You are approached by a peer who expresses serious frustrations with her team, of which she is the manager. She has asked her team to work additional hours and put in some extra effort for the next quarter in order to reach some lofty goals. She tells you her team, however, doesn't want to do so and she is getting some pushback. She tells you the benefits to her team are obvious, but they don't seem to get it. What do you say to her? *

1. Your people will not understand the why unless you explain it to them

2. You don't owe them an explanation. Hold the line and drive your team as hard as possible

3. Maybe you are being too hard on your team. No one likes an overbearing boss

4. Consider taking a vacation and giving paid time off to your team

Your boss calls you to ask for an update on a critical project you are working on. In the course of the discussion, the boss wants to know about some microscopic details of the project. You are busy trying to get the project completed by the impending deadline, which is still a few weeks away. And you are frustrated that the boss is questioning you when you are doing everything you can to complete the project on time. How do you handle this?

1. Tell the boss you don't have time to answer questions because you are really busy and his questions are preventing you from completing the project

2. Tell the boss you are going to stop all work on the project so you can prepare a detailed update brief to keep him in the loop

3. Tell the boss to stop micromanaging and to trust you to complete the project

4. Tell your boss you are sorry you didn't push this information to him sooner but explain that you will do so from now on

You are the leader of a team and you are dedicated to the personal development of each of your team members. You recently instituted a training program where once a week, you get your team to focus on improving processes and practicing how to navigate realistic problems the team might encounter. There is a well-experienced member of your team that openly complains about the training and displays a negative attitude. You've held your tongue and not confronted him about it, thinking he might come around but he hasn't. You are worried this negative attitude will spread to the rest of the team. How do you handle the situation? *

1. Pull the individual aside and explain you've had enough of his negative attitude

2. Put him in charge of the training session for the following week

3. Call the individual out in front of the team to make an example out of him

4. Don't engage as a direct confrontation will only make his attitude worse

If you are the leader of a team and your team doesn't understand how what they do contributes to the overall mission, it is because: *

1. They lack the necessary competence and skulls and need to be trained

2. You haven't explained it to them and made sure they understand

3. They don't have the knowledge and experience required

4. You haven't fired them and recruited a better team that thinks strategically

Why do frontline leaders and individual contributors often have a hard time understanding the why and seeing the strategic impact of what they do? *

1. They are just working for the paycheck and don't care

2. They know more about the strategic goals than corporate leadership

3. They don't spend enough time thinking strategically

4. They are rightly focused on their jobs and their own immediate tasks

When you are feeling micromanaged by your boss, the primary reason is likely: *

1. The boss doesn't trust you to get the job done

2. You have a terrible boss and you should think about finding a new job

3. The boss wants credit for the work you are doing

4. You haven't pushed enough information and updates to your boss

Leading up the chain of command is challenging because it requires *

1. Greater intelligence and craftiness to manipulate your senior leaders

2. Greater savvy, skill and tact because a leader cannot fall back on positional authority

3. Greater confidence to call out your chain of command and highlight their deficiencies

4. Greater experience, knowledge and competence than your chain of command

When you get frustrated by the questions or scrutiny from your chain of command, what should you do? *

1. Recognize that your senior leaders don't want you to fail and aren't trying to make your job harder

2. Understand their perspective and provide them more information to get their questions or concerns answered

3. Work harder to build a better relationship with your senior leadership and understand the strategic goals and end state they are trying to achieve

4. All the Above

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