Situational Judgement Test Navigating Team Dynamics 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Two of your teammates have developed a personal rivalry that is causing them to compete rather than collaborate on a shared deliverable. What is the MOST effective first step?
- Meet with each person individually to understand their perspective before bringing them together. (Correct answer)
- Report the rivalry to your manager and let leadership handle it.
- Ignore the situation and hope the competition motivates better results.
- Publicly call out the behavior in the next team meeting to discourage it.
Correct answer: Meet with each person individually to understand their perspective before bringing them together.
Private one-on-ones allow you to gather context and reduce defensiveness before facilitating a productive joint conversation.
Question 2: A high-performing team member frequently dismisses ideas from junior colleagues, which has started to silence them in discussions. As a peer, what should you do?
- Say nothing, as correcting a top performer could damage team morale.
- Directly amplify junior colleagues' ideas in the moment and privately speak to the dismissive team member. (Correct answer)
- Tell the junior colleagues to speak up more assertively and handle it themselves.
- Submit an anonymous complaint about the high performer to HR.
Correct answer: Directly amplify junior colleagues' ideas in the moment and privately speak to the dismissive team member.
Amplifying silenced voices in real time and providing private feedback addresses the behavior constructively without public confrontation.
Question 3: Your team has been assigned a project, but no one has taken ownership of coordinating tasks. Deadlines are approaching. What is the BEST course of action?
- Wait for your manager to assign a project lead before starting any work.
- Volunteer to coordinate task assignments and check-ins, then inform your manager of the plan. (Correct answer)
- Focus only on your own tasks and assume others will figure out coordination.
- Send an email to the team listing all missing tasks and blame the lack of leadership.
Correct answer: Volunteer to coordinate task assignments and check-ins, then inform your manager of the plan.
Stepping up to fill a coordination gap proactively while keeping your manager informed demonstrates initiative and accountability.
Question 4: During a retrospective, a team member gives harsh, personal criticism of another colleague's work in front of the group. How should you respond?
- Let the criticized colleague defend themselves — it's not your place to intervene.
- Agree with the criticism to avoid seeming biased.
- Redirect the discussion toward specific behaviors and outcomes, and reframe the feedback constructively. (Correct answer)
- End the retrospective early to prevent further conflict.
Correct answer: Redirect the discussion toward specific behaviors and outcomes, and reframe the feedback constructively.
Redirecting personal attacks toward behavior-focused, constructive feedback preserves psychological safety and keeps the retrospective productive.
Question 5: Your team's remote members consistently feel excluded from decisions made during in-office conversations. What is the MOST effective systemic fix?
- Require all remote employees to relocate to be closer to the office.
- Establish a policy that all decisions must be documented and shared asynchronously before being finalized. (Correct answer)
- Tell remote members to attend optional in-person days to stay informed.
- Ask remote members to check in more frequently to catch up on decisions.
Correct answer: Establish a policy that all decisions must be documented and shared asynchronously before being finalized.
An asynchronous documentation and review policy ensures all team members can participate in decisions regardless of location.
Question 6: A new team member is technically skilled but keeps working in isolation without sharing progress updates. The team is struggling to integrate their work. What should you do?
- Tell the manager the new hire is not a team player and recommend reassignment.
- Proactively schedule brief sync check-ins with the new member and explain the team's collaboration norms. (Correct answer)
- Assume the new member prefers solo work and restructure tasks to eliminate dependencies.
- Wait until the project ends and raise the issue in the post-mortem.
Correct answer: Proactively schedule brief sync check-ins with the new member and explain the team's collaboration norms.
A proactive check-in paired with clearly communicating collaboration expectations helps integrate the new member without escalating prematurely.
Question 7: Two sub-teams within your group have developed conflicting approaches to the same technical problem and refuse to align. The project deadline is next week. What is MOST appropriate?
- Let each sub-team implement their approach and merge the results at the end.
- Escalate to your manager immediately and wait for a directive.
- Facilitate a structured comparison of both approaches against agreed criteria and drive the team to a time-boxed decision. (Correct answer)
- Pick one approach at random to move forward quickly.
Correct answer: Facilitate a structured comparison of both approaches against agreed criteria and drive the team to a time-boxed decision.
A structured, criteria-based comparison with a clear time-box enables an objective decision without letting the conflict drag past the deadline.
Situational Judgement Test Navigating Team Dynamics 2
Two of your teammates have developed a personal rivalry that is causing them to compete rather than collaborate on a shared deliverable.
What is the MOST effective first step?