Handling Conflict at Work

Handling Conflict at Work

Common question: "Tell me about a time you had a conflict with a colleague."

Key Vocabulary

Example STAR Answer

S: "There was a technical disagreement with a senior engineer about whether to use REST or GraphQL for our new API."
T: "We needed to make a decision within a week as the sprint was starting."
A: "I proposed that each of us document the trade-offs and present them to the team. After discussion, we agreed that REST was the better fit given our use case."
R: "The decision was made quickly and both sides felt heard. The API has been running in production for 18 months without issues."

Phrases to Show Maturity

• "I tried to understand their perspective before presenting mine."
• "We focused on the data rather than personal preferences."
• "In the end, we reached a consensus that worked for the team."