Behavioral: Handling a Colleague Who Didn't Deliver Work You Depended On

Tell me about a time when someone you were counting on did not finish a task you needed from them. What was the situation, what did you do, and how did it turn out? ```hint Before you blame Interviewers listen for whether you found out why the work stalled before reacting, and whether you owned your part of the hand-off, not only for how the deliverable was rescued. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Should the person be someone without a reporting line to me, such as an engineer, a designer or a partner team, or may it be a direct report? - Does a task delivered late or only partly count, or should it be one that was never completed? - Are you more interested in how I recovered the work or in how I handled the relationship with the person? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - Clear context: what the task was, why it mattered, what was at stake, and what the person had agreed to deliver. - How the candidate learned of the problem and found out why the task stalled (priority, clarity, capacity, skill or motivation) before acting. - Specific actions: a direct conversation, re-scoping or re-planning, removing blockers, and escalating only when warranted and openly. - A concrete outcome for both the deliverable and the working relationship. - Honest reflection on the candidate's own part, such as an unclear request or no check-in, and what they now do differently. ### Follow-up Questions - What would you have done if the person had been more senior than you and declined to reprioritize? - How did you decide whether to raise it with their manager, and how did you let them know you were doing so? - Looking back, what in how you first handed off the task made the miss more likely?