As a consulting senior project manager you will manage resources that work for other companies. What strategies do you lean on when contingent or client resources are not performing at the level necessary for project success?

Remember to provide an answer that goes beyond escalating a performance issue to the management of the client or contingent resource. While escalation may become necessary at some point, senior project managers in a consulting role are expected to be able to approach performance issues in a variety of creative ways. Providing an example that demonstrates your ability to mentor or your ability to empathize with a teammate will leave a better impression with your interviewer.

"I approach working with anyone on a team the same way. I lean on my empathy and intuition and take the time to learn the details of the scenario and find a custom resolution that works for everyone involved.

For example, I worked with a client provided analyst that frequently promised their stakeholders features and functionality that was not included within the scope of the project. He would then become angry at our team of engineers during product demos with the end-users when the promised features were not available. My team was upset because they had developed the solution according to specification and they felt like they we being blamed for something they had no control over.

I set up a meeting with the analyst to identify the root cause of the problem. It turned out that he had missed several key requirements for the project during their initial analysis and he was uncomfortable delivering the news that the related features were out of scope. I have a lot of experience navigating uncomfortable conversations with clients, so I offered to partner with him to sort the situation out.

We were able to work together to meet with the stakeholders and review the detailed feature backlogs to reset expectations and identify and showstopper issues. We refined the scope of the project accordingly and the end-users were happy with the demos going forward. The analyst thanked me for helping him improve his ability to gracefully say no to scope creep and say yes to critical needs. The project was successful and it offered me a chance to mentor and demonstrate excellence in customer service to my client."