Penguin Business Beat for December 2010

What do you value most in a team mate?

When we think of a team, we think of different players on the field, all with different strengths or roles to play in the service of the team. If you have ever played on a team, there are also some team members who urge us to play harder, to try again--and not to spit in our hands when we go to shake the hands of the opposing team members at the end of the game.

Think about how your co-workers or project partners have made you better: did they realize what your strengths were and try to give you projects that accommodated those strengths? Did they try to push you to try something new or help you over an obstacle? Did they give you something personal--like suggest you be kinder, more forgiving, or efficient. Think about it.

Do you have a person in mind who may have improved one of your hard skills and one softer skill? You can treat this question as a BDI question and give an example of your best team mates and what you learned from them. Try not to use names.

Now, one of the ways people falter with this question is that they confess how their team mates keep their bad habits in check. You stay stuff like, he always made sure my work was handed in on time and helped me with my punctuality problem. Uh-oh, you look like a wayward calf that he had to rope--so you're the weak link. You're someone the excellent team mate, who didn't apply, had to coddle.

Candidates also drop the ball on this question when they need something that the organization can't--or is unwilling--to provide. For example, if you talk about how your team mates mentored you as the newest librarian on staff and the interviewer does not think that mentorship is necessary, strike one. This is why a long list of team qualities is bad: you could unknowingly hit some of their pressure points.

Try not to confess to personal weaknesses as part of the team--especially if you're sometimes a poor sportsman. Don't give a litany of great qualities and no examples. Limit your response to one or two examples, explain and shut up.

Row together

Have you ever been a member of a team that failed to complete a project or finish the task? Could you describe why the team failed to meet its goals and what you would do differently in the future?

Yes, you can use a classroom experience for this question but do you really want to confess that you failed cataloging in the middle of your interview for a metadata librarian position?

Begin by explaining a bit about what the project was and the goals for the project. Who was the audience? Was there a deadline? Did you have a budget? The criteria for the project will help you explain the failure: what broke down?

Projects usually fail for either time or money reasons, and with both, a larger failure. Once you have explained the project and decided why it failed, explain the situation but it should sound as though lightning struck, or take responsibility for a minor complication. People blow this question by:

• Suggesting that co-worker incompetence led to the failure. You don't look like a team player, nor do you look smart enough to tell people to stop rowing on the same side at the same time.
• You were WAY, WAY over-budget. Math much? Sometimes, costs are really outside of our control, but managers have to trim the fat on items. Why did your project need two demonstration laptops instead of one, especially if only one presenter traveled?
• Your project is still not finished and it's REALLY late. A project is not a failure until it is done and you can measure the results. There are few projects that are never-ending (How to Deal with Resource Challenges in a Library), or cyclical (How to Use RefWorks) or finite (Instructions on How to Use the Catalog). What type of project are you describing and is it really done?
• No one used it. Some projects fail because they aren't used (you thought it was a great idea, but...) and you can't find this out without promotion or evaluation. Failures in promotion are good examples about what you learned about increasing your user base, a concern at every type of library or for every type of librarian.

Remember those rules above and explain how the problem--just one is fine, don't sound like the sky fell--was resolved, or explain, hypothetically, how this experience changed your ideas about project management.

And I'll form...the Head!

Can you explain your role in a previous project that you worked on that required the efforts of a team to complete?

Yes, you can answer this question with a class project but work experience is preferred. This question wants to find out a few things about you:

• Are you a leader or a follower?
• Are you a bully or a consensus-builder?
• Did you complete the project on time and within budget?

I'm not going to kid you: very few librarians get to be leaders right out of the launch bay, but, supposedly, this question is looking for leaders. You should show that you know when to lead (you know what you are doing) and when to follow (you have another role you can do better), a concept I was recently introduced to as kinetic leadership. In a kinetic team you are the leader when you have the skills and you are the follower when the current leader needs a plan executed. Show that you know your role and that you contributed what you knew, not that you were a Schrute constantly undermining your colleagues.

You should also not come across as too bullish when a lighter, china-smoothing touch was needed. It is also important to explain if the project was completed on time and if you spent all of your money without exceeding a limit. If you missed either mark, can you account for it? Explain how, in a future situation, you would not need elasticity in time or money.

This question wants to know about your management skills, both when managing and managed and if you can deliver the desired package.

Applying a little persuasion

In the past, how have you persuaded people to try your ideas?

Persuading people--whether it is patrons, other colleagues, supervisors or other community members--is an important part of any librarian's job. Picking books for a book discussion group, convincing your boss to run a class for professors who want to use social networking or asking the library board to increase salaries: you better know how to persuade.

What example should you use? The best is another work-related example, preferably one that involved more than one person or transaction and which had a measurable outcome. You should focus on the evidence that you gathered to persuade the person to accept your case, if there was more than one person (a client) or a hierarchy involved (boss to manager to library board to public). Try to tell the story in chronological order with a positive and "they accepted it!" outcome.

The initial sale is also the big question: don't spend 15 minutes talking about outcomes and how you would have done things differently this time around. You should also avoid sounding glib or use an example that is too simple, the teenager believed me when I said that this was the best book on potato cannons! Avoid bullying examples, such as: I convinced the book club to read a translated, 1,300 page stream of consciousness novel and it just made them all better people! You should show how you persuaded for the greater good, not your own ego.

The ability to persuade, as selling, marketing or convincing, is one of the most useful soft skills a librarian can possess.