Today in this post we will talk about how to answer the job interview question – Tell me about a time when you disagreed with your boss. We will talk about how to build a powerful story that you’ll need to tell in a job interview! Specifically, when you’re asked to tell a story about a time when you disagreed with your boss, what do you say?

 
Let’s find out.
 

What you’ll learn today is:

4 basic points to consider when answering this question:

• ‘Tell me about a time when you disagreed with your boss’?

 

• What’s YOUR ‘conflict style’?

 

• Deep dive into one concrete example ‘disagreement’

 

• Just for fun: One bad example

4 key points to remember:

As I always say, this answer should come in the form of a story with details. That’s how people remember, that’s how people get to know you, and that’s what captivates people the most! The story should be quick, around 30 – 60 seconds long and definitely no longer than a minute and a half.

When telling your story, always be respectful of the “boss” character in your story. Use a nice tone and put him or her in a respectful light when telling the story. If you can’t do this, then don’t tell that story.

The real thing they want to know is how you handle conflict

Everyone has their own unique way of handling a conflict, so what is yours? (We’ll get more into this in just a minute.)

At the end of the day, they ARE the boss with the ultimate ability to fire you in most cases, even though bosses make mistakes too! If you’re in a job where you have a boss, the truth is you need to respect that person’s authority, even though sometimes it can be hard and even though that person is only a human who can be wrong just like any of us. A good boss will listen to your suggestions, and if you disagree with him or her, they’ll want to know more.

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If you do love reading, let’s get back to it.

Let’s talk about you & YOUR conflict style:

Before we go into any answering, I want you to ask yourself, “How do I handle conflict?” Do you get very stressed out and confront it head-on? Do you shy away from it and try to ignore it and pretend it’s not there? Do you just go along with what the boss wants even if you don’t agree? Or do you push forward until change happens? What’s your ideal way to solve a disagreement?

Now that we’ve hopefully unpacked a little bit about you, let’s get into a real example. Your answer needs to reflect you and your true beliefs and personality, and bringing your real self to any interview is truly the only way you can find the best fit for you in your career.

Example of Answer To Tell me About a Time When You Disagreed With Your Boss

Situation: Manager or big boss man or woman wants to have a big staff event that will cost the company a lot of money on a Sunday

You know that people are with their families and a lot of people are likely not going to show up on a Sunday. Therefore, the money spent won’t achieve the objective that the manager and you hope to achieve, but how do you tell your boss this?

Action

You might suggest moving the event to Friday afternoon or a Saturday. Here are a few ways you can bring it up:

“You probably already thought of this, but could we host the event on a Friday or a Saturday instead?”

“Have you thought of hosting the event on a Friday or a Saturday instead? Have you thought of doing it this way?”

“I was hoping to better understand why the event is going to take place on a Sunday.”

“Is there a reason we haven’t considered hosting the event on a Saturday or even a Friday?”

“At my last company, we did the event on Friday and we found that we had a lot better attendance. Would you be open to this?”

Result

The boss may give a very good reason as to why they chose Sunday for the event’s day, a reason that maybe you weren’t aware of. Perhaps there is no reason and it’s just a plain old bad idea!

When you approach them with your concern and suggestion in a kind manner, you have now done what you needed to do. If they still say no, then you can have a little back-and-forth but don’t take it too far.

I’ve seen people stand up to authority repeatedly in their careers – even in the most high level positions – and they always end up getting fired. It’s sad, because they are very good at their jobs and they didn’t want to be fired.

And the answer to this question using this example would sound like this:

• Tell the story of the event

 

• Then tell how you approached the disagreement

 

• Then tell the end result

Then you’re done!

Right, I almost forgot about the bad example. Okay, so the bad example would go like this:

“I’ve never had a disagreement with my boss before, ever.”

If you are absolutely stumped and you’ve got nothing, you could say: “I could tell you about a time I disagreed with a co-worker.” This may be easier to find a concrete story for.

In conclusion

And there you have it! The answer to The Big Boss Disagreement!

Now I’d love to hear from you! How do you feel about this question? Can you think of a disagreement you’ve had with your boss or a co-worker?

If you’d like to dive deeper with me…

If you want some help coming up with your own impressive story answers for interview questions…

If you have ever blanked when asked one of these questions…

I’ve got you covered in my famous downloadable guide.

All you have to do is click on the image below to get it.

What you’ll get inside the guide:

• Top-ten examples of stories that have proven to be impressive interview answers

 

• The S.A.R.I. formula breakdown of how to answer these questions

 

• The step-by-step of why it works

 

• Fill-in-the-blank templates for each question so, you’ll be able to fill in the blanks and get going!

 

• Now you’ll need to come up with your own stories! (You can steal the ones in the guide if they apply to you though too, I don’t mind)

 

If you are still getting stuck because you can’t think of your own stories…

I’ve included 25 questions that you can ask yourself to come up with your stories much quicker!

You’ll get all this in a beautifully designed workbook prepared specifically for you to prepare for your interviews.

By the end of working through this guide, you’ll be feeling confident and ready for any situational interview that comes your way!

Here is some feedback I’ve gotten from this guide, and I get new emails like this every day, and they NEVER get old!

Do you know one person who could benefit from the information in this post? If so, do your friend a favour and share this info with him/her.

And remember, the current system isn’t perfect, but you can outsmart it. I’m here to prove to you that you do have what it takes.

I’ll see you next time and I can’t wait!

In Work & Life

I’ve got your back

-Natalie