No matter what type of environment you work in, you’re likely to experience varying degrees of conflict in any role - whether it be a simple disagreement about how to manage a project, or more serious incidents of toxicity.

This is why an interview question like “tell me a time when you experienced conflict in the workplace” is one that frequently gets asked in job interviews.

It’s a question that can easily throw off a lot of job applicants, however when answered well provides a great opportunity to show off your resilience and relationship building capabilities, two highly sought-after attributes.

So, just why is it important to answer this question correctly, and how should you respond if you are asked this in an interview?

Being a great candidate is about more than just possessing the skills and qualifications for the job. Many tasks or projects involve interacting with stakeholders, colleagues and clients to get the job done, all of whom have differing expectations and agendas. Employers want to get a sense of how well you might approach conflict if it were to occur.

Asking you about a time when you encountered workplace conflict provides an employer with an understanding of your emotional intelligence (EQ) to determine how adept you are in managing relationships. Your answer provides insight into how you would react in certain situations, and the acquired learning you’ve developed as a result of your experiences.

Our specialist consultants have heard this question answered both insightfully well and in ways that signal silent alarms. Interestingly, those who answer this question poorly don’t seem to be aware that they’re doing so.

We have therefore provided some guidelines for job applicants that may be useful.

Pick a relevant situation and be as specific as possible

Briefly describe the context of the conflict that occurred at your workplace and your role in that conflict. It is important that you are not only explaining how conflict might occur, but that you provide a specific example of when it did occur.

Ensure you choose an instance that resulted in a positive outcome for all parties involved, and include any lessons you may have learned or how you manage conflict differently as a result. Be concise, to the point and make sure you don’t speak negatively of past employers or colleagues, as this won’t look favourably on you.

For example – “In my previous company we introduced new technology after 10 years of using the same one. There were a number of staff who were finding it difficult to use and were very vocal in their dislike of the product, preferring the previous way of doing things. This was causing conflict to arise with management and amongst teams, as staff were having difficulties completing tasks as efficiently.”

Discuss the steps/actions you took

Next, expand on the steps or approach you took to resolve the conflict. When describing a conflict, be sure to own your part as well. Rather than talking about how a former colleague was a ‘difficult personality’, try to focus on the issue instead of the person. Talk about what went wrong, what you learned and how you’d avoid such conflict in the future.

For example – “Once I understood that staff were having trouble operating this new system, I decided to put together a short training session that went into detail about the new processes, and allowed me to answer any questions they had. I explained why implementing this new system will be a win for the company in terms of productivity and profitability. Following the training, we identified ‘master users’ and allowed people to use them for added support if and when required.”