CSJT Working Together and Collaboration Questions and Answers

Question 1

You are assigned to a cross-departmental project.
A key colleague from another department is consistently unresponsive to emails and has missed several deadlines, which is now jeopardizing your team's ability to complete its tasks.
What is the most effective initial action to take?

Accepted Answer

Proactively schedule a brief, informal meeting with the colleague to understand their workload, clarify priorities, and agree on a better way of communicating.

Answer

Immediately escalate the issue to the colleague's line manager to ensure they are held accountable.

Answer

Inform your own manager that the project is at risk due to the other department's lack of cooperation.

Answer

Complete the colleague's overdue tasks yourself to ensure the project stays on schedule.

Question 2

Which of the following actions best demonstrates a commitment to inclusive collaboration within a team setting?

Accepted Answer

Actively seeking out and encouraging contributions from quieter members of the team and ensuring all perspectives are considered.

Answer

Making decisions quickly to demonstrate leadership and keep the project moving forward.

Answer

Assigning the most critical tasks to the most experienced team members to guarantee quality.

Answer

Sticking rigidly to the meeting agenda to ensure efficiency and respect for everyone's time.

Question 3

Your team is collaborating with another department on a new policy initiative. During a joint meeting, it becomes clear that the two teams have fundamentally different approaches and priorities, leading to tension. What is the most effective step to take?

Accepted Answer

Organize a workshop with both teams to establish a shared understanding of the overall project goal and agree upon joint principles and ways of working.

Answer

Insist that the other team adopts your team's well-established methods to ensure consistency.

Answer

Keep communication with the other team to a minimum and focus on delivering your team's part of the work independently.

Answer

Report the disagreements to senior management and ask them to make a final decision on the approach.

Question 4

In the context of the Civil Service 'Working Together' competency, what is the primary purpose of sharing information and resources with colleagues from different teams or departments?

Accepted Answer

To support wider organisational objectives and deliver better, more integrated outcomes for the public.

Answer

To ensure your team receives appropriate credit for its contributions to wider projects.

Answer

To build a personal network of contacts that can help with future career progression.

Answer

To reduce your own team's workload by distributing tasks more widely across the organisation.

Question 5

You are in a project meeting where a colleague presents an idea that you know from previous experience is unworkable and likely to fail. How should you respond?

Accepted Answer

Acknowledge the colleague's contribution, then gently ask probing questions that help the colleague and the group discover the potential issues for themselves.

Answer

Immediately point out the flaws in their idea in front of the group to prevent wasting time.

Answer

Say nothing in the meeting to avoid creating conflict, but raise your concerns privately with your manager afterwards.

Answer

Wait until after the meeting and email the colleague directly to tell them why their idea will not work.

Question 6

You have just completed a complex piece of analysis that could be highly beneficial for several other teams in your directorate. However, sharing it widely would involve taking the time to write a summary and explain the findings. What is the best course of action?

Accepted Answer

Proactively take the time to create a clear summary of your findings and share it with the relevant teams, offering to answer any questions.

Answer

Email the raw data to the other team leaders, as you do not have time to do a full write-up.

Answer

Wait to see if anyone specifically asks for the information before sharing it.

Answer

Withhold the analysis, as sharing it might give other teams an advantage in upcoming budget allocations.

You are assigned to a cross-departmental project.A key colleague from another department is consistently unresponsive to emails and has missed several deadlines, which is now jeopardizing your team's ability to complete its tasks.What is the most effective initial action to take?

You are assigned to a cross-departmental project.
A key colleague from another department is consistently unresponsive to emails and has missed several deadlines, which is now jeopardizing your team's ability to complete its tasks.
What is the most effective initial action to take?