Developing people skills is the cornerstone of effective operations leadership. It encompasses the ability to coach, mentor, and develop team members to enhance their skills, performance, and career growth while meeting operational objectives. The International Journal of Operations & Production Management defines this competency as "the systematic approach to identifying development needs, providing growth opportunities, and effectively coaching team members to improve both individual performance and organizational capability."

In operations leadership roles, developing people skills is particularly crucial because operations teams often face complex challenges requiring diverse skill sets. Leaders must balance productivity requirements with individual development, making people development both a strategic and operational imperative. This competency includes coaching abilities, performance management skills, talent identification, succession planning expertise, and the capacity to create learning opportunities within operational constraints.

When evaluating candidates for operations leadership positions, it's essential to understand how they've approached people development in different contexts. Junior operations leaders might demonstrate potential through mentoring colleagues or leading small teams, while senior operations executives should show systematic approaches to developing talent pipelines and building organizational capability. By using behavioral interview questions, you can gain insight into how candidates have actually developed team members in past roles, which is a stronger predictor of future success than hypothetical responses or general statements about leadership philosophy.

Before diving into specific questions, remember that your goal is to understand both the candidate's approach to developing others and the concrete results they've achieved. Structured interviews with consistent questions for all candidates will help you make objective comparisons across your talent pool, while thoughtful follow-up questions will help you assess the depth of their experience and expertise in this critical leadership competency.

Interview Questions

Tell me about a time when you identified potential in a team member that others hadn't recognized and how you developed that potential.

Areas to Cover:

• How they identified the untapped potential
• Specific actions taken to develop the team member
• Any resistance encountered from others and how it was handled
• The development plan created and how progress was measured
• Results achieved for both the individual and the organization
• How they supported the individual through their development journey
• Lessons learned about identifying and nurturing talent

Follow-Up Questions:

• What specific qualities or behaviors did you notice that indicated potential others had missed?
• How did you tailor your development approach to this individual's learning style and needs?
• What challenges did you face in convincing others of this person's potential, and how did you overcome them?
• How did developing this individual impact overall team dynamics and performance?

Describe a situation where you had to help an operations team member overcome a significant performance challenge.

Areas to Cover:

• The nature of the performance issue and how it was identified
• The approach taken to address the performance gap
• How the conversation with the team member was handled
• Specific development interventions implemented
• How progress was measured and monitored
• The outcome for the individual and the operations team
• What they learned about performance improvement coaching

Follow-Up Questions:

• How did you prepare for the initial conversation about performance concerns?
• What specific support or resources did you provide to help them improve?
• How did you balance maintaining operational standards while giving them space to develop?
• What feedback mechanisms did you put in place to track improvement?

Share an example of how you've built a development culture within an operations team.

Areas to Cover:

• Their vision for creating a learning environment in operations
• Specific systems or processes implemented to support development
• How they balanced operational demands with learning opportunities
• Ways they modeled continuous learning themselves
• Measurable changes in team capability and performance
• Challenges faced in creating this culture and how they were overcome
• How they evaluated the effectiveness of the development culture

Follow-Up Questions:

• How did you incorporate learning into daily operations rather than making it seem like an "extra" task?
• What specific structures or routines did you implement to ensure development remained a priority?
• How did you recognize and reward growth and learning in your team members?
• What resistance did you encounter when trying to build this culture, and how did you address it?

Tell me about a time when you had to coach an operations leader who reported to you on their own people development skills.

Areas to Cover:

• How they identified the development need in their direct report
• Their approach to coaching another leader on people development
• Specific guidance, tools, or frameworks they provided
• How they modeled effective people development
• Results achieved both for the leader and their team
• Challenges encountered during the coaching process
• What they learned about developing people developers

Follow-Up Questions:

• What specific behaviors did you notice that indicated this leader needed coaching on people development?
• How did you help this leader see the importance of investing in their team's development?
• What specific techniques or approaches did you teach them?
• How did you measure the success of your coaching efforts?

Describe a situation where you had to develop multiple team members simultaneously while meeting challenging operational goals.

