly deal with them.

[easy-tweet tweet=”Always try to lobby for support offline before the big presentation. The presentation is just a formality.” hashtags=”leadership, influence, sanfranciscoclasses”]

There are two reasons you bring this up first, rather than wait for someone to bring it up:

• One it shows that you have a balanced and rational view and it shows that you considered alternatives and what could go wrong and adjusted for it.
• Two it allows you to bring up objections first and deal with them before others do. This allows you to handle objections without having the other’s ego attached to it.Imagine if the CFO brings up an objection and you manage it, the CFO’s ego might get touched a bit, and she might dig in her heels, but if you bring up the objection and handle it before the CFO then you save the CFO’s ego, and you might get less resistance from her.

It’s important to remember calibration here – if there are no objections to your ideas, then maybe just mention a couple of alternative plans to show that you are balanced in your thinking, or just skip this altogether. The last thing you want to do is to plant objections when there were none.

7. What if positive

The executives are human beings too. So naturally, they have big goals, big dreams, and big ideas too. These thoughts usually manifest themselves in big company initiatives or executive baby projects. These baby projects tend to occupy a lot of the executive’s mind, and naturally, they care more about these pet projects than your project.

In the “what if positive” section of your executive brief, you want to tie your ideas to one of these baby projects or big company initiatives if you can.

For example: If you know that there is a big business initiative to improve diversity in your organization, and your proposal is related to the new intern rotation program, then at the end link your project to that big company initiative for diversity.

With both the what if negative and what if positive, you don’t want to overdo things. Use both strategically in the right meeting and for the right projects and updates.

Notice that all the above questions address all the executive thinking styles. Answering these questions will make sure that you appeal to all of the executives in the room and demonstrate that you can communicate to a broad audience.

Most of the time answering these questions will be your whole executive presentation.

Step by step procedure:

First, think of a project update or a project proposal you want to present to the executives.

Second, go through the template below and answer one question at a time. Just keep it simple, the executive brief is typically between 2-15 minutes max. If the executives need more, they will ask you questions, but most of the time this is all they need.

Executive Brief Template

You can use this template to create your verbal executive briefing, or you can do it as a physical print out or email to send out to executives. Either way, it will work.

Use the template exactly as it is first, then if you want to adjust things feel free to make adjustments to fit your style and personality.

• Why are you here? I am here to __________
• Why is it important? This is important because__________
• What is the background? Just to give you some background on this:__________
• What is the update or what is the proposal? – For update: Here is the latest update__________ – For a proposal: Because of__________, I recommend/ propose we do__________
• How to go forward? The way to go forward for us is__________
• What if negative? – If objections then use this: I know some of you might be thinking__________, but,__________ – If consequences: If we don’t do__________, then__________ – If presenting alternatives: We also considered__________, and we still think__________
• What if positive? After all, we are trying to achieve_(Big Initiative)__, and this__(your proposal or update)__will help us do it (faster, better, etc)

Here is an example of an executive presentation/briefing

For this example, I will show you an example, for a project proposal from the biotech industry.

Good morning!

I am here today to propose a new process for handling deviations.

This is important because the new process will help us increase efficiency and accuracy.

Just a quick background, our normal process for handling deviations right now looks like x, y, z (I removed the actual process to keep it simple). As you can tell there are multiple steps in the process, and that takes a lot of time and provides multiple points of error in documentation.

• I want to propose a new process to replace the x, y, z steps with only step w. This reduces the process to one step instead of three. For example…. (you can further illustrate by elaborating with a small example)
• To go forward we just need your approval on this new process for handling deviations, and once we have it, my team and I will take care of the documentation and training, and we will be ready to roll out by next quarter.
• I know that some of you might be concerned that reducing the process to one step instead of three removes the checks and balances that come with many eyes seeing the deviation.We, in fact, believe that reducing to one step, with one centralized accountability will enhance the accuracy. We currently follow a similar one step process for changing SOPs, and since implementation, it reduced the errors in procedures by 30%. We think we will achieve the same effect with this process change to handling deviations.

After all, our big initiative this year is to improve our manufacturing efficiency, and to update the deviation process is one big step forward to help us achieve our efficiency goal.

___________

Notice when you do the example, you do not vocalize the questions. The questions are just for you to help guide you and keep you organized. Here is the same example above with questions so that you see how they were used.

——- Good morning!

Why are you here?

I am here to __________

Why is it important?

This is important because ______________

What is the background?

Just to give you some background on this:______________

What is the update or what is the proposal?

For update: Here is the latest update_________________

(NA, it’s a proposal this time, see below)

For a proposal: Because of ______________, I recommend/ propose we do __________________

I want to propose a new process to replace the x, y, z steps with only step w. This reduces the process to one step instead of three. For example….

How to go forward?

The way to go forward for us is __________________________

To go forward we just need your approval on this process, and once we have it, my team and I will take care of the documentation and training, and we will be ready to roll out by next quarter.

What if negative?

If objections then use this: I know some of you might be thinking________, but, ____________________________

I know that some of you might be concerned that reducing the process to one step instead of three removes the checks and balances that come with multiple set of eyes seeing the deviation. We, in fact, believe that reducing to one step, with one centralized accountability will enhance the accuracy.

We currently follow a similar one-step process for changing SOPs and since implemented it reduced the errors in procedures by 30%. We think we will achieve the same effect with this process change to handling deviations.

If consequences: If we don’t do _____________, then ___________

NA handled objection this time

If presenting alternatives: We also considered _______________, and we still think____________________________

NA handled objections this time

What if positive?

After all we are trying to achieve ___(big initiative)___________, and this ____(update/proposal)____________ will help us do it (faster, better, etc)

In this article, you learned how to create executive presentations and executive briefings to communicate effectively to senior executives

You learned the 4 primary groups of information from you every time you present to them. The why, the what, the how and the what if of the project.

Instead of dancing around the bush, now you have the structure and template to structure your presentation for maximum impact and influence. As s a result you will not ramble, you will not stumble, and you will sound great.

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10 Interview Questions for Managers—and How to Answer Them

Interviewing for a management position? Be ready to tackle those typical interview questions for managers. Even if you’ve never been in a managerial role before, you’ll want to clearly demonstrate to the recruiters your leadership skills and philosophy.

This article will reveal 10 management interview questions you should reflect on and be prepared to answer during the hiring process (in addition to other common interview questions , of course). 

Your prospective employers might not ask every one of these, but preparing to answer them will surely help you gain clarity on your strengths and the way you approach management and leadership—so you can communicate your capabilities with ease no matter what question you’re answering.

The more interviews you get, the better your chances of getting hired—apply now to these amazing open jobs on The Muse »

What to know before your management interview

Before we get to the common questions for management interviews, let’s start with a few things you should know going in.

Be ready to tell stories

Don't underestimate the power of telling a good story to show your talent as a potential manager or leader through action.

Even if you haven’t been a manager before, you’ve still demonstrated leadership in many situations. For instance, training others, managing projects, motivating colleagues, contributing ideas, thinking strategically, and holding others accountable. 

Take some time to reflect on your work experience and jot down significant moments when you led. These are the basis for your stories, which should reveal one or all of the following:

• A time when you influenced and encouraged others—and what was your approach
• A situation where you and a team were successful and what your contribution was
• A time when your problem-solving and/or delegating skills directly impacted others

Make sure you highlight the right skills

Consider what skills are required for the job you’re interviewing for and especially focus on the stories that show you developing or using these skills. Lay out your stories in a coherent way by defining the problem, explaining how you arrived at a solution, and describing how you implemented it.

Once you’ve collected a handful of tales, you’ll be able to easily modify them to answer different interview questions in a way that demonstrates your management and leadership chops. Remember that management across most functions and roles largely involves prioritizing and delegating, time management , problem-solving , and organization . Be sure to showcase those skills in your stories.

Even if a company is extremely focused on having their managers drive the productivity of their staff to “hit the numbers,” you’ll still need soft skills —such as emotional intelligence or interpersonal skills —to manage and inspire your team to get there. Empathy and sensitivity are increasingly valued workplace traits. Show your capacity for them.

Confidence is good, but don’t over-rehearse

Thorough preparation will help you feel confident and confidence will help the interviewers see you as a leader. But be careful not to over-rehearse exactly how you will tell your stories. 

You shouldn’t present as overly polished in your interview, says Alli Polin , a leadership expert and Founder of Break the Frame Consulting. “The company wants to understand your philosophy and leadership style—not answers learned by rote,” Polin says.

A hiring team is looking for managers and leaders who are relatable and can think on their feet. Rehearsed speeches can come across as inauthentic.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are likely to come up

In addition to developing their interpersonal skills, managers must be familiar with DEI principles, resources, and why they matter in the workplace. Be sure to go over these and be prepared to speak about diversity, equity, and inclusion in an interview .

10 interview questions for managers—with answers

Besides general talking points, such as “ Walk me through your resume ” and “ Tell me your biggest weakness ,” manager interview questions usually revolve around your leadership style and skills.

Here are 10 questions for managers you might be asked—and sample answers to help you ace your interview:

1. “Walk me through a project you led and what made it successful”

When asking this question, interviewers are looking for your knowledge of people and project management as well as communication skills . It should be easy for you to think of the most impactful project you led to answer this question, but a story will truly demonstrate your abilities.

