What is one time you had to stand up and disagree with a team member's approach?

Question Analysis

This question assesses your ability to handle conflict, communication skills, and your approach to working collaboratively in a team. It seeks to understand how you manage situations where you have a differing opinion from a team member and how you resolve such conflicts productively. The interviewer is looking for evidence of critical thinking, assertiveness, and professionalism in how you handle disagreements.

Answer

Situation: During a project at my previous job, our team was responsible for developing a new marketing strategy to increase our product's market reach. A team member proposed an approach that relied heavily on traditional advertising methods.

Task: I believed that the strategy needed to incorporate more digital marketing techniques to effectively target our audience, as our market research showed a significant shift towards online platforms.

Action: I decided to address my concerns during our next team meeting. I presented data from our market research to illustrate the growing importance of digital marketing. I also shared successful case studies from competitors who had effectively used digital channels. I emphasized the potential risks of relying solely on traditional methods and suggested a hybrid approach that combined both traditional and digital strategies.

Result: After reviewing the data and discussing the potential benefits, the team agreed to integrate more digital marketing into the strategy. This decision led to a 30% increase in our target audience engagement within the first quarter of the campaign's launch. My team member appreciated the constructive feedback, and it improved our overall team dynamic by encouraging open communication and collaboration.

By using the STAR method, you can effectively demonstrate your conflict resolution skills and your ability to advocate for ideas that benefit the team and the organization.