PMBOK Leading High-Performance Teams 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A project manager observes that team velocity has dropped significantly over the past three sprints despite no change in team composition. What should the project manager investigate FIRST?
- Whether team members are working enough overtime hours
- Potential impediments, team morale, or process bottlenecks affecting productivity (Correct answer)
- Whether the estimation process was flawed from the beginning
- If the product owner is adding too many features to the backlog
Correct answer: Potential impediments, team morale, or process bottlenecks affecting productivity
A sustained velocity drop signals systemic issues like impediments, morale problems, or process friction that must be diagnosed before prescribing solutions.
Question 2: Which of the following BEST describes servant leadership as applied in PMBOK?
- The leader makes all key decisions to protect the team from ambiguity
- The leader focuses on removing obstacles and serving the team's needs to maximize their effectiveness (Correct answer)
- The leader delegates all authority to the team and steps back entirely
- The leader prioritizes stakeholder needs over team wellbeing in all situations
Correct answer: The leader focuses on removing obstacles and serving the team's needs to maximize their effectiveness
Servant leadership in PMBOK emphasizes supporting the team by removing impediments, facilitating collaboration, and enabling their success.
Question 3: During project execution, a high-performing team member begins consistently missing deadlines. According to PMBOK best practices, what is the recommended approach?
- Document the performance issues and initiate formal corrective action immediately
- Have a private conversation to understand underlying causes and offer support (Correct answer)
- Redistribute the team member's tasks to other team members without discussion
- Wait until the next performance review cycle to address the issue formally
Correct answer: Have a private conversation to understand underlying causes and offer support
PMBOK recommends addressing performance issues promptly through direct, supportive conversation to identify root causes before taking formal action.
Question 4: What does the concept of 'emotional intelligence' (EI) contribute to project leadership according to PMBOK?
- It helps project managers automate routine team tasks more efficiently
- It enables leaders to recognize and manage their own and others' emotions to improve team dynamics (Correct answer)
- It provides a framework for measuring team member IQ and performance potential
- It replaces the need for formal conflict resolution procedures
Correct answer: It enables leaders to recognize and manage their own and others' emotions to improve team dynamics
Emotional intelligence allows project leaders to understand emotional cues, build trust, and navigate interpersonal dynamics to improve team performance.
Question 5: A project manager is creating a team charter. Which element is MOST important to include?
- Detailed salary information for each team member
- Team values, communication agreements, and decision-making processes (Correct answer)
- A comprehensive list of all project deliverables and milestones
- The organizational hierarchy and reporting structure
Correct answer: Team values, communication agreements, and decision-making processes
A team charter establishes shared values, communication norms, and decision-making approaches to guide how the team will work together.
Question 6: According to PMBOK, which conflict resolution technique results in the MOST durable long-term resolution?
- Smoothing, by minimizing differences to maintain harmony
- Forcing, by applying positional power to end the dispute quickly
- Collaborating, by finding a mutually acceptable solution that addresses all parties' concerns (Correct answer)
- Avoiding, by postponing discussion until emotions have settled
Correct answer: Collaborating, by finding a mutually acceptable solution that addresses all parties' concerns
Collaborating (problem-solving) produces the most durable resolution because it addresses the underlying concerns of all parties rather than suppressing them.
Question 7: A project team is underperforming despite having strong individual skills. Which factor is MOST likely the root cause according to high-performance team principles?
- Team members lack technical certifications required for the project
- Lack of shared purpose, clear goals, or effective collaboration norms (Correct answer)
- The project manager is not technically proficient enough to lead the team
- The team has not yet attended formal project management training
Correct answer: Lack of shared purpose, clear goals, or effective collaboration norms
High-performance teams require aligned purpose, clear goals, and strong collaboration norms — without these, even highly skilled individuals underperform collectively.
PMBOK Leading High-Performance Teams 3
A project manager observes that team velocity has dropped significantly over the past three sprints despite no change in team composition.
What should the project manager investigate FIRST?