Growing the Managers Who Report to You and Handling Low Performers

This prompt comes from a senior engineering manager loop for a role that manages other managers. One interview concentrated on people leadership in two areas: how you develop the managers who report to you, and how you deal with people who are not performing. The interviewer expects real examples, with enough context about each decision you made (what you knew, which options you had, why you chose one) to judge your reasoning and not only your outcomes. ### Clarifying Questions - Should the examples involve managers who report to you, or is an example from managing individual contributors acceptable when it illustrates the point better? - How much organizational context (team sizes, reporting lines, stakes) should come before the story? - Does the interviewer want one deep example per prompt, or a pattern across several people? ### Part 1 — Growing a manager Tell me about a manager reporting to you whom you helped grow. Where were they when you started working together, what did you do, and what changed for them and for their team? ```hint Mechanisms, not just encouragement Think about the concrete levers you pulled, such as expectations for the level, scope you handed over, and how and how often you gave feedback, and how you knew it was working. ``` #### What This Part Should Cover - How you diagnosed the manager's gaps and goals against a clear expectation for the role - The specific actions you took and why you chose them over alternatives - Evidence of change in the manager and in their team's outcomes - How you apply the same approach across several managers ### Part 2 — Handling low performance Tell me about a time someone in your organization was underperforming. How did you notice, what did you do, and how did it end? If the person reported to one of your managers, explain how you supported that manager rather than taking over. ```hint Check the cause first Before treating it as a performance problem, consider what else could explain the gap and what you did to rule those causes in or out. ``` #### What This Part Should Cover - Early detection and a diagnosis of the underlying cause - Clear expectations, a timeline and regular, documented check-ins - Fairness to the individual and attention to the effect on the rest of the team - A decisive outcome, whether improvement or exit, and what you learned ### What a Strong Answer Covers - First-person, specific examples that make the reasoning behind each key decision explicit - Expectations anchored to a role definition or leveling framework rather than personal taste - Empathy balanced with accountability and with the needs of the team - Leverage as a manager of managers: building others' ability to handle these situations - Honest reflection on what you would do differently ### Follow-up Questions - One of your managers is popular with their team but keeps missing delivery commitments. How do you approach it? - How do you decide whether a strong senior engineer should move into management? - Your managers rate their teams on very different curves. How do you calibrate fairly? - How would you handle a previously high performer whose work has recently declined?