How do you plan to deal with conflicts between team members?
The deep passion for putting patients first and a commitment to quality of care can make emotions run high for staff at that NHS. As an NHS team leader, conflict among staff can happen from time to time, and you will need to have the ability to manage staff conflicts in a fair, professional and respectful manner.
"As an NHS team leader, I will do my best to never let problems explode and start impacting patient care before I get involved. I will always try to identify potential conflicts before they happen. When I've faced colleague conflicts in the past, my approach was to remain calm, communicate with both parties, suggest solutions, and encourage my team to respect each other. At the NHS, new ideas and ways of doing things should always be encouraged, fully knowing that disagreements will happen from time to time."
Have a plan to answer this question during your interview. It's a great idea to talk about things you will bring to the table in this role that will help prevent conflict, like making expectations clear and communicating clear goals. But when the inevitable conflict among your team does happen, it's important to reiterate that you would always involve all parties in discussions and be a great communicator during times of disagreement.
