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 difference to get them off the court. We
became a stronger team and even placed in the finals for the
season.”
阅读导航 “Have you ever had a conflict at work that you couldn’t resolve? What did you do?”