Dealing with Conflict
“Tell me about a time when you had a conflict in your
work and how you resolved it.”
■“I usually get along very well with everyone, but there was
an incident with a person who was not pulling his weight
on the team and all the members of the team were getting
disgruntled. I took it upon myself to have a talk with the
person when the opportunity presented itself. He was
defensive at first but eventually confided in me that he had
some family problems at home that were affecting his
energy and patience. Once we talked, he made a special
effort to be more receptive. The key to resolving this was
letting him know that I wasn’t judging; just caring.”
■“A woman at my last job was known to be very difficult to
get along with. I figured that this was her problem, and I
worked with her as a professional. I gave her the respect I
would give any coworker when we work together. She
seemed to appreciate that I was treating her as a
professional, and as a result we were able to work well
together.”
■“I volunteer as a basketball coach for disadvantaged kids in
my spare time. Last season I had a team that didn’t seem to
understand the concept of team. I decided that rather than
preach at them I would take them out for some fun and
bonding. We all went out for pizza one evening and sat
around and got to know one another. They seemed to let
down their guards when they were away from the court.
We ate a lot of pizza that season, but it really made a differ-
ence to get them off the court. We became a stronger team
and even placed in the finals for the season.”
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