Saying something like, “We had a goal to acquire 3,000 new customers by March and we hit it,” reveals a great win, but no leadership skills. Your answer needs to spell out what you specifically did to influence the successful outcome. The more specifics you include, the better able the interviewer will be able to see your talent and impact.

Here’s an example answer:

I was recently in charge of designing a marketing strategy for a premium version of our top-selling hiking shoes for new and existing customers on a short timeline. I led the team through several brainstorming sessions on potential campaigns. Since we were on a tight schedule, I laid out the exact type of ideas we were looking for ahead of the meetings and kept a close eye on the clock to make sure the discussions stayed on topic.

We came up with three campaigns we wanted to pursue, then laid out each step of all three to really break them down and see if we could implement the work on time. It became clear that if we wanted high-quality execution, we could either hire temporary people or implement two of our three ideas by the deadline. It was tough, but I chose to only focus on two with the existing team rather than risking not finding the right people to help us on short notice.

To me, quality always wins over quantity. I consulted with the project manager and the team to determine who was in charge of and responsible for each part of the campaigns. Together we developed key performance indicators (KPIs), such as how many customers we wanted to reach and how many interactions would lead to direct sales. Additionally, each team member came up with two personal goals, such as: ‘to reach out to colleagues more for input’ and ‘to slow down when I’m rushing so I don’t make a mistake.’

Lastly, we agreed that if someone was falling short of their deadlines, they needed to let the rest of the team know through our project management software and we could discuss the best way to proceed from there. Because we were all so clear on what needed to be done, who was doing what, and where they were in the process, we managed to accomplish our first set of goals ahead of schedule and the campaign ultimately exceeded our original sales goal by over 10%.

2. “How would you describe your leadership style?”

Sometimes it seems that there are as many formulas and paradigms for describing leadership or management style as there are people to lead. Here are four of the most commonly referenced:

• Direct: Leaders know what they want and aren't afraid to speak up or confront others
• Relational: Managers lead by forming strong connections with others
• Visionary: Leaders have big ideas and easily find out-of-the-box solutions
• Operational: Managers are focused on the processes of how work gets done

As a leader, you might have two or even three blended styles. For this question, you’ll want to talk about the style you use most and give examples of when and how it has worked to get people motivated and do their work more efficiently.

Here’s a sample answer:

I would describe myself as a direct leader. In my last role, I managed a remote team of copywriters. From day one, I made it clear that I don't micromanage remote workers. They had the freedom to manage their schedules and tasks as they saw fit, as long as they delivered reliable results. This approach proved successful, and we achieved several milestones, such as increasing our conversion rate by 25%.

This might also help: How to answer “What’s Your Management Style?”

3. “Tell me about a decision that was difficult to make. Did you consult with anyone?”

Managers are always making decisions, including really tough ones. Some examples are firing employees who aren’t working out, redistributing work when someone falls ill, making budget cuts, reporting to upper management that a project has failed, or promoting one person over another, to name a few. Interviewers want to see that you’re up to the task.

It’s also useful for hiring managers to see that you include others in your decision-making, rather than trying to make all the decisions by yourself. Work cultures are trending away from an overly hierarchical, top-down, command-and-control style of leadership. A leader who relies on the input and expertise of subordinates and others in decision-making, also known as a collaborative leader, is often more effective and inclusive than those who do not.

For this question, you’ll want to recap the difficult decision, share your thought process around how and why you came to the conclusion you did, and tell the interviewer what actions you took, including who you consulted with along the way.

Here's an example answer:

In my last role as a manager , I had to make the difficult decision to terminate a low-performing employee. Before finalizing the decision, I discussed the situation with our director, and together we devised a plan to provide support, consistent with our strong “everybody deserves a second chance” culture.

I conducted two face-to-face performance review meetings with the employee, identified areas of improvement, listened to their concerns, and offered advice and additional training. However, despite these efforts, their performance did not improve over three months, leading to the decision to terminate their contract.

4. “How have you successfully delegated tasks?”

Managers have to be cognizant of how work is distributed throughout their team. They need to know the details of who does what and who has authority over final decisions in shared tasks—plus make sure that these things are clearly communicated. For example, who needs to see the contents of an email communication before it gets sent out? Does the email manager or communications director have final say if they disagree on something in the message?

In addition to seeing that you understand the importance of role clarity, hiring managers want to be sure that you don’t attempt to take on the entire workload as a way of making sure it gets done, but rather you effectively delegate tasks. Companies also want to see that you work to understand the dynamics of your team. Who excels at what tasks, who needs more time off, and who needs tasks that will challenge them to grow, for example.

Your story for answering this question could include what you did at a time when the workload was very heavy and you helped the team distribute the work and collaborate. Your answer can also include what you did when there was a gray area as to who did what and how you helped straighten it out, or what you did at a time when a deadline was approaching and the team needed additional resources.

Here's a sample answer:

As a content manager, I led client meetings, created the social media posts timeline, and reviewed all posts completed by the creative team. Last February, I was managing my workload while also covering for another content manager who was absent due to health reasons—essentially tripling my workload, which could have affected our clients.

Knowing my team well and trusting their abilities, I decided to delegate the task of creating the social media posts timeline to them, allowing me to focus on preparing a client presentation. I asked them to brainstorm ideas together and present their plan for my review.

Fortunately, they were a talented and reliable team who successfully completed the task. This enabled me to finalize my presentation and secure a new, improved deal with the client that same week.

5. “How do you establish priorities for yourself and the people you supervise?”

Sometimes there are a number of projects taking place at once. Hiring managers know that without clearly agreed-upon priorities, the work environment can become split and frustrated, waiting for key pieces of work in order to be able to complete their own tasks and meet deadlines. So how have you—or would you—ensure that members of your team know how to organize their day and what to work on first?

For this question, you can share a story about a time you needed to establish priorities for yourself at a past job. How did you decide which tasks to attend to first? If you’ve led a team or been a project manager, what criteria have you used to determine priorities for the team and how did you communicate them? Make sure the story is representative of your leadership style.

For example, do you let each worker figure it out on their own or with each other first and come to you with questions? Or do you step in from the get-go? Does it depend on the employee or situation? You can also add specifics. Perhaps, you use software for project management and have daily meetings. Or maybe you coached an employee on how to manage their time and workload.

I like to work with Trello. In my last opportunity to manage a team , I was given the difficult task of organizing all the chain of production of social media posts for clients that were delayed by a week. The current system in place, which was a spreadsheet, didn't specify who was doing what for which client and what were the priorities for the week.

So I brought up the idea of using Trello, which is a more intuitive software, and also have a meeting at the beginning of each to distribute tasks, set deadlines and determine what were the priorities and what could be done later. With this approach we were able to catch up on our schedule and finish the month with no more delayed posts—which definitely made the clients happy.

6. “What is your leadership approach to managing diverse teams and being sensitive to and inclusive of all your staff?”

Don’t answer this question by simply spouting off the talking points from your last diversity training. You need to show the hiring manager how your values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice play out in the workplace, says Tameka Nikki Andrews , who has managed teams in multiple industries, has extensive experience with DEI work, and is the Founder of the creative consulting agency Flannel and Blade.

As a manager, you might supervise employees across spectrums of gender, race, sexuality, age, class, and more, Andrews says. “How are you going to make sure that your own biases and narratives don’t negatively impact the way you manage people? How do you effectively create a healthy and productive team, when everyone is so different from one another?” she says.

It's your responsibility as a manager to be self-aware and educated on DEI best practices in hiring, performance reviews, and conflict management. Leaders with unexamined unconscious biases perpetuate the passing over and/or silencing of people of color, the stealing of ideas (usually by men from women), and the proliferation of microaggressions ranging from sexually inappropriate to racially insensitive comments, to name a few.

Tell a story about how you helped people work across differences by building bridges to different perspectives and communication styles. Or, maybe, tell a story about how you learned about differences through making a mistake. Do not explain that you don’t pay much attention to these issues because you are “colorblind,” are more focused on hitting goals, or were taught to tolerate other people’s opinions—even if those opinions are harmful to others.

It's very important to me to promote a work environment where everyone feels respected and safe. I always make a point to encourage diversity in every company I work and have a zero tolerance policy to discrimination. As a People and Culture Manager, I promote workshops about diversity and leverage important dates for minorities—such as Prinde Month and Junethenth—to create informative materials and highlight the importance of it.

Read this next: 8 Interview Questions About Diversity and Inclusion Every Job Seeker Should Be Able to Answer

7. “How do you give feedback and hold people accountable?”

Effectively managing teams means that you will continually be learning new ways to help people be better at their jobs. You'll have to lead performance reviews and challenge employees to grow.

For this question, think back to the last time you gave feedback. What have you done that works? Did someone take your feedback and make an improvement in their performance? How did that improvement impact the team or initiative at large? Particularly, if you haven’t managed anyone before, use an example from times you’ve given feedback to a coworker or even a superior.

If holding others accountable has been difficult, what resources have you relied on to help you solve the problem? Maybe you consulted with mentors or read up on the latest trends in employee management. This is the moment when you can share your overall leadership philosophy—what you believe makes people tick, what constitutes effective communication, and how to get the best out of the people you manage.

