You’re not just asked formal questions about academics, skills, education and experience in the interview. 

You’re judged, tested and observed keenly. This comes with a lot of open-ended questions and a bit tricky ones.

One of them is “how do you handle conflict”. This is one of the most important and deciding questions that you should be able to answer in your interview. 

This question is perfect for interviewers if they want to know about the candidate's leadership abilities and how he reacts to certain situations.

Theoretical knowledge never tells who you are as a human and your abilities. That’s why, in a job interview, these questions hold significance.

What Is This Question About “ How Do You Handle Conflict”?

This question is basically about how a candidate reacts to certain tricky situations. The question is asked to know about the candidate better, how he makes moves, and what he chooses to be in a conflict.

The question is not so hard but turns if you’re not ready or have never experienced a conflict situation in your career.

The job you are applying for has many different roles which demand you to be proactive and have a problem-solving nature.

That’s why this question is asked, and you have to answer the question by giving some situation-based examples.

How To Deal With Conflict Resolution Answers? What Should You Keep In Mind?

To answer the conflict resolution answer in an interview, you should prepare before you go for an interview.

Research About Your Abilities:

First things come first. Before preparing the question, you need to research your capabilities and abilities. You should always know what you are capable of and what situations you can handle.

Moreover, you must know about your nature as a human. Are you aggressive, reactive, calm or a problem solver?

Knowing the answer to this question makes the rest of the steps easy.

Take Real Life Examples or Make One:

In the preparation, step comes recalling a situation where you handled a conflict in your company and saved everyone from chaos.

You can take any example from your life in the workplace and structure your answer in your head correctly.

That’s impossible if you’ve worked in a company and not encountered a conflict. Think about that and craft a framework for conflict interview questions.

What’s The Structure or Outline?

To answer the tricky conflict resolution interview question, you must design a formula in your head.

Situation:

 

Quickly recall any situation you encountered about handling a conflict in your team.

Mention Your Communication Skills:

To strengthen your answer, you must discuss how you resolved the conflict using your communication skills and strategies.

Talk About Your Steps: 

Start by introducing a situation and then talk about how you convinced everyone on the same page or convinced them.

Please talk about your strategies, how you handle the conflict and how you react to their disagreement.

Result:

Lastly, talk about the outcome. What did you expect, and what exactly happened? How was the conflict resolved, and what was your role? 

Conflict Resolution Examples 

Here are a few sorted examples that can help you better understand what you have to put in your answer and how you can make an impression.

“While working at WXC Company as a senior graphic designer, everything was under control. Once, I had to lead a team for a campaign. We had been asked to create a campaign for a perfume launch.

I divided the roles among my team members and informed them about their tasks and what I expected from them. I held meetings with them regularly to make sure we were on track. On the day our manager wanted us to complete and submit everything, one of my team members had to present and edit the designs needed to answer the phone call. 

Our submission got pending, and we were under pressure. That was the time to think and act wisely. I quickly told everyone to stay calm and negotiate with our manager. I explained the situation clearly and made him understand that the delay wasn’t due to any carelessness but a coincidence. 

The manager listened to me carefully and picked my point, and we got an extension on the deadline. My team members and the one who had an emergency delivered the work on time, and we completed our task.”

Sample Answer To How To Handle Any Objection On Your Work?

If you’re asked this question in an interview, the most decent way to answer the question is by mentioning your situation, your actions and strategies, and how you came out of this situation.

Here’s a conflict resolution example regarding “objection.”

“I was always admired at work due to my diligence, on-time delivery and creativity. I submitted a logo design for a multi-million dollar company, which I designed in 15 days.

Everything was on point, but somehow the client that had contacted my company for services didn’t like it. My head told me I was the reason for getting a negative remark from one of the leading company’s Marketing managers managers.

I didn’t get disappointed. Instead, I took time to rethink and strategize my plan. The next day, I told the customer satisfaction team to contact the same manager and let them know that we’ll compensate their time by providing them with three different design ideas, and the one which they would like to proceed with will go further for the final design.

This was a powerful approach as our company had a name in design services. The marketing manager liked the idea and contacted us with his decision. I went with his ideated design and made Five versions of the logo from which he had to choose one. 

Now, in the final delivery I mentioned, he left a positive review.”

Learning from this conflict resolution example:

How you answer your interviewer makes the difference; you must confidently mention your strategies and how you resolved the conflict.

How Do You Handle Disagreements When Working As Part Of A Team? Provide An Example

Suppose your interviewer asks you how you handle disagreements. That’s a sign he wants to know how you are as a team member and how you handle conflicts.

The sample answer is:

“Being a member of a team of 20 people, we worked on different projects every day. The pressure and workload were bearable. Once, my team member and I had to decide on a theme for a new campaign for a client. My team member disagreed with what I suggested. 

This was the moment at which I didn’t burst emotionally. I took a deep breath and put my suggestion in front of him. I suggested that we could improve it if we went with my chosen design. Again, he resisted, which made me rethink. 

I asked him to forward his design theme, and then we submitted both themes to our head, and he chose the best version.

This way, I saved our team from a conflict and saved time wisely.”

Mention Your Use of Emotional Intelligence

While answering the question “How to deal with conflict”, you must mention how you use your emotional intelligence to solve problems and resolve conflicts in a team.

You can mention your nature and way of handling disagreements and resolving issues. Remember, in front of the interviewer, you have to make a powerful impression, and you must do that by identifying your emotional strengths.

Why Do Interviewers Ask “How Do You Deal With a Conflict?”

The interviewers ask this question to know who the person behind the CV is and his strengths.

They judge you by asking some open-ended questions, which may seem ordinary, but answering them is tricky.

You must prepare for this question and make a structure in your mind.  

Conclusion:

You must analyze yourself critically before going for an interview. Your own analysis can help you create structure in your mind and ace your interview. 

The preparation can save you from staying blank when you’re asked this question.