As a skilled manager, how do you deal with conflict on your team?
Your conflict resolution skills are a vital part of being an effective manager. The interviewer wants evidence of your ability to communicate with your team swiftly and professionally when conflict arises. You must show that you are unafraid to handle sensitive issues when they arise. An effective conflict management process includes:
1. Talking openly with the people involved.
2. Focusing on the events and facts rather than personality differences.
3. Listen carefully to all parties, allowing everyone to get their grievances out big and small.
4. Carve out the primary points of disagreement.
5. Carve out the primary points of agreement.
6. Create a collective plan of action to improve each area of conflict.
7. Review and follow up on the plan regularly.
Rather than delivering a general response of how you deal with conflict, try giving a real-life example of when you worked closely with your team to resolve a conflict. Show the interviewer that you can deal with conflict in a manner that aligns with the company's core values and leadership approach. When providing your story-based example, use the STAR answer framework to ensure that your story is clear, concise, and easy for the interviewer to follow. STAR is an acronym for Situation, Task, Action, Result.
"I have strong conflict management skills thanks to my years as a manager in high-pressure and competitive environments. In my current position, I have had to exercise my conflict-management skills numerous times since my team works in a high-stress, highly commissioned work environment. Although positively challenging in many ways, this environment can cause conflict among the team when misunderstandings arise. For instance, a few months ago, I had a team member come forward claiming that another team member had poached their client and unethically taken credit for monetary commissions. This was a serious accusation, so I took it upon myself to dig into the reporting and see what evidence I could find. I collected the information that I needed from our CRM and gathered reports from the HR department regarding commission payouts. I then asked the two into my office for a meeting where we collectively reviewed the situation. There was a grey area that the employee's decisions and behavior fell into, so the three of us came up with a satisfactory solution. I have regularly checked in with each employee, and it seems that they are working nicely with each other again. I will continue to be diligent in my follow-up, and I will review the reports carefully over the coming weeks. When a conflict presents itself, I like to deal with it swiftly, openly, and with total resolution. Transparency and openness are how I lead my team, and this approach has generated positive results throughout my career in management."
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