Here's an answer example:

Personally, I like to have face-to-face performance review meetings. If it's feedback that I have to give right away, I schedule a 15 minute conversation. I explain what I observed and give the person the opportunity to share if they agree or disagree with what I'm saying and if there's something I could help them with. I believe in using a problem-solving approach, instead of an accusatory tone. After all, we are a team, as a manager I would like to help my team succeed.

8. “Describe a time you managed an employee who was struggling or causing strife”

When asking this question, your interviewer wants to know if you can handle a sensitive situation and how you’ll go about it. In your preparation for the interview, think of at least two people you’ve worked with who struggled or disrupted a team’s work in some way and how you dealt with the difficulties. Then, choose which situation better exemplifies your management skills and style and makes sense in the context of your conversation.

Ask yourself: Were the issues about skills gaps, personality differences, attitude problems, work ethic, inappropriate behavior, or other types of noncompliance? When you share your story, make sure to describe the employee’s struggles or behavior and the impact it was having in the workplace, followed by how you reflected on and dealt with the issue, including what the final outcome of your intervention was.

You can name a difficult behavior, but don’t disparage the worker, by saying, “They were a real pain in the neck,” or anything else about them as a person. Your example also doesn’t have to result in a fairytale ending where everything works out perfectly. Some employees’ performance or behavior will improve only marginally.

If an employee continues to have or cause problems in the workplace, termination could be a perfectly fine end to the story as long as you thoroughly explain why and what steps you took. A story ending with an employee being let go can show your ability to assess the right staff and/or follow through on ethical standards on behalf of the company.

I once had a really talented direct report who was always late. Timeliness is one of our company’s core values, and the employee and I discussed and tried to troubleshoot the issue many times. He would improve, maybe for a week. Senior management noticed when he arrived late twice to company-wide meetings. I didn’t know what to do. The thought of firing him really upset me, because he was talented.

Then, I had an idea. I asked him to take charge of the morning staff meetings: to review and organize the agendas the night before, introduce the main topic and structure, and manage the time at the meeting. It was risky to reward someone who wasn’t following the rules, but frankly, no one else wanted the job. He embraced it and showed up on time religiously, knowing that the team was depending on him.

9. “What is your ideal vision for company culture and how have you upheld company values in prior roles?”

“Culture” can be like “leadership”—everyone seems to have their own, slightly original definition.

Companies “want to know your view on organizational culture to ensure you’re a strong match for the direction they’re heading,” Polin says. In other words, a company will compare your personal vision of an ideal culture with the culture they want to uphold or create to assess if you’re a match.

So to answer this question, reflect on the behaviors, environments, and values that you believe help groups work best: Is there scheduled company time for socializing because you believe it helps build teamwork? How should people approach difficult conversations? Does everyone need to be involved in every decision? Have you ever participated in establishing a company-wide values, ethics, or culture statement?

Depending on the exact question you were asked, you might go on to discuss how you’ve upheld company culture and values. How have you ensured that company values are upheld in interactions—for example, have you spoken up when something didn’t seem right? How did you foster company values in your direct reports or your colleagues? The ability to translate values into action requires loyalty, awareness, and commitment—traits that are invaluable to a company.

My ideal vision for a company's values and culture would prioritize passion and innovation. I firmly believe that people perform best when they believe in what they're doing. In my last two management positions , I worked for companies that emphasized creativity and innovation. As a team manager, I always made it a point to encourage my team to bring forward new ideas for our projects. There was never a sense of right or wrong; we took what didn't work initially and continued brainstorming until we arrived at a final solution.

10. “What are your plans for your team’s professional development?”

The best managers are not just invested in their teams’ present, but in their future as well, and interviewers want to see that you’ve thought about how your employees can continue to learn and grow. Being able to truly support individual employees in their professional growth means you have to get to know them.

The only way to learn of your staff’s potential is to be an observant leader, looking out for their strengths and opportunities for improvement. This takes time. You can make it clear that in order to answer this question fully, you’ll want to be able to see your staff in action for at least six months before you can determine what training would benefit them most. Then you can give some examples of what professional development you might suggest.

You should also be familiar with the relevant industry conferences, certifications, and what they offer. Take the time to learn which ones are best suited to the organization and position you’re interviewing for and why. Get specific about what you’d want each role on your team to get from the possible development opportunities you suggest. What do you want your customer service employees to learn about conflict resolution and why? Do you want your team to be proficient at public speaking to what end?

You can also share any past experiences of supporting employees taking on a training or advanced education and how it impacted them, the team, and the company. If you’re not an experienced manager, you can share what professional development training you’ve benefited from in order to vouch for why you think it’s useful for staff.

As a manager of a sales team, my plan for my team's development would be to offer stipends for certifications and workshops to help them improve their communication skills , presentation, and conflict resolution abilities. I believe these skills are fundamental for workers in customer-facing roles, since it can directly affect the business.

Frequently asked questions

What type of questions are asked in a manager interview.

Management candidates are usually asked about their leadership style, conflict resolution skills, and problem-solving abilities. You can also expect common interview questions like “Tell me about yourself,” “Where do you see yourself in five years?,” or “What are your strengths and weaknesses?”

How to answer interview questions for a manager position?

Most questions can be effectively answered with an anecdote showcasing a situation where you demonstrated a skill relevant to that position. Hiring managers often appreciate knowing the outcome of your actions, so be sure to include the results of your decisions. Try to keep your answers balanced—not too short, not too long.

How to ace a manager interview?

To ace a manager interview, practice answering common questions on management style, leadership skills, problem-solving, and conflict resolution. It's helpful to rehearse your responses with a friend or family member beforehand, if you can. Study the job description and the company's value and mission to understand what they're looking for in a candidate and how your skills can help them achieve their goals.

In conclusion

So many situations in your life, at work and otherwise, have prepared you to be in charge. If you’ve taken the time to look back on many of the moments that got you to this one, you’re on your way to acing your next interview for a management position. And don’t forget that, while a company is interviewing you, you are also assessing if they are a good match and if this is where you want to spend the next phase of your career.

Amanda Cardoso contributed to the latest version of this article.

Questions to Ask Presenters

I. introduction.

Asking questions during presentations and panel discussions is crucial to getting the most out of these events. By asking the right questions, you can gain a deeper understanding of the subject matter and the speaker's expertise, challenge assumptions, and make meaningful connections with other attendees. This article is designed to provide you with a comprehensive guide to the types of questions you should be asking presenters and panelists, whether you are attending a virtual event or an in-person panel discussion.

Throughout this article, we will provide you with a list of great questions to ask, suggestions for creating your own questions, and tips for asking good questions that can help you stand out and make a lasting impression. We will cover a variety of topics, including the importance of follow-up questions, leveraging social media and apps, common misconceptions, and creating your own list of questions.

So whether you are attending a keynote speech, panel discussion, webinar , or podcast, this article will help you prepare for and make the most out of your next event. Let's start by exploring how to prepare for the presentation or panel discussion.

II. Preparing for the Presentation or Panel Discussion

Before attending a presentation or panel discussion, it is important to prepare yourself by researching the presenter or panelists and the subject matter. This will help you come up with questions that are relevant and insightful.

To prepare, you should start by researching the speaker or panelists on LinkedIn, their company website, or other social media platforms. Look for any articles, blogs, or videos that they have published, and get a sense of their background and expertise.

Next, consider the subject matter that will be discussed during the presentation or panel discussion. Do some background reading or research to familiarize yourself with the topic and any relevant industry trends or challenges.

Once you have done your research, create a list of questions that you would like to ask the presenter or panelists. Think about what you want to learn from the presentation or discussion, and what insights you hope to gain.

When considering the format of the event, whether it is virtual or in-person , think about how you can leverage social media and other apps to connect with the speakers and moderators. Follow the event hashtag on Twitter or LinkedIn, and engage with other attendees who are discussing the event. Use apps like LinkedIn or conference apps to connect with speakers or other attendees and continue the conversation after the event has ended.

By doing your research and creating a list of questions, you will be better equipped to engage with the presenters or panelists during the event. In the next section, we will explore the types of questions you should be asking presenters.

III. Questions to Ask Presenters

Asking good questions during a presentation can help you get a better understanding of the subject matter and the speaker's expertise. Here are some open-ended questions to consider:

• What inspired you to pursue this field, and how did you get started?
• What do you consider to be the biggest challenge facing your industry today?
• Can you share an example of a successful project you worked on, and what made it successful?
• How do you stay up to date with industry trends and developments?
• What are some common misconceptions about your industry or field?

In addition to asking open-ended questions , it is important to listen closely to the presenter's responses and ask follow-up questions that can help you clarify any points made during the presentation. For example, if the presenter mentions a specific tool or technique, you can ask how it works or how it has been used in real-world applications.

To create your own questions, think about your interests and goals , and how they relate to the subject matter being presented. Consider how the presenter's expertise can help you in your own work or career, and tailor your questions accordingly.

When asking questions during a presentation, it is important to be concise and respectful of the presenter's time. Make sure your questions are relevant to the topic at hand, and avoid asking questions that are too broad or vague. By asking good questions, you can stand out from the audience and make a lasting impression on the presenter.

In the next section, we will explore the types of questions you should be asking panelists during a panel discussion.

IV. Questions to Ask Panelists

Panel discussions offer a unique opportunity to hear from multiple perspectives on a particular topic. Here are some tips on how to prepare for a panel discussion and the types of questions to ask:

A. Preparing for a Panel Discussion

Before attending a panel discussion, research the panelists and the topics they will be discussing. Take notes on their backgrounds and areas of expertise, and consider how their perspectives may differ from your own. This can help you formulate questions that will be relevant and thought-provoking.

