Share a time when you had a disagreement with a member of your team.

Question Analysis

This question seeks to evaluate your conflict resolution skills, teamwork, and ability to handle disagreements professionally. Behavioral interview questions like this are designed to understand how you have dealt with situations in the past, which can be an indicator of how you might handle similar situations in the future. The interviewer is interested in your approach to resolving differences, maintaining professionalism, and ensuring team cohesion.

Answer

Situation: In a previous role as a project manager, we were working on a critical project with a tight deadline. During a team meeting, I had a disagreement with a team member over the approach to a particular task. They suggested using a method that I believed was inefficient given our timeline.

Task: My responsibility was to ensure that the project stayed on track while maintaining a collaborative and respectful team environment.

Action: I decided to address the disagreement immediately. I scheduled a one-on-one meeting with the team member to discuss the issue. During our conversation, I actively listened to their perspective to understand their reasoning. I then shared my concerns about the timeline and the potential risks of their suggested approach. We brainstormed together and I encouraged them to propose alternative solutions that could meet both efficiency and quality standards.

Result: Through our discussion, we reached a compromise by integrating elements from both of our approaches. This not only optimized the task execution but also strengthened our working relationship, enhancing team morale. The project was completed on time and exceeded quality expectations, demonstrating the value of effective conflict resolution and collaboration.