Tell me about a time when you made an unpopular decision

Question Analysis

This question is designed to assess your decision-making skills, leadership, and ability to handle situations where your choices may not be well-received by others. The interviewer is looking to understand how you manage resistance, your reasoning process, and the outcome of your decision. It's important to highlight your ability to stand by your decisions and demonstrate how you effectively communicated and justified them to others. Using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) will help structure your response clearly.

Answer

Situation: In my previous role as a project manager, our team was tasked with delivering a major project under a tight deadline. Midway through the project, I identified that the current approach was not yielding the expected results and was likely to delay the completion.

Task: As the project leader, I had to decide whether to continue with the current plan or implement a new strategy that was initially unpopular with the team. The new approach involved working overtime and reallocating resources, which was met with resistance from some team members.

Action: After analyzing the situation, I decided to implement the new strategy. I organized a team meeting to explain the reasoning behind the decision, shared data supporting the change, and addressed concerns by outlining the potential long-term benefits. I also ensured that the team understood that this was a collective effort and offered incentives for the extra work required.

Result: Although the decision was initially unpopular, the team eventually understood the rationale and committed to the new approach. As a result, we completed the project on time and received positive feedback from our client. The success of the project also improved team morale and trust in decision-making processes for future projects.