B. Questions for a Panel Discussion

Some questions that are relevant for a panel discussion include:

• What are your thoughts on the biggest challenge facing the industry or field today?
• How do you think technology is impacting the industry, and what opportunities and challenges does this present?
• Can you share an example of a successful collaboration or partnership within the industry, and what made it successful?
• How do you see the industry evolving in the next 5-10 years, and what trends do you think will drive this evolution?
• How do you balance competing priorities and demands within the industry, such as innovation versus risk management?

C. Follow-up Questions for a Panel Discussion

Follow-up questions can help you delve deeper into a particular topic or challenge a panelist's position. For example, if a panelist mentions a particular strategy or approach, you can ask how it has been used in practice, and what results have been achieved.

D. Creating Your Own Questions

Creating your own questions for a panel discussion can help you tailor your experience to your own interests and goals. Consider what questions you would like to ask each panelist based on their areas of expertise, and how their responses can help you in your own work or career.

By asking thoughtful and relevant questions during a panel discussion, you can gain valuable insights and perspectives, and demonstrate your engagement and interest in the topic.

V. Conclusion

In summary, asking questions during presentations, webinars , and panel discussions is an essential part of the learning and networking experience. By researching the subject matter, creating a list of questions, and following up with additional questions, you can gain valuable insights, deepen your understanding, and create a lasting impression.

Remember, the quality of your questions can impact the quality of the information and networking opportunities you receive. Asking open-ended and thought-provoking questions can help you stand out and create meaningful connections with the presenters and panelists.

So, start asking the right questions today! Whether you're attending a virtual event or an in-person panel discussion, take advantage of the opportunity to connect with subject matter experts, role models, and decision-makers in your field. With a little preparation and creativity, you can create a lasting impression and take away valuable insights and key takeaways from any event.

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6 questioning tactics to use in your next presentation that maximise audience engagement

The famous scientific philosopher Thomas Kuhn said, “the answers you get depend on the questions you ask,” so if you’re not getting the answers, or audience engagement you want, maybe it’s time to take a look at the questions you’re asking.

The art of asking the right questions helps you to gain deep insights, support informed decision making and develop effective solutions to any challenges or plug information gaps. You might ask questions for data collection, tests or research, but it’s important to note that the questions you ask can have a huge impact on the results you get.

When it comes to asking your audience questions with a view to increasing engagement, there's several questioning tactics and question styles you can use, and we’ve detailed some below.

Build rapport and warm up with Icebreakers

Icebreakers should be easy questions that don't require too much thinking capacity. They might not be important from an informational point of view, but they have an important function for engagement. Our brain is highly social and thrives on interaction.

By starting a formalised meeting with light-hearted questioning, dopamine is released which lights up the sense of reward in the brain, encouraging this positive behaviour. Using a live polling tool to ask your icebreaker ramps up the interaction and excitement, increasing audience engagement even further.

Kick things off with:  

• Who will win the match at the weekend?
• What is your favourite movie?
• How did you get here today?

Why not download our ready to use PowerPoint icebreakers to poll your audience with?

Ask open questions

Questioning, with a view to increasing engagement, becomes even more effective when you use open questions - especially good if you’re using a word cloud polling tool . Open questions prompt your audience to consider their personal opinions and beliefs in their response, bringing them closer to the subject matter and naturally increasing interest and audience engagement.

Get your audience to open up by asking:

• What has been your most memorable part of the day/session?
• What will you do differently as a result of this session?
• Describe your feelings about the proposed changes in one word... 

Try the 5 W's

Basic though they may be, asking questions that begin with one of the five ‘W's will almost guarantee you an answer that isn't too taxing for the audience to come up with, perfect if you’re looking for data. Combine one of the 'W's with one of these other techniques and you'll amplify the effectiveness.

Why not try...

• Who, do you find inspirational?
• What, is your biggest challenge?
• When, do you feel most productive?
• Where, should we hold the next event?
• Why do you think (this resource/product/book/technique) is so popular?

You don't need to get too deep and meaningful with your audience but prompting them to reflect can be a powerful engagement tool for both you and them. Often, we all spend so much time looking forward, that we can forget to take a look back to find lessons or inspiration to help us acknowledge, grow, progress and continue to engage.

Ask your audience to ponder on these...  

• What has held you back?
• Who has helped you the most with this project?
• What would you tell your younger self?
• How would you approach this differently now you have experience?

Make a statement, provoke a reaction

Rhetorical questions are often used by coaches or public speakers for effect, to get the audience thinking. Why do they work? Typically, rhetorical questions can be blunt or provocative, they can stop the audience in their tracks and prompt them to pay attention or re-engage if asked midway through a presentation or speech.

Rhetorical questions can also resonate strongly, as each audience member ponders the question in the context of their own reality, increasing the poignancy of the question.

How about asking...  

• Why does this even matter?
• How do we overcome this?
• What does this say about who we are?
• Where do we go next?

Democratic decision making 

We're huge fans of democracy (current politics aside) and nothing engages an audience more than the knowledge that their contribution affects the outcome. Whether you're hunting answers from your audience for the sake of data, to gauge opinion, or to actually make a real-life decision, the use of live-polling will get the crowds engaging.

Multi-choice polling is really effective and increases engagement by giving your audience a sense of autonomy over the decision at hand by providing them with the answers to choose between.   Poll the audience with…

• How often should we hold these sessions? Weekly, monthly, annually?
• Where should we go for our next social outing? Pub/restaurant, mini golf, bowling?
• How is the room temperature? Too hot, Too cold, Just right?

So, now you’ve got 6 question types to try out and engage with your next audience. As a last piece of advice, an engaged audience is a natural bi-product if the information you’re sharing is interesting, relevant and the audience can learn something from you, or about themselves.

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50+ Questions to Generate Audience Participation

When it comes to presentations, one of the most important things you can do is get your audience engaged and participating. This can be a challenge, but with the right questions, it can be easy!

In this post, we will provide you with over 50 different questions you can use in your next presentation. These questions are broken down into different types, so you can easily find the ones that will work best for your needs, as well as slide deck recs for each type of question.

Introduction Questions

Using questions in an introduction to a meeting or presentation sets the tone for the rest of your time together. These questions can also give the speaker an idea of the expectations and wants of those in the audience.

While asking some of these questions to a group can quickly devolve into side conversations or serve as distractions, picking one or two of them and having the group answer on their phones can provide real insight. We suggest using the Meeting Kickoff slide deck to quickly ask the questions, get the audience participating, and set the tone for the rest of the meeting.

1. Who here has ever been to a meeting where they were completely lost within the first five minutes?

2. How many of you have some knowledge about the topic we're discussing today?

3. What is something you're hoping to come away with after this presentation?

4. What are you tired of hearing about on this topic?

5. What motivates you most to learn about this topic?

6. What can I do to make this presentation valuable to you?

7. If you aren't here due to work obligations, would you still want to be here?

8. How do you prefer to consume information on this topic?

9. Do you prefer presentations/meetings in-person or virtually?

10. What would help you focus for the rest of this presentation?

Word Cloud Questions

Another fantastic way to gauge what your audience feels or thinks about certain topics (while keeping them engaged and entertained) is through the use of word clouds. Unlike open-ended questions, word clouds allow an audience to answer a prompt and give a visual representation to the group on which answer is the most prevalent.

Word clouds are an excellent way to draw a group back in mid-meeting and gauge the mindset of your audience. Slides with Friends has a fantastic Word Cloud Game you can put together in a few moments to boost the participation in your next presentation.

1. How are you feeling right now?

2. Who has had the biggest influence on your life?

3. What person in our industry has had the biggest impact on your career?

4. What's something you're worried about professionally today?

5. What's something you're excited about professionally today?

6. What's one of the best ideas our company/group has come up with?

7. How would you describe our last month in one word?

Ice Breaker Questions

If you’re hosting a meeting with a smaller group that’s already comfortable with each other, meeting icebreakers can loosen tongues and generate conversation. These questions are also a bit more fun, perfect for easing into a heavier presentation.

Use our Meeting Icebreaker slide deck to start your meetings with a little bit of sharing and laughter. Setting the tone at the beginning of your meeting will keep the audience engaged throughout.

1. What’s your favorite tradition or holiday?

2. What fictional world or place would you like to visit?

3. What is your favorite time of the day? Why?

4. What's one routine that has changed how you work?

5. What's something about the co-worker/person next to you that you appreciate?

6. What's your biggest non-work goal right now?

7. What's something you're willing to share that we don't know about you?

This or That Questions

With larger groups, it can be even more difficult to grab and keep everyone’s attention, much less get the group to participate. The key to using questions with larger audiences is to keep the answers simple and easy to share.

One of our favorite ways of keeping an audience engaged with questions is with this or that questions. Or, as we call them at Slides with Friends, tea vs coffee questions. Our slide deck Tea vs Coffee was created to make engaging with big groups easier, but still fun.

