United NationsManagerial Competency
Empowering Others — UN competency
Delegating responsibility, clarifying expectations and giving staff the autonomy and credit they need to perform.
What this competency means
Empowering others covers delegating real responsibility rather than tasks, clarifying expectations, giving staff the latitude to manage their own work, encouraging others to set challenging goals, holding people accountable for agreed results, and genuinely valuing and involving colleagues in decisions that affect them.
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Common interview question patterns
- Describe a time you delegated an important piece of work.
- Tell us how you developed a member of your team.
- Give an example of how you handled underperformance.
These are illustrative, general questions. Questions asked in an actual interview will depend on the nature and level of the position. PanelPrep · IO can generate questions tailored to the specific vacancy you are applying for, so you can practise against the competencies that matter for your interview.
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Behavioural indicators
- Delegates responsibility, clarifies expectations and gives staff autonomy in important areas of their work
- Encourages others to set challenging goals
- Holds others accountable for achieving results related to their area of responsibility
- Genuinely values all staff members' input and expertise
- Shows appreciation and rewards achievement and effort
Our interpretation for interview preparation
Behaviours that weaken an answer
- Delegates tasks but retains all decisions
- Steps back in without agreement when work is under way
- Takes credit for the outputs of the team
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What a strong example might demonstrate
Candidates preparing for competency-based interviews can use this competency to think about a time they gave real decision-making space to someone else. A strong behavioural example would demonstrate what was delegated, how expectations and accountability were set, and how the person developed.
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How to prepare for questions on this competency
Questions usually concern delegation, developing a team member, or handling underperformance while keeping ownership with the individual.
STAR preparation
- Situation — set the context in two sentences: where, when, who was involved.
- Task — state precisely what you were responsible for, not what the team was responsible for.
- Action — spend most of the answer here, in the first person, showing the indicators above in practice.
- Result — quantify the outcome and add what you learned or changed afterwards.
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Common mistakes
- Delegation described as task allocation only
- No mention of the other person's growth
- Reclaiming the work at the first difficulty
Practise Empowering Others related questions tailored to your specific vacancy
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Start free practiceSource and attribution
The competency name, category and behavioural concepts on this page are based on United Nations, "UN Competency Development – A Practical Guide". Summaries, interview guidance, question patterns and preparation advice are original PanelPrep · IO content.
Framework version: UN Competency Development – A Practical Guide. Source date: 2010-01-01. Last verified: 2026-08-09.
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