Areas to Cover:

• The operational context and challenges faced
• How they assessed varied development needs across the team
• Their strategy for developing multiple people without sacrificing performance
• How they integrated development into daily operations
• Resources they leveraged to support development efforts
• Results achieved for individuals, the team, and operational outcomes
• How they tracked progress on both performance and development

Follow-Up Questions:

• How did you prioritize different development needs across your team?
• What creative approaches did you use to develop people while maintaining productivity?
• How did you manage your time effectively to focus on both operations and people development?
• What did you learn about the relationship between people development and operational performance?

Tell me about a time when you successfully transitioned a high-performing individual contributor into a leadership role in your operations team.

Areas to Cover:

• How they identified leadership potential in this individual
• Their approach to preparing the person for leadership responsibilities
• Specific leadership skills they focused on developing
• Challenges encountered during the transition
• Support structures they put in place
• Results achieved for the new leader and their team
• Lessons learned about developing new leaders

Follow-Up Questions:

• What specific signs indicated this person had leadership potential?
• What was the most challenging aspect of helping them transition from individual contributor to leader?
• How did you help them develop their own people development skills?
• What specific milestones or checkpoints did you establish to ensure they were progressing appropriately?

Share an example of how you provided constructive feedback to an operations team member that led to significant improvement.

Areas to Cover:

• The specific performance or behavior issue that needed addressing
• How they prepared for the feedback conversation
• Their approach to delivering difficult feedback constructively
• How the feedback was received initially
• Support provided to help the person improve
• The improvement achieved following the feedback
• What they learned about effective feedback delivery

Follow-Up Questions:

• How did you ensure your feedback was specific and actionable rather than general?
• How did you balance negative feedback with recognition of strengths?
• What follow-up did you do after the initial feedback conversation?
• How did you adjust your approach based on the individual's personality and communication style?

Describe a time when you had to develop team members with different learning styles or at different career stages simultaneously.

Areas to Cover:

• How they identified different learning styles or development needs
• Their strategy for differentiating development approaches
• Specific examples of tailored development activities
• Challenges faced in meeting diverse development needs
• How they measured success for different individuals
• The impact on team cohesion and overall performance
• What they learned about individualizing development approaches

Follow-Up Questions:

• How did you assess the different learning styles or development needs within your team?
• What specific adjustments did you make to your coaching approach for different individuals?
• How did you ensure fairness while providing different types of development opportunities?
• What challenges did you face in managing your time across multiple development relationships?

Tell me about a time when you had to help a technically strong operations team member develop their interpersonal or leadership skills.

Areas to Cover:

• How they identified the need for interpersonal skill development
• Their approach to discussing this development area
• Specific strategies used to develop "soft skills" in a technical person
• Any resistance encountered and how it was addressed
• Tools or resources leveraged to support development
• The outcome for the individual and their effectiveness
• Lessons learned about balancing technical and interpersonal skill development

Follow-Up Questions:

• What specific behaviors indicated this person needed interpersonal skill development?
• How did you help them see the value of developing these skills alongside their technical expertise?
• What specific activities or assignments did you use to develop their interpersonal capabilities?
• How did you measure improvement in something as subjective as interpersonal skills?

Share an example of how you've created development opportunities for operations team members during challenging business conditions.

Areas to Cover:

• The business challenges faced and constraints on development resources
• Creative approaches to development with limited resources
• How they integrated development into necessary business activities
• Their method for maintaining focus on development despite pressures
• Results achieved both for individuals and the business
• How they measured development progress during difficult times
• Lessons learned about development during constraints

Follow-Up Questions:

• How did you prioritize development needs when resources were constrained?
• What creative, low-cost development approaches did you implement?
• How did you help team members see development opportunities within everyday challenges?
• How did focusing on development during difficult times impact business results and team morale?

Describe a situation where you recognized you needed to adjust your coaching approach with an operations team member.

Areas to Cover:

• What signaled the need to change their coaching approach
• Their self-reflection process and insights gained
• How they modified their coaching style or methods
• The conversation with the team member about the change
• Results of the adjusted approach
• What they learned about flexibility in coaching
• How this experience influenced their coaching of others

Follow-Up Questions:

• What specific indicators showed you that your initial approach wasn't working?
• How did you determine what adjustment to make in your coaching style?
• How did you explain the changed approach to the team member?
• What have you incorporated into your coaching practice based on this experience?