1. Coffee or tea?

2. Hot or cold climate?

3. Pager or fax machine?

4. Train or plane?

5. Staycation or vacation?

6. Netflix or Amazon Prime?

7. Mountains or beach?

8. Macs or PCs?

9. Beer or wine?

10. Work from home or in the office?

Discussion Questions

Sometimes to generate audience participation, you need to let them do the talking. This is the concept that inspired the discussion questions we’ve put together. What are things people want to talk about while still staying on topic? What can you ask to get the group involved and engaged without derailing the purpose of the gathering?

With the Brainstorming Session Template slide deck, you can present your questions to the group and either have them answer aloud or through their phones. The key here is taking a step back and letting them lead the conversation.

1. What is the best advice you've ever gotten about your career?

2. What was your first job? How has it influenced your career now?

3. How have you seen your industry change in the past 10 years?

4. What is your favorite thing about your job?

5. What is the hardest thing about your job?

6. What are some of the biggest challenges you see in your industry right now?

7. What's one thing you wish was more efficient about your job?

8. What small change can we make today that will shift how we work long-term?

Exit Questions

We’d all love to think every single one of our presentations was a slam dunk, but we know that’s not true. One way to finish up strong and with appreciated audience participation is to ask how you did.

Use the questions below in our Project Wrap Up slide deck to find out how you did and what you can change for the next time you meet. The best way to improve audience participation is to give the group what they want. These questions will help you figure out what that ‘want’ is.

1. What was your favorite part of the presentation?

2. What are you going to do with what you learned today?

3. Who is going to help you implement what you learned today?

4. When are you going to start using what you learned today?

5. What's your plan for continuing to learn about this topic?

6. How would you rate the overall quality of the presentation?

7. What could we have done better?

8. Was the pace too fast, too slow, or just right?

9. Did you feel like you learned something new?

Silly Questions

And finally, just for the fun of it, here are a few of our favorite silly questions to ask the crew at your next Happy Hour Hang . Sure, these questions might devolve into laughter, but that still counts as participation!

1. How would you describe your job to a preschooler?

2. What would your entrance song be if you were coming out on stage?

3. What place in time do you think you'd fit in the most?

4. What do you think is the most overrated show or movie right now?

5. What fictional team (X-Men, Avengers, Justice League) is the best?

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50 Smart and Insightful Questions to Ask Your Manager

By Status.net Editorial Team on January 17, 2024 — 8 minutes to read

One of the most pivotal relationships in any workplace is the one you share with your manager. It’s a dynamic that can significantly influence your job satisfaction, career progression, and day-to-day motivation. But what do you talk about beyond deadlines and project updates? This article will provide you with a curated list of thought-provoking questions designed to deepen your understanding of your role, align your goals with those of your manager, and unlock opportunities for personal and professional growth.

Related: Smart and Insightful Questions to Ask Your CEO

Top Questions to Navigate Team Challenges and Career Growth

“what’s the biggest challenge our team is facing, and how can i contribute to overcoming it”.

Understanding your team’s challenges can help you identify areas where your support may be valuable. This question demonstrates your commitment to the team’s success and your willingness to contribute to finding solutions. Your manager may offer insights into current obstacles and share ideas on how to address them. Take the time to listen carefully and understand their perspective.

“Can you share your insights on how to advance within the company?”

Your manager likely has firsthand experience in moving up within the company. Asking for their insights will not only show your ambition but also your sincerity in learning from them. They can provide valuable advice and guidance on the skills you need to develop, internal opportunities to seize, and ways to showcase your talents within the organization.

“In light of the recent reorganization, how do you foresee our team’s direction changing?”

Reorganizations within a company can significantly impact team dynamics, goals, and priorities. Asking this question shows that you’re staying aware of the bigger picture and looking to understand how changes may affect your team. Your manager can provide insight into new expectations and strategies and how you can adapt in your role.

“Could you offer feedback on my recent performance and how I can align better with the team’s goals?”

Receiving feedback helps improve your skills and performance and aligns you better with your team’s objectives. This question shows that you’re open to constructive criticism and committed to self-development. Give your manager the opportunity to share their thoughts on your strengths and areas where you could improve.

“How do you stay informed and make decisions about company-wide changes?”

By asking this question, you’re showing an interest in your manager’s decision-making process and the sources they rely on to stay informed. You may learn about useful resources or strategies to stay updated on company-wide changes, and their response can provide insight into the factors that influence their decisions.

“What do you enjoy most about managing our team, and how can we make the dynamic even better?”

This question helps you better understand your manager’s motivations and values when it comes to managing your team. You can potentially uncover areas of improvement and show that you care about your team’s well-being and progress. Your manager’s response can reveal what they appreciate most within the group, and you can work to build on those strengths or contribute in new ways to support a positive team dynamic.

Getting to Know Your Manager

Personal leadership philosophy.

Getting to know your manager’s personal leadership philosophy can help you better understand their mindset and approach to managing their team. Consider asking them these insightful questions:

• What are your core values as a leader?
• How do your values impact your decision-making process?
• How do you define success for yourself and your team?
• In what ways do you encourage employee growth and development?

Career Trajectory and Experiences

Understanding your manager’s career path and experiences can provide you with valuable insights into their leadership style. You can ask about:

• Their most rewarding experiences throughout their career.
• Any lessons they’ve learned from previous positions or teams.
• The transitions they’ve encountered and how they navigated them.
• Milestones or accomplishments that have shaped their leadership style.

Management Style and Expectations

Each manager will have unique expectations and a distinct management style. Gaining insights into this can enable you to align your work with their expectations. Some questions you could ask are:

• How would you describe your management style?
• What are your top priorities as a manager?
• How do you prefer to communicate with your team?
• What kind of work environment are you aiming to create?

Understanding Team Dynamics

Team building and collaboration.

By getting insights into the culture and collaboration practices, you’ll be better equipped to be a part of the team and contribute effectively:

• How do you encourage collaboration among team members?
• What kind of team-building activities do we have in place to foster teamwork?
• Are there any specific collaboration tools we use to enhance communication and coordination within the team?

Conflict Resolution Strategies

It’s normal for teams to experience conflicts, and it’s important to know how they are managed. Ask your manager about conflict resolution strategies and practices with these questions:

• How do you handle conflicts among team members?
• Are there any formal processes in place for addressing disagreements or issues within the team?
• Can you share an example where a team conflict was resolved successfully?

Understanding your manager’s approach to conflict resolution will help you navigate any disagreements that may arise and foster a healthier team dynamic.

Navigating Company Goals

Aligning with the company’s vision.

Asking your manager about the company’s vision is a great way to ensure you stay on track and prioritize the right tasks. A few discussion points could be:

• How would you describe the company’s vision in your own words?
• What steps can I take to align my work with that vision?

Opening this conversation helps you understand the bigger picture and make decisions in your day-to-day work that contribute to the overall direction of the company.

Contribution to Business Strategy

It’s important to understand your team’s role in the grand scheme of things and how your work contributes to the company’s strategy and growth. Here are a few questions to ask your manager to gain a clear understanding:

• How does our team’s work tie into the company’s overall strategy?
• Can you provide specific examples of how my role is adding value within the business world?

Developing Professional Skills

Opportunities for growth and learning.

An excellent way to approach this topic with your manager is to ask the following questions:

• What opportunities are available for growth and learning within the company?
• Which skills should I focus on to increase my value within the team?
• Are there specific courses or training programs that you recommend for my role?

Feedback and Performance Metrics

Regular feedback is crucial for your professional development, and understanding the metrics used to measure your performance can help you enhance your productivity. Some insightful questions to ask your manager about feedback and performance metrics include:

• How am I currently performing in my role based on the key performance indicators (KPIs)?
• What areas can I improve on to reach my potential within the team?
• How can we work together to set realistic goals and track my progress?
• What is the best way to request feedback on my work and ensure I am meeting expectations?

Adopting New Technologies

Consider asking the following questions to ensure you’re on the same page:

• How do you decide which new technologies to adopt?
• Can you share any recent examples of successful technology adoption in our team?
• What challenges have we faced in adopting new technology, and how have they been addressed?
• Are there any upcoming technology trends that you believe would benefit our team?
• How can team members stay informed about new technologies relevant to our work?

Maximizing Team Output

Efficiency in workflows and processes.

You can ask your manager the following questions in a friendly manner:

• What are the existing workflows in our team and how can we optimize them?
• Are there any steps in our processes that can be automated or streamlined?
• How can we enhance collaboration within our team members?

Tools and Resources for Productivity

By asking insightful questions about available resources and tools, you can ensure your team works smarter, not harder. You can ask your manager questions like:

• What tools do you recommend for improving our team’s productivity, and why?
• Are there any resources or training materials available for us to learn more about these tools?
• Can we allocate time or budget for testing and implementing new productivity tools?

Securing Information and Privacy

Addressing data security concerns.

Discussing these points shows that you take the security of the company’s information seriously and are eager to contribute toward its protection:

• How can we ensure that our team’s data is secure?
• What measures should we adopt to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive information?
• Are there any specific tools or software the company recommends for enhancing data protection?
• How can we stay updated on the latest security threats and best practices in the industry?

Policy on Privacy and Data Handling

• What is the company’s policy on handling sensitive information? Are there specific guidelines we must follow?
• How can we ensure that our team adheres to privacy regulations?
• Which data management tools do we use, and how can we use them effectively to protect sensitive information?

Integrating Client Feedback

Improving user experience.

