Tell us about a time you handled a difficult situation with a coworker.

Good answer
Last year one of our colleagues was displaying a lot of aggressive
behaviours, including dominating team meetings, belittling
other people’s ideas and not cooperating. I approached the
rest of my colleagues about him and soon realised everyone
was feeling the same as I was. We decided not to take the
matter to our manager until we had the opportunity to talk
to him first. So we decided that at our next meeting we would
raise these issues with him. I was chosen to initiate the
discussion. At the meeting I avoided personalising the problem
and I avoided using inflammatory language. I also adopted
an upbeat and optimistic tone. The results were better than
we anticipated. He thanked me for the delicate manner in
which I raised the issues and also thanked us all for talking
to him first before taking it further. After our meeting, his
behaviours changed markedly for the better.
Not so good answer
There was one time when one of my colleagues was not pulling
his weight, nor was he being at all cooperative with other
members of our team. The manager failed to pick it up because
some members of the team covered for his mistakes and he
would always go out of his way to be extremely friendly when
the manager was around. So one day when he was being
uncooperative I pulled him aside and let him know what I
thought about him. Ever since that day his behaviour towards
me changed. He went out of his way to be friendly towards me
and he made sure all the work that I needed was done properly.
Unfortunately, his behaviour towards the other members of
our team did not alter at all. The lesson I learned was that you
have to stick up for yourself because no one else will.
Comments
The first answer demonstrates an ability to consult with colleagues,
the capacity to solve a problem on your own rather than immediately
escalating it to management, and an ability to communicate highly
sensitive information in an appropriate manner. It also demonstrates
a great outcome for everyone involved. The second answer is too
narrow in its focus. It solved the problem only for that individual
but fails to address the broader issue of team harmony and
cooperation.