We believe our ability to overcome conflict is important to our mission to improve quality of life. Can you share with me a time in which you experienced conflict in the workplace?
Walk your Sodexo interviewer through a time in which you experienced and overcame a conflict at work using the STAR (situation, task, action, result) model to frame your response. If possible, tell a story that demonstrates you have the qualities Sodexo values in their employees such as empathy, positivity, humility, service to others, etc. Finally, end your response by letting your interviewer know what you learned through the resolution of the conflict.
"Last year my team lead noticed I was not following her preferred method for preparing certain dishes. I trained under her when I arrived at the company, but my experience extends beyond what she taught me. As a result, I developed my own method to help me prepare the dishes faster.
She was upset that I went rogue and asked me to return to doing things her way. I respected her as the team lead and I immediately honored her request until the end of my shift and then asked if she was free to talk. I explained I had not changed things out of disrespect and that I was taking the opportunity to use skills I had gained under previous employment. I apologized for not coming to her to discuss it first and asked if she would be open to my sharing the details of the efficiencies I was able to make.
My team lead listened and was open to my ideas. We set up a time to talk again and ultimately developed a new method that included several of my ideas while maintaining the integrity of pieces of the process she felt very strongly about. In hindsight, I learned that it would have been better to discuss my ideas first before deciding on my own to implement them, but I am grateful that a calm, respectful, and positive approach worked out to serve the team in the end."
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
I like to talk it out. Not only with whom the person involved is but my mentors and peers whom I have grown to trust the opinions of over time, get their insight, and derive a decision from there of what I should do moving forward.
Marcie's Feedback
Excellent. Talking it out is a great strategy when you're experiencing conflict at work. Other things you can do include listening, trying to understand the other person's perspective, and creating an action plan together. This question specifically asks about a time when you successfully handled conflict at work. Can you think of an example you can talk about to the interviewer?
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