CME Communication & Stakeholder Management 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A project manager notices that a key stakeholder has become disengaged and stopped attending meetings. What is the BEST first step?
- Remove the stakeholder from the communication plan
- Schedule a one-on-one meeting to understand their concerns (Correct answer)
- Escalate the issue to senior leadership immediately
- Continue sending meeting invites and hope they re-engage
Correct answer: Schedule a one-on-one meeting to understand their concerns
A private conversation allows the manager to uncover the root cause of disengagement before escalating or restructuring communication.
Question 2: Which communication model best describes the process where a sender encodes a message, transmits it through a channel, and the receiver decodes it?
- Lasswell's model
- Shannon-Weaver model (Correct answer)
- Transactional model
- Spiral model
Correct answer: Shannon-Weaver model
The Shannon-Weaver model is the classic linear transmission model involving encoding, channel, and decoding steps.
Question 3: When managing stakeholders with HIGH power and LOW interest, the recommended engagement strategy is to:
- Manage closely with frequent updates
- Keep satisfied with minimal but strategic communication (Correct answer)
- Monitor with minimal effort
- Collaborate deeply on all decisions
Correct answer: Keep satisfied with minimal but strategic communication
High-power, low-interest stakeholders should be kept satisfied to prevent them from becoming obstacles without overwhelming them with detail.
Question 4: A CME candidate is presenting a proposal to a skeptical executive board. Which approach is MOST effective for persuasion?
- Lead with detailed data tables and technical appendices
- Open with a compelling narrative tied to organizational goals before presenting data (Correct answer)
- Distribute a written report and allow the board to read independently
- Focus exclusively on financial projections
Correct answer: Open with a compelling narrative tied to organizational goals before presenting data
Framing data within a narrative that connects to executive priorities increases buy-in by making the proposal personally relevant.
Question 5: Active listening is best demonstrated by:
- Preparing your response while the speaker is still talking
- Paraphrasing the speaker's points and asking clarifying questions (Correct answer)
- Taking extensive notes without making eye contact
- Nodding frequently regardless of the content
Correct answer: Paraphrasing the speaker's points and asking clarifying questions
Paraphrasing and clarifying questions confirm understanding and signal genuine engagement to the speaker.
Question 6: In cross-functional team communication, 'information silos' are MOST effectively broken down by:
- Mandating daily written status reports from every department
- Creating shared dashboards and cross-departmental liaison roles (Correct answer)
- Limiting communication to formal memos to reduce noise
- Assigning one executive as the sole communication gatekeeper
Correct answer: Creating shared dashboards and cross-departmental liaison roles
Shared dashboards and liaison roles create structural channels for ongoing lateral information flow across functions.
Question 7: Which conflict resolution style involves finding a middle ground where both parties give up something to reach agreement?
- Collaborating
- Avoiding
- Compromising (Correct answer)
- Forcing
Correct answer: Compromising
Compromising requires each party to concede on some points, resulting in a partially satisfying outcome for both sides.
CME Communication & Stakeholder Management 2
A project manager notices that a key stakeholder has become disengaged and stopped attending meetings.
What is the BEST first step?