Your approach to earning trust with colleagues and stakeholders, with one example

You are interviewing for a product manager role at Disney, and the interviewer asks how you go about forming strong working relationships with the people around you. Describe your approach and support it with a real example. ```hint Show it with one relationship A list of good traits is easy to claim. Pick one working relationship that started distant or strained, walk through the specific steps you took, and say what changed for the work. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Are you most interested in relationships within my own team, with cross-functional partners such as engineering, design and marketing, or with senior and external stakeholders? - Would you like my general approach, one detailed example, or both? - Would a relationship that began with conflict be more useful to hear about than one I built from scratch with someone new? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A concrete, repeatable approach rather than a list of personal qualities - One specific example with the situation, the candidate's own actions and a result tied to the work - Building trust before it is needed, and adapting to partners with different goals and working styles - Keeping a relationship intact through disagreement or a request the candidate had to decline - Reflection on what the candidate learned and does differently now ### Follow-up Questions - Tell me about a working relationship that did not improve despite your efforts. What did you do then? - How do you build a relationship with a senior leader who has little time for you? - How do you keep a partner's trust after you say no to something they asked for?