Week 1 >> Graded Quiz >>  Leadership and Emotional Intelligence

Week 1 >> Graded Quiz >>  Leadership and Emotional Intelligence

1. Deepa and Dinesh have been members of a project team charged with the responsibility for making an up-coming presentation to an important client. In a team meeting, for the purpose of review, Deepa had just completed making an internal presentation that she had been preparing for some time. She had observed that Dinesh had spent the last hour of her presentation browsing through his own documents. When Deepa finished, Dinesh asked, “Deepa, Aren’t you being too conservative? This work can be completed in 60 % of the time that you have proposed”. When Deepa offered an explanation, Dinesh countered, “I still say we’re being too conservative”. Soon the interaction got rather heated and became a bitter argument.
Question: If there was no hidden agenda on the part of either Dinesh or Deepa, which one of the following items was UNLIKELY to be the reason for this argument?

  • Dinesh was disorganized and had been searching for the calculations that he had worked out, while Deepa saw his lack of eye contact during the presentation as hostile behavior.
  • Deepa and Dinesh had been working with different data sources and had different views on what the client was looking for from the presentation.
  • Deepa and Dinesh had worked together in the past on another project, and so understood each other’s working styles.
  • Deepa and Dinesh had worked with and influenced by different superiors in the past, and so had different ideas about how long the finalization of the presentation can be delayed.

2. Deepa and Dinesh have been members of a project team charged with the responsibility for making an up-coming presentation to an important client. In a team meeting, for the purpose of review, Deepa had just completed making an internal presentation that she had been preparing for some time. She had observed that Dinesh had spent the last hour of her presentation browsing through his own documents. When Deepa finished, Dinesh asked, “Deepa, Aren’t you being too conservative? This work can be completed in 60 % of the time that you have proposed”. When Deepa offered an explanation, Dinesh countered, “I still say we’re being too conservative”. Soon the interaction got rather heated and became a bitter argument.
Question: What would be an appropriate response for Dinesh to settle the argument and build healthy relationships with Deepa?

  • “It’s better for me to pinpoint these problems here in our team meeting instead of our cutting a sorry figure in front of the client”
  • “If you feel 60 % is too radical, then I am willing to make a concession. Let us make it 70 %”
  • “This is an important issue. Let us bring the manager in and sort out the issue”
  • “Would it help if I share my calculations so that we can explore if there are any gaps in my reasoning?”

3. Which of the following behavioral patterns would NOT be a good idea for building good interpersonal relationships?

  • When others have different views, ask questions on their data sources
  • Make persistent and unyielding arguments
  • Encourage others to explore any gaps in your reasoning
  • Make your own reasoning explicit

4. Sam had been working in a technology company for five years. Apart from his excellent domain skills, he was able to connect the dots to perceive market trends and solve problems. He was given higher responsibilities, and was quickly promoted to head a key project. He had strong relations in his team and also with his peer groups. Sam was viewed as the rising star in the organization by his superiors. Given these case facts, which of the following statements will you DISAGREE with?

  • It is likely that Sam was hired for his technical skills
  • It was Sam’s technical skills that have primarily made him a rising star
  • Sam was good with technical, social and cognitive skills
  • It would be Sam’s social skills that contribute to his credibility with internal and external stakeholders and help him influence without authority.

5. Tim ran a successful department, but was unable to grow a successor, and so could not be promoted. His abrasive style scared potential successors away. He was very critical and offered no appreciation. He had a perfectionist and power-oriented mindset, and was not ready to accept anything less than the unrealistically high standards that he had set for himself. Which of the following would you bank on to help him change?

  • Making Tim aware of his mindset and how that mindset was profoundly demotivating to his direct reports
  • Skill training programs on recognizing people and offering praise
  • Delay in getting an otherwise well-deserved promotion based on departmental efficiency
  • Sharpening Tim’s cognitive and domain skills through seminars and workshops

6. Mary valued aligning members of her team around ideas and actively engaging them to create ownership. She believed that her team members should be on the same page. She adopted an inclusive approach, and felt invested in the success of peer functions. She valued openness and positivity. She paid attention to key internal and external stakeholders – what they cared about, why they were engaged or not engaged. She did not lose sight of who should be involved, how they should be kept informed and updated, and how they should be helped to achieve and win. Which of the following mindsets does Mary’s approach reflect?

  • Growth mindset
  • Performance-centered mindset
  • Learning-centered mindset
  • People-centered mindset

7. Neha felt anxious about the upcoming presentation to an important client group. While she had invested a lot of time and energy on putting together the presentation, she felt intuitively that the approach that she had chosen was inappropriate for the intended purpose. She decided to have a frank and open dialogue with a trusted colleague to explore this issue. Which of the alternatives given below would you AGREE with?

  • Neha’s anxiety before a key presentation is understandable. She should just ignore it.
  • Neha is trying to gain emotional self-awareness of developing clarity on her emotions and viewing herself from a third-person perspective
  • Neha’s colleague should recognize her lack of self-confidence, and give her a pep talk.
  • Neha’s anxiety stems from her low emotional intelligence. Her colleague should help her learn greater self-management.

8. In the process of preparing her personal development plan, a frontline leader reflects and writes down her thoughts/ responses to the following questions: “Given her aspiration, what are the competencies she would be expected to master, say over the next 3 to 5 years? Who are the respected role models in such positions? What do they excel in? What has she picked up from her conversations with her superiors and other leaders about competency requirements?” Please indicate which of the following dimensions of the MAPS grid her questions relate to?

  • Abilities
  • Perceptions
  • Mission
  • Standards

9. Given his strong performance as individual contributor, an eager and hardworking technical professional was assigned to a frontline leadership position in a start-up company. The performance and effectiveness of this position was dependent on people inside and outside the organization. In the position, he faced seemingly endless stream of operating problems, inexperience across the board, lack of clear procedures, disputes among his people, and lack of effective support from senior management. He did not create these problems, but now it was his job to resolve them. Which of the following factors can potentially lead to the derailment trap for this individual?

  • Realistic self-assessment
  • Recognition of the need for new strengths
  • Working harder on his strengths and talents that have contributed to his past successes
  • Conscious development of a broader set of skills and perspectives that can serve you in the new situation

10. On the issue of derailment, which of the following statements will you DISAGREE with?

  • Frontline leaders should have strong action bias and not be trapped by set procedures and processes for having to consider multiple viewpoints
  • Frontline leaders need awareness of how they behave when they are under stress
  • Frontline leaders should strengthen conversations with key stakeholders to clarify expectations and get feedback on what is going well and what’s not going so well
  • Frontline leaders should be committed to learning new skills, mindsets and perspectives

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