As consultants, we are accountable to our senior management within the company and our clients. How would you handle conflicts between the goals of the two groups?

Remember to provide an example of how you resolved a conflict like this in the past if possible. Also, it is best to highlight a scenario in which the needs of both parties were met in some way or another. Interviewers value candidates that can resolve this type of conflict scenario through a mutual benefit approach.

"I take a custom approach to resolve conflicts in a scenario in which my management and the management of my clients have goals that are in conflict with each other. I have worked for consulting firms for the last seven years, and this scenario has occurred several times. The most important thing to me is that I find a solution with integrity that can benefit all of the parties in some way or another.

For example, my senior management set quotas for follow-up work with our major clients. They wanted us to increase our sales in that category by at least 15%. I was staffed most of the year on projects for two main clients. I was able to work with one of them to generate several key follow-up initiatives, but the other client was in a tough spot. They were heading into a downsizing period and my main contacts there were fearful that they would lose their jobs. It felt wrong to reach out and propose new work with them when I knew they were already in a decent place solution-wise and they were in the process of cutting back.

My manager met with me to discuss the risk of me not meeting my goal for the year. I let her know that I felt strongly that we needed to give this particular client time before proposing new work. I then pitched an idea to offer to do several free training refreshers over the next six months as a show of support. My management was hesitant, but they ultimately went for it and we were able to land several follow-up projects with the client once things stabilized at their company."