Share with me a time when you disagreed with a team member.

Question Analysis

This question is designed to evaluate your interpersonal skills, conflict resolution abilities, and how well you work in a team setting. The interviewer is interested in understanding how you handle disagreements professionally and whether you can maintain a positive working relationship with colleagues despite differences of opinion. It's important to demonstrate your ability to listen, communicate effectively, and find a constructive resolution.

Answer

Situation: In my previous role as a project manager, our team was tasked with delivering a software update. During a planning meeting, a team member proposed a new feature that I believed would delay the project timeline and exceed our budget constraints.

Task: As the project manager, it was my responsibility to ensure the project stayed on track both time-wise and financially, while also maintaining team harmony and considering all ideas.

Action: I acknowledged the team member's enthusiasm and the potential value of the feature. I suggested we evaluate the impact by conducting a quick feasibility study. I facilitated a discussion where we laid out the pros and cons of including the feature and explored possible compromises, like adding it to a future update instead.

Result: Through open dialogue and data-driven analysis, the team agreed to postpone the feature to a later update, ensuring we met our current project goals. The team member appreciated that their idea was considered, and we maintained a collaborative environment. The project was delivered on time and within budget, and the postponed feature was successfully implemented in a subsequent update.