Tell me about a time when you had to collaborate with a co-worker whose personality was the opposite of yours.
Workplace personality differences will almost always be present, whether you work with a large team or a small one. The interviewer would like to see that you can make the best of any situation, regardless of personality differences. The goal of your response is to spotlight your collaborative qualities and show the interviewer you act professionally irrespective of the personality or behavior of others.
"(Situation) While obtaining my business degree, I was expected to collaborate on group projects. I am very organized and had to work on a significant project with another student who was disorganized and disinterested. (Task) Since I found myself working with a classmate I did not fully relate to, I knew it was up to me to generate the best project outcome. (Action) I kept my nose to the grindstone doing the work expected of me to the best of my ability. I could not force him to work harder. Instead, I decided that my delivery would shine. (Result) My approach worked tremendously, and we received one of the top marks in the class."
"(Situation) In my current role, I support the VP of Marketing. When she was on vacation this year, I spent much of my time assisting the Director of Sales. (Task) This particular individual did not give clear direction or feedback, which I found difficult. (Action) I asked for a meeting early on, and let him know that I work best when I am fully aware of the expectations and deadlines upfront. (Result) We worked pretty well together after that conversation. I am a supporter of open conversations and nipping communication issues in the bud before they become major concerns."
"(Situation) In marketing, there are many different creative personalities present, often in the same department or collaborating on the same project. One example that comes to mind was a junior copywriter I had to work with on a complex project. (Task) Compared to my copywriting experience, she was inexperienced but did not ask for help or feedback on anything. (Action) When I provided feedback on her work, she became defensive. I thought perhaps it was the way I was delivering the feedback. I asked her how she prefers to be approached when her work needs improvement. (Result) She apologized for her behavior, and we came up with a great new way to approach constructive conversations."
"(Situation) In my current role, the General Manager, who trained me as an Assistant Manager, was not my favorite person with which to collaborate. She was very brief in my training and seemed disengaged. (Task) I knew that it would be up to me to lead my training and ensure success. (Action) It took many extra hours to learn my new role more thoroughly and to go through the training manuals independently. (Result) I remained dedicated, despite her lack of enthusiasm, and earned a promotion to her position when she quit, shortly after. I do not believe in allowing other people's lack of enthusiasm to affect my own."
"(Situation) Earlier in my career, I worked with someone who would fake their cold call sheet and then become highly upset when they missed weekly targets. (Task) This situation was a challenging one because I knew the issue was simply the amount of effort he was putting in. (Action) I was not his manager and did not feel that it was my business to coach him, but I decided to share some pointers that I deployed to make cold calling more enjoyable. (Result) By taking the time to help him out, I maintained my workload and blew my own goals out of the water. His performance also improved significantly."
"(Situation) With Company ABC, I had a co-worker who was quite rude to customers, which I had a difficult time understanding. (Task) As an experienced retail associate, I understand the importance of being communicative and friendly to everyone I come across. (Action) I did not say anything until the time came where I had to deal with multiple customer complaints. At that point, I asked my co-worker if there was a way that I could help her to enjoy the day-to-day client interaction just a little bit better. (Result) We worked together on a new approach, and our customer complaints decreased by 35% in the first month."
"(Situation) For the most part, I have been able to get along remarkably well with my fellow teachers. Early on in my career, I did not get along very well with the teacher to whom I was the assistant. (Task) His teaching style was very abrupt, and he moved at too fast a pace for many of our IPP students. I knew that I needed to approach the situation with care. (Action) When I approached him about the situation, telling him what I had observed, he received it surprisingly well. (Result) Together, we made a plan to make the classroom a more comfortable place for all of the students. The rest of the year was full of positive results for the students and us as teachers."
Answer this question by giving a story-based example of a time you remained a team player, despite a challenging personality clash with a co-worker. Outline the situation and explain why it was vital that you encouraged collaboration with your co-worker. Focus the bulk of your response on the actions you took to communicate with this individual. If your teamwork yielded an impressive accomplishment, be sure to include this information in your response. Suppose you are newer to your career and do not have a work-related example. In that case, you can use a story-based example from your post-secondary, volunteer, or extra-curricular experience.
Behavioral-based interview questions that begin with 'Tell me about a time...' are best answered using the STAR method. STAR is an acronym for Situation, Task, Action, Result. Organizing your response using this framework will ensure that you provide the interviewer with the right amount of information and detail to form a compelling answer.
Avoid giving extreme responses that include speaking negatively of others. You will also want to avoid blanket statements such as telling the interviewer that you get along with everyone 100% of the time.
