How can I tell a story using STAR approach about a situation in which I was a successful team player?

Tell your story in your own style; there are so many behavior interview techniques, don’t follow them to the teeth; you will sound like a robot.

Experienced HR managers always look for a human being not a robot; they want to know the real you, not the STAR you.

Carry yourself in a professional manner; sell them your most valuable qualities that you really believe in; never get intimidated by the interviewers even if there are 4 of them in the room and shooting questions at you left and right.

Jack and Suzy Welch have delved into a similar scenario as yours. Let's look at an example question and how you can use the STAR technique in answering that question:

Sample Question: “Have you ever had to define yourself in the midst of criticism, and did you succeed?”

‘STAR’ answer to this interview question: The interviewee’s response illustrates their ability to listen to feedback, adapt as a manager, and lead teams well.

• ‘S’ for Situation: “My first job after business school was to lead a product development team at Acme Corporation. One of my responsibilities involved weekly product planning meetings that chose product features. After the meeting, I would meet with my staff and delegate programming tasks. Since I am an experienced programmer, I would explain the approach to each feature to be programmed. I expected my staff to write the programs in C++, then test and debug them. We seemed to work very well as a team.”
• ‘T’ for Task: “Three months later, my manager collected feedback from my staff. In my performance review, my manager noted that I could improve my delegation skills. His comment surprised me. I thought I was good at delegating, as I would explain my expectations and all necessary steps to each staff member. I felt my staff was productive and consistently benefitted from my coaching. I thanked my manager for the feedback and promised to reflect on my delegating style and consider a change.”
• ‘A’ for Action: “Upon reflection, I noticed two issues with my delegation approach. Firstly, in assigning tasks to my staff I only described the steps they needed to take. I had habitually failed to describe the background of product features we wanted to develop and explain how their work would contribute to and improve the overall product. My staff would just do what I had asked of them without understanding the context of their efforts. Secondly, while explaining how to complete each assignment, I was micromanaging. This may have limited my staff’s initiative and reduced opportunities to advance their programming skills. During the next staff meeting, I thanked them for the feedback and acknowledged I would change. from that point forward, Then, each week, I explained each product feature’s unique context, described the task in terms of outcomes and asked my staff how we could approach each task.”
• ‘R’ for Results: “My staff was very excited by the opportunity to propose ideas, brainstorm, and choose their own preferred method of going about their work. They were no longer working on my idea alone: they shared in its conception and approached it their own way. They were more enthusiastic about their work and realized they were an integral part of something bigger than they were. During the next quarterly meeting, my manager praised me for empowering my team.”