When discussing client feedback with your manager, you can ask:

• How are we currently collecting and analyzing client feedback?
• Can you share specific examples of how client feedback has shaped our product or service?
• What areas have clients consistently mentioned as needing improvement?

Leveraging Client Insights for Service Quality

To understand how your team can leverage client insights to improve service quality, consider these questions:

• What are the most valuable pieces of client feedback we’ve received?
• Have we identified patterns or trends in client feedback?
• How can we use client feedback to enhance our services or identify new offerings?

Maintaining an open line of communication with your manager is not just about staying on top of your daily tasks; it’s about actively participating in the growth and direction of your team, as well as carving out a clear path for your own career development.

• 26 Examples of Smart Questions to Ask in an Interview
• One-on-One Meeting: 62 Insightful Questions to Ask Your Manager
• 70 Smart and Insightful Questions to Ask Your CEO
• 10 Smart Second Interview Questions to Ask Candidates
• 6 Smart Questions To Ask in an Informational Interview
• 20 Smart Questions to Ask Leaders

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Designing Slides That Don’t Suck: 20 questions to ask before you present

When I first started at MarketingSherpa, I was hired under the title of “Visual Storyteller.” Although that title is ambiguous, I learned that I was hired to address a pain point that many professionals face: using PowerPoint efficiently.

My title has since changed, but I remain an advocate for fluent visual expression in the same way that editors are keen on using words efficiently.

As part of my position, I’ve consulted with many speakers over the past few years on creating effective presentations.

Time and time again, I find that confusion lies in how to treat PowerPoint. Many think of PowerPoint as a presentation buddy — that content is on the slides and coming out of the speaker’s mouth and bullet points are simply needed to reinforce the speaker’s message.

This is not true. A person can only process about 1.6 conversations at a time. He can choose to either listen to you or read your slides. The other .6 gets split between emails, texts and interior monologue, to name just a few other channels.

The dictators of any presentation include: audience, context, purpose and design.

About your audience

A speakers’ first priority when beginning to draft their presentation is their audience.

The purpose of speaking is to serve the listeners, not your own ego. Consider whether or not PowerPoint is the right way to get your message across, if it helps to convey your message or if it only dilutes it.

Consider these questions when framing your slides:

• Who is my audience?
• Why should they listen to me?
• How much information do they need?
• Do I need to establish credibility for myself or my argument?

The context

Like knowing your audience, contextualizing your deck is vital to the life of your presentation. Don’t use the exact same deck for an audience of 15,000 that you would for an audience of 12. Personalizing and adapting to your audience breaks down the barrier between the stage and the seats.

Consider, for example, a presentation on health and nutrition. The same speaker would present information differently to a group of medical students than a group of kindergartners. The content would be similar and the principles the same, but the language and structure would vary greatly.

Many speakers also struggle with the amount of text to put on the slides.

For live events, much of my time is spent slashing text from slides, adding beautiful imagery and eliminating animations. However, on academic presentations, training and webinars, text is important to reinforce the message since the speaker is teaching from the slides rather than presenting a story.

After establishing the audience, ask yourself these questions about the context:

• How large is the audience?
• Am I asking for a high-pressure item, such as funding?
• Is this strictly informative?
• Is this a live presentation, a recording, a webinar or slides-only (like SlideShare)?

Your overall goal and purpose

The content of your slides should be determined by the goal of your presentation. They usually fall into educational, persuasive, storytelling or paradigm-shifting.

With any of these types of presentations, ask yourself these questions when deciding the framework of your presentations — from structure to individual slides:

• How do you want the audience’s behavior to change after the presentation?
• What is the big ah-ha?
• Why should the audience be passionate about your topic?
• How can you best convey the urgency of your message?

Bullet points can make your content fall flat.

Instead, use visuals to support your presentation.

Strategizing design

I am a snob when it comes to PowerPoint design. However, design is secondary to messaging. There have been pretty decks that should have never been presented because the content wasn’t there.

Having great content and messaging is more important than how it looks. That being said, good design lends credibility and quality to your presentation or speech that would otherwise seem lackluster and amateurish.

Like in biology, design speaks to the form and function of a presentation.

To help you draft the images on your deck, close your eyes and recite the content. What do you see? If you see clip art, stock photos or endless bullet points — try again. Look for more sophisticated inspiration on Pinterest, Flickr or SlideShare.

Here are some guidelines to help you determine if your slide design is helpful or detrimental:

• Do the visuals convey your message?
• Are you just trying to fill blank space with your images?
• Could the images or text stand alone and still make sense?
• Do you need the text, or could you speak to what you’re saying?
• Experiment with blank slides and whitespace to catch your audience’s attention.

Building out effective presentations takes practice, not talent. It’s a learned skill that develops over time. Creating something new and finding powerful images that reflect your speech helps to build rapport with your audience and adds a polish to your message.

I encourage you to practice — learn what works, throw out what doesn’t and create really ugly design mistakes in search of something beautiful and unique.

Save this checklist or share it with others.

Also, tell me your presentation secrets in the comments section below, and share what works for you.

You can follow Jessica Lorenz, Event Content Manager, MECLABS Institute, on Twitter at @JessicaPLorenz .

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Categories: Copywriting Tags: content , design , PowerPoint , presentation , storytelling , visual

the slide above is horrendous … how about showing a slide that is good and follows best practices. what am I missing? this was not at all helpful.

@Loren McDonald Hi Loren,

Thanks for your comment, I’ve made a couple of edits on the blog to address your points. I’ve added a caption below the checklist so that it’s clear that it’s not supposed to be a slide — yikes! You’re right that would have been terrible to present with.

I also added an example of a good and bad example — I think that was super helpful feedback and I think it adds a lot of value.

– Jessica

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Top Questions Buyers Should Ask during Management Meetings When Acquiring a Company

As anyone who has ever done it before will tell you, buying a company is a process. It can take anywhere from a few months to a couple of years to complete. To reduce uncertainties and understand the business as much as possible, buyers must conduct thorough due diligence and ask the right questions. Finances, potential synergy, liabilities, customer relationships, and key employees are just a few areas that the buyer should consider.

Here are five essential questions buyers should ask during management meetings when acquiring a company.

1. Why is now the best time for you to sell your business?

• There can be a variety of reasons why a business is started. Someone may believe they can improve a process or make a product cheaper. Or they may have just wanted to escape the 9-to-5.
• Regardless of why a business is started, it is essential to understand why the owner(s) is now ready to sell. Age and/or desire to retire are frequently cited reasons for a sale. The owner may be having difficulty with making the financials work and needs a capital infusion or believes he can’t take the business to the next level on his own.
• Sometimes the business is family-owned in which the current owner grew up, but they are not as passionate about the line of work as the founders. (Alternatively, family-owned businesses could have multiple family members who don't get along and want to get rid of it.)

The question behind the question: “Is this a good company to buy?”

2. Which employees are bringing in revenue and which have established relationships with the key customers of the business?

Is it the owner, someone from the management team, or someone else?  Are there strong non-compete/non-solicitation agreements in place should these people leave?

It will be critical to know the answers to these and other questions relating to the major customers of a business. A large part of a company’s value is its customers. Ensuring the customers are retained through and beyond an ownership transition should be one of the number one things a buyer should focus on.

If the owner has critical customer relationships, buyers should consider including an earn-out component to the offer that pays over several years based on meeting specific mutually-agreed performance targets.

The question behind the question: “Are the key customers going to leave when the owner sells?”

3. Who are the key employees? Are they committed to staying with the company after a sale is completed?

Most business owners we represent are extremely proud of what they've built. Generally, the owners are concerned with what becomes of the company and its people after it is sold.   Often one or more of the owners will be interested in remaining with the company after the transition period. This can be a good sign that the business is worth the investment.

In any business, some employees will be more key to its success than others. Identifying and utilizing those key people will help facilitate a smoother ownership transfer. These individuals, often in leadership roles, can have long-term relationships with the firm’s customers/suppliers and be well-respected within the company. Other employees will frequently take their clues on how to react to a company’s sale from these people.

Building relationships with these key employees who have operational and institutional knowledge of the company is an essential aspect of buying a business. A common practice for sellers to help ease potential buyers' concerns is to pay a bonus to key employees if they stay for a certain amount of time after a sale.

The question behind the question: “Will the people who made this company successful still be here in a year?”

4. Why do your customers prefer you rather than others?

Customers come to expect a certain level of service or value in the price they pay. It will be up to the buyer to meet or exceed those expectations after a sale is completed or risk losing those customers. Buyers should also carefully read customer terms/contracts to determine if they can legally fulfill agreements already in place.

Does this business compete on price? Has it grown due to its personal relationships? How does this business differentiate itself from other companies in the marketplace? What marketing efforts have been most effective in growing the business?

These and other questions will paint a better picture for the buyer on retaining the key customers after a sale.

The question behind the question: “What are the competitive advantages?”

5. If you were in my position, what would be your top concerns with purchasing this business?

This may reveal hidden concerns of the owner and/or management down the road. It could be that the seller has a significant amount of older equipment that must be replaced in the next few years, or there have been low investments in raw materials. Pending or potential litigation could also be cause for alarm.

No business is without risk. Although there are possible upsides to risk, the possible downsides should be considered too. In an acquisition where potentially millions of dollars and future legal responsibilities are exchanging hands, buyers should enter negotiations with both eyes open to understand the asset or assets they are buying as much as possible on the front end.

