Focus on a work scenario and a time when you and your boss didn’t see eye-to-eye. Talk about the situation and what led to a disagreement with your boss, whether it was a miscommunication or a difference of opinions. Be sure to share both sides of the story, including from your boss’s point of view.
Specifically, with supervisor disagreements, they hope to learn how you maintain a high level of respect for management while effectively communicating your unique ideas. Disagreements can often result in conflict, so employers may hope to learn how you handle these situations. Here are the steps you can follow when answering this question: 1.
If you’ve already identified what you believe the core problem is, you might test the waters to see if your supervisor agrees with your number one issue being the primary area of concern. If they don’t, then you need to add their concerns to the list of issues you made to consider their points.
Most companies offer several ways of resolving conflict between supervisors and workers, including employee assistance programs (EAP), human resources intervention, and even third party mediators, that can all be valuable resources when you feel like you are “stuck”.
“The war… was an unnecessary condition of affairs, and might have been avoided if forbearance and wisdom had been practiced on both sides.” – General Lee. Your supervisor has a point of view. By actively listening to them express that point of view, you are signaling a willingness to listen and engage, as well as a respect for their authority.
Consider describing the situation with your supervisor objectively. You might detail what a project goal was, your assignment or the suggestions made by your manager. Try keeping the details of the situation focused on your responsibilities and interactions with your supervisor as they relate to this one specific situation.
Once you provide an overview, you might explain how you evaluated your manager's idea. Describe your critical thinking process and how you disagreed. This can show hiring managers about your ability to evaluate possible solutions and determine what you think is best.
Consider sharing the steps you took to discuss your opposing views with your supervisor. You might have scheduled a formal meeting to discuss your process and why you think your ideas might be better for the team or goals.
Share what the outcome was from your disagreement. Your manager may have accepted your input but decided to pursue their idea. In some scenarios, you may have influenced your manager to change your mind. This can show the effectiveness of your critical thinking skills.
Sharing what you learned can show hiring managers your ability to reflect on certain situations. They might appreciate that you can reflect and improve on your own skills through different situations.
"My former manager once suggested I used a new advertising strategy on one of our top products. As we hadn't tested this strategy yet, I wondered if it might be better to test it on one of our lower-performing products.
"When I was the sales manager at my last job, my former manager suggested I delegate a new account to one of my salespeople. He thought it might be a good idea to help them develop their account management skills as a newer salesperson.
Your answer should take less than 5 minutes. 3. Practice makes perfect. Practice makes perfect, the more you practice answering ‘describe a time when you disagreed with your supervisor question’ the better you will be at answering it in an interview setting.
1. Pick a good example. When answering this interview question, you want to pick a scenario that portrays you in a good way. Pick a case where you actively worked to resolve the conflict you had with your boss and not the cause. You also, want to be very specific, avoid general examples that do not really answer the questions and that are cliches. ...
Disagreements happen and it’s not a crime to have different views with your supervisor once. What you do about the disagreements, however, says a lot about who you are. How you interacted with your former boss determines how the interviewer will conclude your personality.
Here are a few key strategies that can help you put together the most positive response you can.
Make sure you step around the following obstacles when you frame your answer.
This one walks the middle ground. Try to come up with something similar for your interview.
Additionally, the hiring manager wants to understand how you’ll communicate a negative situation professionally. They’re looking for an answer that doesn’t sugarcoat the situation.
A hiring manager is well-versed in the realities of the professional world, including the fact that employees have at least a few disagreements with their supervisor from time to time. Honesty is the name of the game when it comes to succeeding in the interview.
The worst interview answer is saying that you disagreed, but kept quiet. Unless you apply for a job in North Korea, or in the army (in such places total obedience is required), you should always share your concerns and feedback with your boss.
Sharing your feedback is one thing, refusing to obey another. Talk about a situation in which you shared your feedback with the boss, but eventually followed their orders –regardless of whether you agreed with them or not.
Your boss is neither a prophet nor a God. They can make a mistake, they can be wrong. Just like everyone else, including yourself. Question about disagreements with your boss makes sense in every job interview. Hiring managers try to understand how you react to such situations.