Hire and Develop the Best: Handling Conflict

Situation

I was leading a small team working on a performance-critical refactor. One of our newer team members was an incredibly smart developer but often clashed with others during code reviews. Tension started rising, and two engineers even began avoiding collaboration entirely.

I realized that this was not just a personality issue — it was blocking team productivity and undermining our culture of mentorship.

Task

As the tech lead, I needed to resolve the conflict and help this promising developer level up in both technical influence and emotional intelligence — without discouraging them or losing trust from the rest of the team.

Action

I invited the developer for a 1:1 and created a safe space to give feedback. I used specific examples of how their tone in reviews had been perceived. I reframed it not as a performance issue, but as a chance to become a mentor and thought leader.

We agreed on two coaching goals:

• ✅ Ask clarifying questions before pushing back in PRs
• ✅ Give context along with suggestions (the “why” behind the comment)

I also paired them with a senior engineer from another team for shadow reviews and brought them into 1:1 candidate interviews to help them learn from the best.

// Before:
  "This makes no sense. We should rewrite this."
  
  // After:
  "I think I see what you’re going for here. Would it make sense to extract this into a shared util for reusability?"
      

Result

Over the next quarter, the engineer became one of our most respected reviewers. They even started mentoring our next new hire and were promoted 6 months later. Conflict within the team significantly dropped, and our code quality improved due to more thoughtful review discussions.

During my performance review, my manager called out how I didn’t just resolve a conflict — I grew a future leader. That remains one of the proudest moments of my career.

Reflection

• 🌱 Great talent needs coaching — not just feedback.
• 🤝 Mentorship is often about listening, not fixing.
• 🧠 Psychological safety helps people grow — even when challenged.
• 🎯 Developing others is a force multiplier for any team’s success.

FAQ