Construct Validity
Construct validity relates to whether a particular psychometric assessment...
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The collaboration crisis
Why collaboration is one of the hardest traits to measure (and most expensive to get wrong)
A single poor collaborator can destroy team productivity faster than almost any other hiring mistake. Research shows that teams with just one uncooperative member can see their collective performance drop by up to 40%.
Think about it: When someone doesn't share information, refuses to contribute to group decisions, or creates conflict during projects, the entire team suffers. Other members become frustrated, communication breaks down, and innovation stalls.
The hidden cost: Poor collaboration doesn't just affect current projects. It drives away your best team members, reduces overall morale, and creates a culture where people avoid working together.
Yet measuring collaboration during interviews is notoriously difficult. Unlike technical skills, collaboration is a complex mix of personality traits, communication style, and learned behaviours that only emerge under real workplace pressure.
Here's what makes it worse: Candidates who are naturally charismatic or well-rehearsed can easily convince you they're collaborative, even when their track record suggests otherwise.
The interview trap
Why interview questions fail to identify collaborative candidates
Collaboration is about how someone naturally behaves when working with others. It involves sharing credit, seeking input, managing conflict constructively, and putting team goals ahead of personal recognition.
Interviews, however, measure something completely different: How well someone can describe collaborative scenarios retrospectively.
Three critical flaws with interview-based collaboration assessment:
1. The charisma bias: Naturally extroverted and persuasive candidates appear more collaborative in interviews, even when they may be less cooperative in practice. Meanwhile, quietly collaborative candidates may struggle to articulate their teamwork in compelling stories.
2. The rehearsal advantage: Any candidate can prepare collaborative-sounding examples. "We successfully worked together to achieve our shared goal" tells you nothing about their actual behaviour during pressure situations.
3. The context problem: Real collaboration happens during stress, competing priorities, and personality clashes. Interview settings can't replicate these conditions or reveal how someone truly responds.
Studies confirm this gap. Research consistently shows minimal correlation between how collaborative someone appears in interviews versus how they actually behave in team environments.
The result? You end up hiring based on interview performance rather than genuine collaborative ability, potentially bringing in candidates who can talk about teamwork but struggle to practice it.
For teams still using interviews
5 collaboration interview questions (use with caution)
If you're not ready to implement behavioural assessments yet, here are five interview questions that can provide some insight into collaboration. However, remember they're still vulnerable to the limitations we discussed above.
Video summary: Ben Schwencke, our lead consultant, explains why collaboration is worth measuring and shares insights on these interview questions.
Important reminder: Even the best interview questions only tell you how well someone can talk about collaboration, not how they'll actually behave in team situations. Use these alongside, not instead of, objective assessment tools.
"Tell me about a time when you had to work with someone who had a completely different work style or approach than your own."
What you're looking for: Evidence they can adapt their communication style and find common ground with different personality types. Strong answers show curiosity about others' perspectives and concrete steps taken to bridge differences.
Red flags: Stories that focus on how difficult the other person was, emphasis on "getting them to see my way," or inability to articulate what they learned from the experience.
- 1. What specific differences in work style did you encounter, and how did they initially create challenges?
- 2. What steps did you take to understand their perspective and find common ground?
- 3. How did the working relationship change over time, and what did you learn from the experience?
"Describe a time when you disagreed with a team decision. How did you handle it?"
What you're looking for: Evidence they can express dissenting views constructively while respecting group dynamics. Strong answers show they voiced concerns appropriately and supported the final decision even when they disagreed.
- 1. What was the nature of your disagreement, and why did you feel differently from the team?
- 2. How did you communicate your concerns, and what was the team's response?
- 3. How did you support the final decision, even though you disagreed with it initially?
"Tell me about a successful project where team collaboration was essential. What was your specific contribution?"
What you're looking for: How they balance highlighting their own contributions with acknowledging others' roles. Strong answers show specific personal contributions while giving credit to teammates and explaining how different skills complemented each other.
- 1. What was the project, and what made team collaboration essential for success?
- 2. What was your specific role, and how did it connect with what others were doing?
- 3. How did different team members contribute, and what made the collaboration effective?
"Describe a time when you had to make a decision that would affect your team. How did you approach it?"
What you're looking for: Evidence they naturally seek input from affected stakeholders before making decisions. Strong answers show they consulted relevant team members and incorporated feedback into their decision-making process.
- 1. What was the decision you needed to make, and who would be affected by it?
- 2. How did you gather input from your team members before making the decision?
- 3. How did their feedback influence your final decision, and how did you communicate it back to them?
"Tell me about a time when you helped a colleague or team member who was struggling with something."
What you're looking for: Evidence of genuine concern for team success beyond personal goals. Strong answers show proactive support and willingness to share knowledge or resources without expecting recognition.
Remember: Even excellent answers to these questions only indicate interview performance, not actual collaborative behaviour. The most convincing stories can come from the least collaborative candidates who've simply prepared well.
- 1. What was the colleague struggling with, and how did you become aware of their situation?
- 2. What specific steps did you take to help them, and how did you balance this with your own responsibilities?
- 3. What was the outcome, and how did this experience affect your approach to future teamwork?
The reliable solution
What actually works for measuring collaboration (and how to get started)
Now that you've seen the interview questions available, let's address the fundamental issue: There's a much more reliable way to measure collaboration than hoping candidates give you honest answers about their teamwork abilities.
Behavioural assessments measure collaboration as a set of personality traits and natural tendencies, not as stories someone can craft for interviews. Well-designed collaboration assessments examine:
- Agreeableness and empathy: Do they naturally consider others' perspectives and seek win-win solutions?
- Communication style: How do they share information and respond to feedback under pressure?
- Conflict approach: Do they avoid, escalate, or constructively address disagreements?
- Recognition patterns: Are they naturally inclined to share credit and build others up?
The assessment advantage: These tools measure ingrained behavioural patterns across multiple scenarios, giving you reliable data about how someone will actually work with others, not how well they can describe teamwork.
The results speak for themselves. Organisations using collaboration assessments report significantly higher team satisfaction scores and fewer interpersonal conflicts compared to interview-only hiring.
The most effective approach combines both:
- Assessments first: Screen for genuine collaborative traits early in the process
- Interviews second: Use targeted questions to explore team dynamics with candidates who've already demonstrated collaborative behaviour patterns
This way, your interview time is spent with candidates you already know can work effectively with others, and you're using interviews for what they do best: assessing cultural fit, communication style, and role-specific team dynamics.
How to start measuring collaboration accurately:
- Implement collaboration assessments: Use scientifically validated behavioural assessments that measure genuine collaborative traits, not just what candidates can articulate in interviews.
- Screen early in your process: Deploy assessments before interviews to ensure you're only spending time with candidates who demonstrate natural collaborative tendencies.
- Use interviews strategically: Focus your interview time on team fit and communication style with candidates who've already proven their collaborative foundation through assessment data.
The result: You'll identify genuinely collaborative candidates faster, more accurately, and with less risk than interview-only approaches, while building teams that actually work well together.
Our collaboration assessments measure the specific personality traits and behavioural patterns that predict effective teamwork. They're designed by business psychologists, validated against team performance data, and built to be candidate-friendly while providing you with reliable insights.
Ready to get started? Explore our behavioural assessments to see which tools are right for measuring collaboration in your candidates.
Or if you need help generating more effective interview questions while you evaluate assessment options, try our AI-powered interview questions generator for collaboration-focused questions.