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
Earlier in my career, I worked with someone who was very collaborative, holding the information to herself. It made my work difficult. I invited meeting with her privately, and let her know that we both work best when we are sharing the information, aware of the progress, support each other to meet the deadlines. We worked pretty well after that conversation. I am a supporter of open conversations to clear out the issues.
Rachelle's Feedback
Try to clean up the answer a bit, as your interpretation of 'collaborative' may be a touch confusing here.
"Earlier in my career, I worked with someone who did not like to collaborate. This person's behavior made my work challenging, so I asked her to have a private discussion to figure out how we could best work together. After that conversation, we worked better together by sharing information, discussing the progress of our work, and supporting each other to meet deadlines."
Anonymous Answer
While obtaining my master's degree, we were expected to collaborate in groups. These groups were often assigned, and I would find myself working with classmates who wouldn't be my favorite person with whom to collaborate. I am very organized and had to work on a major project with another person who was disorganized and not interested. I remained dedicated, despite the lack of enthusiasm, so I decided that my delivery would shine. And it did!
Rachelle's Feedback
Deciding to shine, despite someone's inability to keep up, shows the interviewer your solid level of determination. Nicely done.
Anonymous Answer
Personally, someone that would be the opposite of me would be negative and slow. I do find that some people communicate through complaining, and for some, they tend to work at a slower pace. The negativity I can understand as just a way of communicating, and I tend to try to breathe deeply and slow down for those that are a bit slower. I try to recognize and respect the person I work with, where they are.
Rachelle's Feedback
Do you have a specific example that you could provide? Most behavioral questions are based on 'tell me about a time when...' If an example is not provided, this could greatly affect your interview outcome.
"I once had a coworker who was negative and worked slow. He often communicated by complaining. I would take a deep breath, slow down a bit, and train him on parts of our project that were slowing us down. By meeting him where he was, and better equipping him, we were able to collaborate."
Anonymous Answer
When working on the governance project the Consultant and I had different personalities, I tend to dot the I's and cross the Ts in my work and the consultant seemed rash and not too concerned with details. I openly discussed our difference in working style and appreciated his style in regards to speed and coverage. The project was successful. I worked extra hours and delivered on time, and he also recognized the need to make sure the document addressed all the governance issues.
Rachelle's Feedback
Great job explaining the differences in your working styles, and the pro's and con's of each.
Anonymous Answer
In grad school the professor assigned a project that required the class to split-up into small groups. We were assigned a project that required team feedback of each of our separate tasks. I thought that I had done a superior job on my project, but my coworkers did not think so. When my project was discussed in open-class, I was embarrassed by the teams' feedback. I learned that it was alright to have differences, as long as the finished project was within acceptable parameters.
Kristine's Feedback
Good answer! You do a nice job of describing the co-worker with which you had to work. To help the interviewer understand your personality, explain how your thinking is different from the co-worker you introduce. Go ahead and refer to the person as "he" or "she," as this will still maintain the privacy of the person. I revised your answer for clarity, with places for you to fill in the blanks.
For a team project where we prepared to give a presentation, there was a negative-thinking person on the team. I tend to be...., but nonetheless, I solicited this person's feedback, and she contributed to the team. In the end, the project....and I am glad I...
Anonymous Answer
I have a co-worker that likes to talk and ends up talking about things that are way off of topic instead of just addressing the issue at hand. I have had to work with him to try to keep him focused and back to what we are talking about while still letting him feel like he is saying what he wants and needs to say.
Kristine's Feedback
Good start! You mention working with a co-worker who has a completely different personality. Try to be more specific with your answer, explaining a certain situation where you worked with this co-worker.
Anonymous Answer
There was a time at a facility that I was teamed up with another individual where we worked on some projects independently and other projects together. I knew from the start after our first conversation that we might have a hard time collaborating on some points but didn't think about it till our first project. We went back and forth on a few points, which made it a little difficult and a little longer than expected but both being logical we both chose the best design and moved forward.
Rachelle's Feedback
It is very good that you came to an understanding in the end! What made you think that you may have a hard time collaborating? Part of this question is for the interviewer to gain insight into the characteristics and personality traits that you prefer to see in your coworkers.
Anonymous Answer
I worked with someone who was very quiet and appeared bored or angry most of the time. I was appalled when I was assigned to work with him as a direct partner because I had convinced myself that he was terrible at his job. What I learned, though, was that he was just very analytical, and once he had the opportunity to talk with customers about what he knew, he lit up like a bonfire. That experience taught me that everyone has their communication style and that I had a lot to learn from all types!
Rachelle's Feedback
It sounds like you learned a lot from this person...to not judge a book by its cover. This is a great story to tell. Nice answer!
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