Even if the seller does not reveal any deal-breakers, it may provide a glimpse of how forward-thinking the company is regarding how it anticipates external threats to the organization.

The question behind the question: “Are there any potential economic and/or legal landmines on the horizon that should be avoided?”

Buyers should attempt to dig in on their responses, so they understand what is truly motivating the seller. If the seller is presenting the company as being successful, why are they selling it? Does the owner give any red flags in their answers? Will this company operate successfully without the seller in place? Does the owner have concerns about the future viability of the company or industry?

Buyers will never eliminate all the risks associated with acquiring a company (and that shouldn't be the goal), but by asking the right questions and understanding what the answers they receive could mean, they can reach a comfort level in completing their due diligence so that an informed decision can be made.

Benchmark International Buyer Profiles

Want to be the first to know when new opportunities come to market that fit your acquisition criteria? Create a buyer profile [ https://www.benchmarkintl.com/buyers/resources ] today. While you're there, be sure to check out all the resources we've created specifically for buyers, including opportunities, on-demand webinars, buyer events, and our latest edition of The Mark magazine.

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Europe:  Michael Lawrie at +44 (0) 161 359 4400 /   [email protected]

Africa : Anthony McCardle at +27 21 300 2055 /   [email protected]  

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• 27 Supervisor Interview...

27 Supervisor Interview Questions (and Great Answers)

15 min read · Updated on October 23, 2023

From employee to supervisor – a major career milestone

Before you can take charge in a new supervisor role, you have to get through the interview - and the best way to prepare for your upcoming supervisor interview is to practice answering these 27 supervisor interview questions. We've prepared some great, job-winning answers that you can use as inspiration and tweak with your own career experience. 

The role of a supervisor

As you can expect, with such a major career transition comes a whole host of new responsibilities. As a supervisor, you'll play a pivotal role in making sure your team works the way they're supposed to and that company goals are met. You may find yourself wearing a lot of hats, including planner, motivator, communicator , and problem solver. This is especially true considering that you're the bridge that closes the gap between upper management and staff. 

Get ready for your interview

Before you can walk into the interview room, you have to prepare yourself. The interviewer will be on the lookout for key information that proves you have the knowledge and experience to succeed, but they'll also be watching for your ability to present yourself confidently and professionally. Here are a few things you need to do in advance of your supervisor interview:

Research the company to get to know about its culture and values

Reflect on your strengths and weaknesses

Get your opening statement ready

Practice your responses to boost your confidence

Develop some strategies, like taking deep breaths and positive affirmations, to handle the stress and calm your nerves

Participate in some mock interviews to get some feedback on your presentation

Check your body language – eye contact, firm handshake, and projecting confidence

27 Supervisor Interview Questions and Answers

Now that we've covered what to do before you step inside the interview room, it's time to dive into some sample interview questions for a supervisor role. 

Behavioral questions

Behavioral interview questions are the ones where the interviewer wants you to “tell me about a time when….” These are the open-ended questions that you can to use the STAR method to answer.

1. Describe a situation where you had to resolve a conflict among team members

“At ABC Company, I worked in a team of 10 people and three of them were constantly having conflicts. I sat down with them individually to find out what was going on and then had a group meeting to discuss company values and policies. In that group meeting, we hashed out some compromises that put the problems the three were having to bed. It was great because getting them to work together again without all the hostility improved the morale of the entire team.”

2. How do you handle underperforming employees, and can you provide an example?

“Of course, the first step is to find out why they are underperforming. It does no good to reprimand and threaten someone for underperforming if the root of the problem isn't fixed. While I'm not a Psychologist, I would try to help the employee to find a centered, more balanced approach to doing the work. Outside of that, I've found that setting clear goals and even providing additional training have helped a lot.”

3. Share an experience when you successfully implemented a new process or procedure

“When I worked at XYZ Corp, there were a lot of manual processes – from taking customer orders to purchasing. It was a pen-and-paper type of environment. I did some research and found an ERP system that allowed us to automate a lot of those processes. Team morale sky-rocketed, because jobs became easier, and we saved about $10K a month because purchasing was more accurate.”

4. Give an example of how you've motivated your team to achieve a specific goal

“Once we had that ERP system in place at XYZ Corp, I wanted to help the team get used to using it. So, I implemented a little friendly competition. Basically, whoever used the system the most, and did so with the fewest errors, would win a half day off work. This forced everyone to take the time to learn the system - some even did research about it on their own time.” 

5. Discuss a time when you had to make a tough decision under pressure

“Early in my career, there was an equipment failure that almost stopped production in its tracks. Of course, that would've meant major revenue loss. I got the team together to discuss the resources everyone had, based on their role in production, so I could figure out how to reallocate very limited funds to get the problem fixed without sacrificing safety or further damage to the machinery. The team and I came up with some temporary fixes while we waited for the repairs to be completed, which meant we were able to keep up with customer demand and minimize losses. The quick decisions I made got everything back up and running three days in advance of the deadline set by leadership.”

Leadership and management questions

Of course, you can expect that there will be some role-specific supervisor interview questions where the hiring manager wants to make sure that you know what will be required of you.

6. What is your leadership style, and how does it benefit your team?

“I've learned that the transformational leadership style serves me well. In the past, I've found that leading by example and building open relationships with staff has inspired them to strive for excellence. They want to know that they're being asked to do something that leadership does, too. It's also been a great way to inspire innovation, which leads to employees feeling a sense of ownership in the work they perform. This has, of course, had a profound impact on productivity and team morale.”

7. How do you handle a demanding boss or difficult situations with higher management?

“Through open communication, respect, and delicacy. A lot of it comes down to having well-researched and articulated solutions to issues that are causing the boss to be demanding. I analyze the situation and provide data and evidence to support any recommendations I make. I also take the time to highlight my team's achievements and contributions, so that higher management can feel assured that they're making the right decisions to remedy whatever is causing them to be demanding.”

8. What is the biggest responsibility of a supervisor regarding safety?

“It all comes down to the culture I create with my staff, so that they understand how important things like safety training and protocols are to maintaining safety. While I maintain the final decision on what constitutes a safe environment, I allow them to have some input on what they can do to make things safer. This gives them ownership and they're more likely to follow procedures.”

9. Differentiate between the roles of a supervisor and a manager

“As a supervisor, I understand that I'll have the duty of overseeing daily activities. I know I have to offer guidance and support to ensure that what needs to be done gets done. On the other hand, the managers are the ones who make the long-term plans and upper-level decisions that affect the broader aspects of achieving company goals.”

10. Provide an example of how you've fostered a culture of continuous improvement in the past and how productivity or efficiency was affected

“When I worked at XYZ Inc., our project team was running into a lot of bottlenecks in the project delivery process. So, I held a team meeting and encouraged them to challenge the status quo by brainstorming solutions. While some tried to adopt the this-is-the-way-we've-always-done-it mentality, others came up with ideas to streamline processes. We ended up adopting new software that automated some of the steps. The team members who helped to brainstorm the idea had an infectious attitude toward embracing the change, that brought the status quo folks over to the new way of doing things. In the end, we increased productivity by around 40%.”

Self-development questions

Continuous development is a big deal in today's work world. These questions will tell the interviewer if you're committed to the role and where you stand on keeping up with the times, going with the flow, and adapting to change.

11. How do you continuously improve your supervisory skills?

“I firmly believe in learning something new every day. It's the only way to keep up with the rapid changes occurring in this industry. I attend workshops and seminars and subscribe to industry newsletters. I keep in touch with people in my network, too. That's ultimately been my best source of new information.” 

12. What qualities do you believe an ideal supervisor should possess?

“The best supervisor leads by example. I don't feel it's right to ask someone else to do something I'm not willing to do myself. On top of that, fairness and empathy are also critical to building strong team morale. When the people who report to you feel like you're on their side, they're willing to work harder and are better at adapting to any changes that come down the pipeline.”

13. What makes you a good fit for the supervisor position?

“I have a history of motivating and guiding teams. In my previous roles, I received numerous accolades for the positive work environments I built. Those environments fostered a culture of innovation through strategic planning and open communication that facilitated future-facing problem-solving. I can certainly repeat that here.”

14. How do you handle stress, and what strategies do you use to stay calm under pressure?

“Mostly through deep breathing exercises. I know that most stress comes from within, so I take a moment to center myself before tackling major projects or problems. Once I find my zen, I approach situations with strategy – find out what's going on, brainstorm ways to fix the problem, and communicate the steps to my team. I've found that my ability to practice mindfulness has helped my team members to reduce their stress, too.”

15. What's your greatest weakness, and how do you manage it to be an effective supervisor?

“I have a tendency to be overly critical of myself. It's part of the reason that I've developed calming strategies and analytical tactics that help me to get through issues that come up. When I first realized I was too critical of myself, I sought out constructive feedback from peers and learned to set realistic expectations. This way, I shifted my focus to self-improvement and away from perceived shortcomings .”

16. Discuss your strengths as a supervisor

“I am really good at motivating my team. In fact, I've been able to guide lackadaisical staff members, who were only at work to collect a paycheck, to a place where they had a stronger sense of ownership in their role. This strength comes into play through my ability to set clearly defined goals and a vision for higher standards. I also encourage open communication and transparency that promotes a positive work culture .”

