Director interview - 'lead a 45 min staff session'!?

[DelleLdn]

Interviewing for a director role tomorrow - and in addition to presenting to a panel of six, and having a formal interview, I have to lead and chair a discussion of around 10 staff, some who would report to me but others at director level. I'm a bit confused by the brief - it's not an interview but I should deal with 'questions and issues that come up', I should take 10 mins at the end to ask my qus (suggesting the rest is them questioning me), I could choose what topics we should talk about, I should treat it as though I was meeting new colleagues for the first time, it's checking my leadership skills. Any wise words on how you would approach!? I'll feel like an idiot saying 'do you have any qus for me?' The staff have had a tough time over the past year or so, so was thinking I can start from a point of asking (diplomatically) about how team are doing, their current priorities/challenges/stuff they're excited by, or that totally duff? Any wise words so gratefully received, job would mean a massive (positive) life change for our family and I want it very badly!

It sounds almost like a role play - exactly as it says or how would you chair a discussion of cross-level people in your organisation.

Think of it as a focus group - have they not given you any steer at all aaas to the topic? If not, then use the role description and what you know about the company to try to glean what you being recruited to do.

Eg I've just started a new role at Director level and I'm now going round the country visiting various offices and looking at a certain cross-company structure to see whether/how I want to make changes. But I knew some of that before I joined so I suppose I'd have used the small bit of information about the role and company (I was in the same industry anyway) and would start by asking them more about that area. Then see how the discussion goes?

I'd imagine they want to see what your chairing skills are - do you make sure everyone gets an equal say and makes a contribution but not at the expense of delving deeper into an individual's comments if you think that would help. (Ie not mentally thinking 'that person has had five minutes talking so I have to move on' if there are further questions you have in that area.)

Sorry typos - "exactly as it says ie..."

What's the topic of your presentation?

Good luck by the way!

thank you!! No topics indicated for the discussion at all (that is what is throwing me!) - but I work in the field already and I'd be a director of a specific function (I have a specialism - think marketing). Topic of my presentation is threats and opportunities facing the company in the future and I how would deal with these. Great tip on making sure I chair so everybody speaks, contributes etc.

If no script or topic, I think I would be setting my own agenda. Imagine it is your first day - what are the things you would want to know about the team and organisation, what might they want to know about you? Be prepared to do a quick elevator pitch on your background and experience and introduce yourself. Facilitate and lead the conversation. If they have been through a tough time it is absolutely OK to ask what their priorities are and what they hope to see happen over the next 2 years etc.

Most importantly be yourself. They will smell fake a mile off.

I’ve been in one of these as one of the staff, they mix up the grades of people in the group. Think there was a topic given to the candidates beforehand though.

the candidates who did badly hogged the airtime and talked about themselves too much.

the ones who did well seemed to have a rough structure, set this out v briefly at the start engaged with people and got different people to talk, shared their understanding of what had been said.

What about asking them about what they see as the biggest challenges for the organisation? And demonstrate consensus building by trying to get them agreed/ shared by the group? Asking what they want from the person who takes this role on?

Oh this is all so useful, thank you @Loopytiles and @Thingamebobwotsit I need this intel from people who've sat on the other side! great idea @thesandwich about asking what they want from the new director. I talk a mile a minute when nervous and think I come across as a bit overfamiliar, which doesn't make me seem very 'senior', so will be trying to curb that at least!

I’ve been on the panel before representing a couple of staff networks I’ve been linked into. Be yourself, listen and be curious. Those that talked non stop or appeared fake we really could tell. It was a great experience and brought a different side out of the candidates. We actually changed the panels decision after one person was really quite condescending to a couple of us and struggled to acknowledge different pov.

And use the lack of direction to your benefit. They won’t have given you much direction, as if you’re a director I expect they’ll be wanting you to self start and ‘direct’ the part of the business you’ll be in charge of. So they want to see you do this!

If you can think of any wider industry challenges that your specialism faces, then ask the staff how they are dealing with those issues, if they feel well equipped to do so… for example, a great topic in my sector would be the upcoming election and how that might impact our day to day roles.

Make sure it doesn’t become an opportunity for them to raise issues that you’d never be able to achieve or you are setting yourself up for a fail, even if it is just a hypothetical situation, issues and ideas to solve the issues might work

I feel so much more confident, thank you amazing hive mind and @HGC2 that is such a good point about not just giving me the problems but their ideas to solve them too!

Depending on the type of organisation it is, their threats and opportunities might have been recorded in their last annual report?
Also think about asking what the company is doing to manage or take advantage of those risks & opportunities, and how they are going to get assurance that they are being managed appropriately

I'm the same about coming across as not very senior in the way I am, but my company brought me in for that fact as I need to bring people along with me in this role. So don't see that as necessarily a bad thing - as others have said, be yourself. The job won't be as good a fit for you if you have to come across as someone totally different to yourself just to get it.

Saying that, I would absolutely go round the group and get people to give a 1-2 sentence intro about themselves, including their job level. Because you may want to ask different questions of the other directors than someone who you'll be line managing (eg 'Line Managee', that's a good point. 'Director', how does that work in practice...'?

Other comments about have a rough structure is a good idea. One thing I always try to do in these discussions is along the same point as above so acknowledge one person's point and then asking someone else to comment on or take it further.

Please let us know how it goes ☺️

Is this internal? If not I would go round the table and ask everyone to introduce themselves and their role. Then I would have a couple of starter questions in mind. Things like, what do they understand to be the vision of the organisation? How is this being delivered? what are the strengths. I’ve watched a lot of people Chair and the really good ones keep the discussion moving and respond very positively, often adding their own comments or enhancing a question, so for example ‘John has made an excellent point about the importance of team building, can I ask you director X if this is something you plan to develop further’? Then at the end of a point they might summarise. ‘I think we are in agreement that working on a team building strategy will really help to deliver xxx’. I’m seen people Chair really badly too and generally they don’t keep control of the discussion.

Interview done! Funny isn’t it, no matter how much I vow to ‘appear senior’ I ended up making them laugh as part of the chat, because is just my style/how I interact with a team, so I was myself at least! Will update on result next week when I hear but thanks to each of you for your thoughts, they helped me so much, there really is nothing like the Mumsnet hive mind!

That sounds great - well done!! Hope you get the job and it's everything you want 😀

Didn't get the job!! I was sooo gutted when I heard and had several mega sobs, as would have meant an exciting move overseas but the fit obviously not right. The feedback was I spoke really fast at one point (fair, I def do that when nervous, so need to remember that) but then really random bits like experience in xxx (an area that was literally NOWHERE on the job info) was really important for this role, I am very clearly very skilled but do they really want that, I needed to think of it as being not like a job that is [insert exact name and type of job that it is] etc 😂. General vibe I got was despite having all the experience and skills they asked for, they preferred another candidate and they were describing the bits they liked about that person - c'est la vie. I did know the job/org itself might be nightmarish, I just would have swallowed it to live overseas, but useful reminder of how much the fit was off. Also helpful that none of the bits I kicked myself for forgetting to say came up at all in reasons they didn't hire me. HOWEVER - the feedback from staff engagement exercise was great! Apparently I came across as nurturing, knowledgeable, clearly understood the challenges etc. So thank you wise women, I appreciated all your inputs!

Oh @DelleLdn I'm sorry to hear that but it also sounds like you're a bit relieved?

All good experience for the future when you do find that perfect job for you ☺️

Arrh tick it off as experience and the right “fit” will come along. It’s better to try, learn and then build to the next opportunity than get one that’s not the right fit. I hope you find what your looking for

sorry you didn’t get it, but very well done on that part of the process!