Describe a time when you worked in a team that didn't have a formal leader, or where leadership rotated. How did you collaborate to get the work done effectively?
Why This Is Asked
ING embraces agile, self-steering squads moving away from traditional hierarchy. This question checks whether you can thrive in a flat structure, contributing fully without waiting for top-down direction. It also aligns with 'you help others to be successful', the ability to support peers voluntarily.
General Approach
Pick a recent group experience, academic, volunteer, internship, where the team was loosely structured. Outline the specific mechanisms you used to organize (e.g., rotating facilitator, daily syncs). Emphasize moments you personally stepped up to coordinate, mediate, or reassign tasks. Show you can be both a contributor and an informal leader when needed. Avoid stories with an obvious captain; the point is demonstrating comfort with ambiguity in roles.
Sample STAR Answer▾
Situation
During a case competition, our team of four chose to work without a designated leader so everyone could contribute equally. We had only 48 hours to analyze a business problem and create a presentation.
Task
We needed to divide research, financial modeling, slide design, and practice presentations without anyone formally assigning tasks, ensuring no overlap and a cohesive final output.
Action
I proposed we start with a quick huddle to list all deliverables and then use a self-selection process: each person picked two areas based on their strengths. I volunteered for financial modeling and parts of the analysis. We agreed to a shared timeline with checkpoints every six hours. When one teammate fell behind on research, I offered to swap a small modeling task so they could focus, which kept us on schedule. Daily stand-ups via chat helped us flag blockers instantly. I also initiated a shared document where everyone could comment on each other's slides, avoiding siloed work.
Result
We submitted on time and placed second out of 15 teams. Judges commended the consistency across sections, which we attributed to our collaborative review process. The experience proved we could self-manage effectively without a formal leader.
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- •STAR Structure
- •Specificity & Numbers
- •Ownership Language
- •PH Workplace Context
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