People & Team Leadership

A newly formed team is experiencing frequent conflict and members are challenging each other's roles. According to the Tuckman model, which stage is the team in, and what should the servant-leader do?

• APerforming; step back and let the team self-manage, since role challenges show they have reached full autonomy
• BAdjourning; begin documenting lessons learned and releasing members back to their functional units
• CForming; assign detailed tasks to each member
• DStorming; facilitate open dialogue and help the team establish working agreements✓

Answer: Frequent conflict and role challenges characterize the Storming stage; a servant-leader coaches the team through it by facilitating dialogue and helping set working agreements. This builds the trust needed to reach Norming and Performing.

Three months into a product build, the design team and the engineering team are delivering features that pull in different directions, and each insists it is following the agreed product vision. What should the project manager do FIRST?

• AAsk the sponsor to decide which team's reading of the vision is correct and instruct the other team to change course at once
• BFind the root cause of the two teams' differing interpretations, then re-confirm the vision with key stakeholders✓
• CRewrite the vision statement in far more technical detail so that neither team can ever interpret it differently again
• DLet each team continue on its own reading for now, and reconcile the differences at the next scheduled release review

Answer: When people disagree about what a shared vision means, the project manager breaks the situation down to find the root cause of the misunderstanding, then re-establishes a shared vision with key stakeholders. Having the sponsor pick a winner settles the symptom without explaining the divergence, a more detailed statement cannot fix a misunderstanding nobody has diagnosed, and waiting for a release review lets both teams build further in opposite directions.

A team member consistently delivers high-quality work but is reluctant to share knowledge with peers, creating a single point of failure. What is the BEST approach for the project manager?

• ARemove the member from all critical work as a formal consequence of refusing to cooperate
• BReport the member to functional management for non-cooperation in a formal memo
• CAccept the risk since the work quality is high and no deliverable has slipped yet
• DEncourage pairing and mentoring so knowledge is shared across the team✓

Answer: Encouraging pairing and mentoring spreads tacit knowledge and reduces the single point of failure while leveraging the member's strength. This strengthens the team rather than penalizing an individual.