Describe a situation where you had to mediate a conflict between two colleagues. Explain the issue, your approach to facilitating a resolution, and the ultimate outcome for their professional relationship.

• Situation: In my previous role as a Project Coordinator, I observed a growing tension between two senior developers, Sarah and Mark. Sarah, a front-end specialist, prioritized rapid feature deployment to meet client demands, while Mark, a back-end architect, focused heavily on system stability and code scalability, often pushing back on Sarah's timeline estimates. Their differing priorities led to frequent disagreements during sprint planning and review meetings, causing delays and affecting team morale.
• Task: My task was to intervene as a neutral party to understand both of their perspectives, identify the root cause of their conflict, and facilitate a constructive dialogue to find a mutually agreeable solution that would benefit the project and restore their collaborative working relationship.
• Action: I first scheduled separate, informal one-on-one meetings with both Sarah and Mark. In these conversations, I actively listened to their concerns, acknowledging the validity of each of their perspectives. I helped them articulate their priorities without judgment. It became clear that while their goals seemed contradictory, they both genuinely wanted the project to succeed. The core issue was a lack of shared understanding of their dependencies and a communication breakdown regarding the impact of their respective priorities on the overall timeline. After these individual discussions, I brought them together for a facilitated conversation. I set clear ground rules for respectful dialogue and encouraged them to articulate their needs directly to each other. I guided them to focus on solutions rather than blame, prompting questions like, 'What information do you need from each other to work more effectively?' and 'How can we create a shared understanding of project milestones that accounts for both front-end agility and back-end robustness?' We collectively identified the need for more frequent, structured sync-ups specifically around feature-to-system integration points, and agreed to create a 'dependency matrix' to visualize their interconnections and proactively flag potential conflicts.
• Result: As a result of this mediation, Sarah and Mark gained a much deeper appreciation for each other's roles and challenges. Their communication significantly improved, moving from reactive arguments to proactive problem-solving. They began to anticipate each other's needs, leading to smoother hand-offs and fewer integration issues. Project delays related to their previous conflicts ceased, and their working relationship transformed from contentious to genuinely collaborative. This positive shift not only improved project efficiency but also contributed to a more harmonious and productive team environment overall.

The STAR method is a structured way to answer behavioral interview questions by providing concrete examples of your experiences. It stands for:

• Situation: Describe the background or context of the event.
• Task: Explain your responsibility or what you needed to achieve.
• Action: Detail the specific steps you took to address the situation or complete the task.
• Result: Summarize the outcomes of your actions and what you learned.