Would you mind sharing a difficult piece of feedback you received and how you handled it?

Question Analysis

This question is designed to assess your ability to handle criticism or feedback constructively. Employers want to see that you can accept feedback, learn from it, and use it to improve your performance. It's important to demonstrate self-awareness, resilience, and a proactive approach to personal development. The STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) will help structure your response effectively.

Answer

Situation: In my previous role as a project manager, I received feedback from my team lead during a performance review. He noted that while I was meeting project deadlines, my communication with the team needed improvement, as some team members felt they were not kept in the loop on key decisions.

Task: My task was to address this feedback to improve team communication and ensure everyone felt included and informed throughout the project lifecycle.

Action: To tackle this, I implemented a few changes. First, I scheduled regular weekly meetings to provide updates and gather input from the team. I also started sending out summarized emails after each meeting to document key decisions and action items. Additionally, I encouraged team members to reach out to me anytime they had questions or needed clarification.

Result: As a result of these changes, I observed a noticeable improvement in team collaboration and morale. The team expressed appreciation for the increased transparency and felt more engaged in the project's progress. In the following performance review, my team lead acknowledged the positive change in communication, which contributed to the project’s overall success.

By sharing this experience, I demonstrated my ability to accept constructive feedback and take actionable steps to improve, ultimately benefiting the team and project outcomes.