17. How has your supervision style changed over time?

“When I first started as a supervisor, I focused a lot on managing tasks. I learned that the best way to do that was to have a properly motivated team. Now, I place greater emphasis on open communication, feedback, and inclusion. This has allowed my teams to blossom into cohesive groups of people who take pride in their work and achieve objectives through collaboration.”

Personal questions

You can't do a job well unless you're passionate about it. Personal supervisor interview questions will take you on a journey through what makes you want the role. 

18. Why do you aspire to be a supervisor and what drives your interest in this role?

“I believe that a good supervisor is also a mentor and I am genuinely passionate about making a positive impact on the members of my team and the company as a whole. I love watching team members grow in their roles and, when I get to be a part of that by guiding them and inspiring them to be the best versions of themselves, I get a feeling of immense satisfaction.”

19. What are the three essential qualities of a supervisor and how do you exemplify them?

“It's simple, really. A good supervisor needs to know how to communicate effectively, they should be adaptable, and they should be able to motivate a team. The transformational leadership style that I've adopted during my career allows me to encourage innovation and provide opportunities for growth, which leads to team members feeling valued. That in and of itself increases productivity.” 

20. How do you make a strong impression as a supervisor?

“I can give you a one-word answer for this question – enthusiasm. I've found that enthusiasm is highly contagious. So, when I meet new team members, I make sure that they get a sense that I'm passionate about being their supervisor and welcome the opportunity to take them under my wing to help them grow professionally and personally.”

21. What are your salary requirements?

“While compensation is important, I'm more focused on aligning my skills with the requirements of the role. With that said, the research I've performed indicates that people with my skills and achievements earn $X per year. Online reviews indicated that your company offers a range of $Y-$Z for this position, is that right?”

Handling challenging scenarios

Can you handle stress ? Of course you can! Here are some pretty tough supervisor interview questions that you'll need to be ready to answer to prove it to the hiring manager.

22. What is your strategy for resolving issues with employees who resist change?

“By understanding that change can actually be scary for some people. The best course of action is to find out what's making the person resist the change. This involves open and empathetic communication to understand their concerns. After that, I give data-backed reasons for the change and talk about the benefits. If they need extra training to support their transition, then I make that available to them, too.”

23. How do you ensure effective communication within your team?

“When I worked at ABC Company, I started using Slack for digital collaboration. It was a great tool that allowed team members to engage in open communication – whether they were in the office or not – and gave me the opportunity to keep up with the status of ongoing projects. It ended up improving efficiency, because there were fewer emails to dig through and people could get answers to questions more quickly.”

24. What is your approach to performance evaluations and feedback?

“I believe feedback should be frequent and specific. Evaluations that are only done once per year are often seen as a chore for supervisors but, when you engage in regular feedback, problems are addressed quicker and staff members learn what they're doing right as projects progress. More frequent feedback also encourages accountability. When team members know that reviews are coming more often than annually, they tend to be more productive.”

25. How do you motivate underperforming team members?

“The most impactful method I've used to increase motivation is friendly competitions. I've also used brag boards that allow team members to gain recognition for work well done. No matter which method I use, though, I make sure that it's constructive because the overall goal is to improve confidence. When their confidence increases, their ability to perform goes up, too.”

26. How do you onboard new staff members?

“I have a very structured approach to welcoming new staff members to my team. It starts with introductions and an overview of expectations. I show how those expectations are aligned with company values and goals and make sure they have the tools they need to excel in their role. When I was at XYZ Inc., I created a mentorship program. It was highly successful, because it helped team members get to know each other and it shortened the learning curve for new staff. Plus, they felt supported and were ready to contribute from day one.”

27. Have you ever had to fire an employee?

“Yes, I've had to make the tough decision to let a staff member go. It wasn't an easy task, but I've learned that it's sometimes necessary, especially as it relates to the well-being of the team and the organization. I made sure to maintain a high level of empathy and respect, while following the company's established procedures. I also provided clear reasons for the termination and offered support to the team during the transition. At the end of the day, I was able to maintain a positive work environment and ensured that the team understood the importance of accountability and performance.”

Passionate about leadership

When you're passionate about being a good supervisor, your answers to supervisor questions will come easily. Especially if you remember that the focus should be on building relationships with team members, meeting company expectations and communicating effectively. 

Do you know how to articulate your leadership skills to answer supervisor interview questions? TopInterview can help you out and even run some mock interviews with you. 

Recommended reading:

How to Interview for a Management Position Without Experience

How to Prepare for a Promotion Interview

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When Asking Too Many Questions Undermines Your Leadership

• Luis Velasquez

Tips for balancing a learning mindset with confidence and decisiveness.

Although it’s widely accepted that good leaders are good learners, a learning mentality can also have a darker side. If not carefully managed, it might lead to a perception of decreased effectiveness, less expertise, and lower efficiency. Your learning mentality should be the catalyst for your personal growth and development — not a reason for others to question your leadership. For your inquisitiveness to be viewed as an asset, it should be perceived not just as mere learning, but as a way to gather knowledge, add value, communicate effectively, and make decisions quickly. The author offers five strategies to ensure your stakeholders’ perception of you aligns with your intentions.

Paul, a high-level executive in a technology company, former university professor, and expert in his field, attended a prestigious trade conference. Paul prides himself on having a learning mindset and felt at home surrounded by leading industry experts. He was eagerly engaged, asking questions about the latest trends and technologies to broaden his understanding and take in the expertise around him.

• Luis Velasquez , MBA, PhD, is an executive coach who works with senior leaders and their teams to become more cohesive, effective, and resilient. He is the author of Ordinary Resilience: Rethinking How Effective Leaders Adapt and Thrive and the founder and managing partner of Velas Coaching LLC . He is also a leadership facilitator at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and a former university professor and research scientist. Connect with him on LinkedIn .

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Equip students to ask right questions rather than promoting rote learning, teachers told

Published - August 03, 2024 05:47 pm IST - TIRUCHI

A student receives her degree at the convocation of the University Colleges of Engineering, Anna University, Chennai (BIT Campus-Tiruchi, Ariyalur, Pattukottai and Thirukkuvalai) on Saturday. | Photo Credit: R. Selva Muthu Kumar

The education system needs to teach students to ask the right questions rather than repeat answers in a uniform format in exams, in order for them to deal with real life situation, V. Thiruppugazh, Advisor, National Disaster Management Authority, said on Saturday.

In his graduation address at the convocation ceremony of the University Colleges of Engineering, Anna University, Chennai (BIT Campus-Tiruchi, Ariyalur, Pattukottai and Thirukkuvalai), Mr. Thiruppugazh said: “Students today are burdened with a heavy syllabus. The subjects I studied in college has become school subjects. Our education system is focusing on making children learn answers, that should all be the same in exams; but we do not ask students to ask the right type of questions. The pedagogy should change, because it will not help students in real life.”

The retired civil servant urged students to become self-reliant. “Graduation does not mean the end of examinations. At every step of building a career, one will have to write many more tests and face challenges in order to progress,” he said. He advised parents to desist from imposing their unrealised goals on their children.

A total of 1,085 students from the batch of the academic year 2022-23 received their degrees at Saturday’s ceremony, held in the convocation hall of Bharathidasan University.

Two State top rank holders V. Pravin (BE Civil Engineering, Tamil Medium) and B.J. Carolin Lincy (B.Tech Pharmaceutical Engineering) were honoured with mementos.

R. Velraj, Vice-Chancellor of Anna University, Chennai, was present.

T. Senthilkumar, professor and dean, University College of Engineering, BIT Campus-Tiruchi, presented the annual report.

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Tiruchi / education / university

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District 12 Updates! Neighborhood Meeting and Community Cookout!

Neighborhood meeting on the völker development proposal & deon’s live bait license renewal, monday, august 5, 2024.

A neighborhood meeting to hear more about the Völker Development proposal is scheduled for Monday, August 5, 2024, at 6pm in the Bloom Bake Shop space at Northstreet, 557 North Street. After the development team’s presentation, you will have the opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback.

Background: Völker Development proposes to redevelop the properties located at 2430, 2434 & 2450 E. Washington Avenue, and 10 & 16 N. 7th Street. The existing structures would be demolished, and a new, five-story multifamily building would be constructed. The new building would be comprised of one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Surface parking plans include 76 automobile stalls and 84 bike stalls. The proposal is a Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) affordable housing project.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Madison Petroleum LLC, owner of Deon’s Live Bait and Minnows located at 2301 Commercial Avenue, was unable to submit their Class A Beer License renewal paperwork by the deadline. As a result, they have now applied for a new Class A Beer Li-cense so they may continue selling beer at the convenience store. If you’d like to hear more about the license application, or if you have questions or feedback to share, there will be an opportunity to do so at the Monday, August 5, 2024, neighborhood meeting about Völker Development proposal to redevelop the properties located at 2430, 2434 & 2450 E. Washington Avenue, and 10 & 16 N. 7th Street. The neighborhood meeting is scheduled for 6pm in the Bloom Bake Shop space at Northstreet, 557 North Street.

For questions, contact Amani Latimer Burris, Alder, District 12 at [email protected] or 608-345-8747.

You're Invited to the MOM's Community Cookout! 

Public Health Madison & Dane County and Moms on a Mission (MOMs) collaborate to bring you a community cookout! Join us on Sunday, August 4, from 1-5 p.m. at Demetral Park. 

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