Handling conflict

Choose the disagreement

A conflict example does not need to involve a dramatic argument. Different priorities, an unclear handover or a disagreement about how to approach a task can all give you something useful to discuss.

Pick an example where you can explain your own actions, and describe the difficulty honestly while showing that you tried to understand the other side.

Make your actions clear

1. Set up the difference.

   Briefly explain what you and the other person needed, and why the disagreement mattered to the work.

2. Explain your responsibility.

   Say what you were trying to achieve and which part of the problem was yours to address.

3. Describe the conversation.

   Explain what you asked, how you listened and what you proposed. Include any change you made to your own approach.

4. Share the outcome.

   Describe the agreement, the remaining difficulty or what you learned. A realistic partial resolution is more useful than an invented perfect ending.

An example answer

During a group project, a teammate wanted to keep adding features while I was worried we would miss the deadline. I was responsible for bringing the final presentation together, so I asked us to compare the remaining work against the assessment requirements. I also asked which feature they felt was most important and why. We agreed to finish the core version first and include their strongest idea if there was time. I updated the task list and checked in the next day. We submitted the core project on time, and I learned to make the trade-off visible rather than treating the disagreement as a lack of commitment.

The answer gives both perspectives, shows a specific conversation and ends with a result and a lesson. It explains the speaker’s contribution without presenting the teammate as the problem.

Same question. Your story.Free, no account neededUp to two minutesRecord my answer

Keep the focus useful

If you made a mistake, say so briefly and explain how you corrected it. Taking responsibility can make the example clearer and more credible.

• Spending most of the answer explaining why the other person was wrong.
• Saying “we communicated” without describing what you actually said or did.
• Claiming that you never experience disagreement.
• Describing a resolution without explaining how your actions contributed to it.

Rehearse the conversation

Use situation, task, action and result as your outline, with most of the detail in the action. Record the answer and check whether someone unfamiliar with the project could follow it.

On your next take, shorten the background and add one detail about the conversation or decision. DontBlank can help you review the structure and relevance of the spoken answer.