"After meeting with the operational support staff, it was clear that they felt as though they were taken for granted and completely disregarded by the sales staff as a whole. Not only did it make them feel devalued and lower their morale, but that in turn lowered their productivity. Rather than just let these feelings fester, I decided to listen to the ops staff and then bridge the gap with the sales team. By sitting down and having a conversation, and laying out a more effective way of delegating work, everyone walked out feeling better about the job, situation, and their coworkers."

"I problem solve quite often at work, primarily with customer resolution. Just yesterday I worked with a customer who was unhappy. Through patient communication, I was able to resolve the complaint and create another returning customer."

"I am a frequent problem solver. Last week, I was eating lunch in the break room when I noticed a bottleneck of people from the assembly line all trying to get to the microwave and vending machines. It was a jumbled mess of people, and they only have 30 minutes. I developed a plan to rearrange the break room for better flow, and now the lunchtime process runs smoother for the staff. This small change alone made a huge difference in the morale of my staff."

"I recently had a student who was very disruptive in class and often accused of bullying. I notified my principal of the situation. She called the parents in for a meeting that she led; however, I was present. We made a behavior action plan for the student with attached consequences should he deviate from the plan. It worked well and nipped the problem in the bud before there was any real emotional damage done to the other students."

"We recently had a concern surrounding employee theft. As the retail store manager, I needed to get to the bottom of the situation before the issue escalated. I called the corporate head office to collaborate on a plan that followed the HR guidelines. I implemented the plan, which included additional security cameras, and we caught the employee on camera shortly after."

Problem-solving and dispute resolution are fundamental skills to possess. Display to the interviewer that you are capable of problem-solving within the workplace. Show that you can be a team player, even in the face of conflict.

"In my most recent position we had a consistent problem with employees showing up late for their shifts or calling in sick at the very last moment. Rather than the typical documenting and reprimanding style that management usually takes, I decided to track the results of an accountability reward system. For 180 days, my employees received a reward for coming to work 10 minutes early. Also, for every month with zero sick days, a bonus was added. In the end, we awarded those with perfect attendance a 600 bonus. The bonuses cost us less money, in the end than the cost of lowered productivity due to absent employees. The program was a success, and upper management chose to keep it implemented for another six months. We will reassess in December, but it seems to be working very well."