Influencing Without Authority: Winning Commitment From a Partner Team

Tell me about a time you needed a team that did not report to you to act on something you cared about. How did you get them on board, and what was the outcome? ```hint Make it worth their while Influence shows most clearly in how you learned what that team was measured on and shaped your request around it. Persistence or escalation on its own reads as pressure, not influence. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Should the team be engineering or design partners I worked with every day, or a separate group such as legal, operations or another product team whose roadmap I had to change? - Is a story where I got only part of what I asked for acceptable, as long as I explain the outcome? - Do you want one decisive conversation, or an effort that played out over several weeks? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A situation with real stakes, a clear request, and a genuine conflict with the other team's priorities. - How the candidate learned what the other team valued and built the case on shared goals, data and trade-offs. - Specific influence actions, including how allies, compromise and escalation were used or deliberately avoided. - A concrete, ideally measurable result and the state of the working relationship afterward. - Honest reflection on what the candidate would do differently. ### Follow-up Questions - If they had still said no, what would you have done next? - Did you consider escalating to your manager or theirs? Why or why not? - How did your working relationship with that team change afterward?