Tell me about your most challenging people development experience in an operations role and what you learned from it.

Areas to Cover:

• The specific challenge faced and its context
• Their initial approach and why it proved difficult
• How they adapted their approach when facing obstacles
• Resources or support they sought out
• The eventual outcome of the situation
• Specific lessons learned about developing others
• How they've applied these lessons to subsequent development efforts

Follow-Up Questions:

• What aspects of this situation made it particularly challenging?
• At what point did you realize you needed to change your approach?
• What support did you seek, either from others or through resources?
• How has this experience shaped your overall philosophy on developing people?

Share an example of how you've measured the impact of your people development efforts in an operations context.

Areas to Cover:

• Their approach to establishing development metrics
• Specific metrics used to track individual growth
• How they connected development to operational outcomes
• Methods for gathering feedback on development effectiveness
• Examples of how measurement informed their approach
• Challenges in measuring development impact
• How they communicated development results to stakeholders

Follow-Up Questions:

• What specific metrics have you found most useful in tracking development progress?
• How did you balance quantitative and qualitative measures of development?
• How did you isolate the impact of development from other factors affecting performance?
• How did you use measurement data to improve your development approach?

Describe a time when you successfully developed an underperforming operations team member who others had given up on.

Areas to Cover:

• The performance issues that led others to give up
• How they assessed the situation differently
• Their approach to building trust with the team member
• Specific development interventions implemented
• How they gained buy-in from others on the improvement plan
• The ultimate outcome for the individual
• Lessons learned about seeing potential where others don't

Follow-Up Questions:

• What did you see in this person that others missed?
• How did you build trust with someone who might have felt written off?
• What specific support or resources made the biggest difference?
• How did you manage the perceptions of others who had given up on this person?

Tell me about a time when you created a development plan that balanced operational needs with an individual's career aspirations.

Areas to Cover:

• How they understood the individual's career goals
• The operational requirements and constraints
• Their process for creating an aligned development plan
• Specific development activities that served both purposes
• How they gained buy-in from all stakeholders
• The outcome for both the individual and the operation
• What they learned about aligning individual and organizational needs

Follow-Up Questions:

• How did you discover the team member's true career aspirations?
• What creative approaches did you use to find development opportunities that served both needs?
• How did you manage expectations when there were conflicts between the two?
• What conversations did you have with senior leadership to support this development plan?

Frequently Asked Questions

Why focus on behavioral questions rather than asking about a candidate's philosophy on developing people?

Past behavior is the best predictor of future performance. While a candidate might articulate a compelling philosophy on developing others, behavioral questions reveal whether they've actually put those ideas into practice. These questions force candidates to provide specific examples rather than general statements, giving you insight into their real-world approach to developing team members in operations environments.

How many people development questions should I include in an operations leadership interview?

For roles where developing others is a critical competency (such as operations managers and directors), dedicate at least 3-4 questions specifically to people development skills. This allows you to assess different dimensions of the competency while still having time to evaluate other important leadership skills. Remember that fewer high-quality questions with good follow-up are more valuable than many superficial questions.

How should I evaluate candidates' responses to these questions?

Look for specific, detailed examples that demonstrate a systematic approach to developing others. Strong candidates will describe their thought process, specific actions taken, measurable results achieved, and lessons learned. Be wary of vague responses or examples where the candidate takes little personal responsibility for the development process. The best responses will show a balance of strategic thinking and hands-on coaching approach.

Do developing people skills matter as much for technical operations roles?

Absolutely. While technical expertise is crucial in operations, the ability to develop team members is what separates exceptional operations leaders from merely competent ones. Technical operations leaders must be able to develop both technical skills and broader capabilities in their teams. This becomes increasingly important as operations become more complex and organizations need to build internal capability rather than always hiring from outside.

How can I tell if a candidate is exaggerating their people development experience?

Use probing follow-up questions to test the depth of their experience. Ask for specific details about their approach, challenges they faced, metrics they used, and concrete results. Strong candidates will be able to provide rich detail about their development processes and specific examples of individual growth. You can also ask about failures or setbacks in developing others—authentic candidates will acknowledge these and explain what they learned.

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