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Leading an Engineering Team Back From Low Morale

GoogleSoftware Engineer · Onsite
MediumSoftware EngineerOnsiteBehavioral & Leadership

Last updated

A behavioral question for an engineering manager candidate about leading a team whose morale had dropped. It tests how the candidate reads the signals, diagnoses causes through one-on-ones and data, acts on causes inside and outside their control, communicates honestly, and shows that the team recovered.

You are interviewing for an engineering manager role, and the interviewer asks about leading people through a hard stretch: tell me about a time a team you led had low morale. How did you notice, what was causing it, what did you do about it, and what changed as a result?

Clarifying Questions

  • Should the example be a team I inherited in that state, or one whose morale dropped while I was leading it?
  • Is a case where the main cause came from outside the team, such as a reorganization, a good fit?
  • How much detail do you want on the outcome compared with the actions?

Hints

Hint 1

Cause before cure: Separate the symptoms you saw from the causes you confirmed, and be ready to explain how you told the two apart.

Follow-up questions

  • One senior engineer's negativity is spreading to the rest of the team. How do you handle that person?
  • How did you know morale had actually recovered rather than just gone quiet?
  • What did you tell the team when the cause was a leadership decision you disagreed with?