1) Tell me about a time you led a team through a tough challenge?
2) Tell me about a time when you worked in a team and had to manage a conflict?
Isn't the conflict part (#2) a subset of the challenge part (#1)? OR is #1 more focused on how you helped them understand what needs to be done or guided them through it to solve the issue - but there probably was no conflict anywhere (which seems unlikely)
Hi!
If we are talking about the McKinsey PEI:
YES! Managing a conflict within a team is a more specific instance of leading a team through a tough challenge. So the first question is broader and gives you more options in terms of situations to choose from (so the challenge could come from all sorts of sources, including internal conflict). The second question narrows down the source of the chellenge to internal conflict only.
Cheers, Sidi
Hello!
I see them honestly very different.
The 2nd one is clearly a PERSONAL IMPACT question, while the first one can be either PERSONAL IMPACT or LEADERSHIP, since it gives a much wider range of stories to pick from.
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Hi there,
Good question!
So #1 is (as Sidi stated) a much broader question. You get to decide what experience you want to draw on, and you can be more flexible in your interpretation.
For #1 this could be a team you led through collaboration, through stakeholder management (conflict), through effective communication, through resolving a team dispute (conflict) etc. There are many possible answers here!
For #2, while narrower, it still does have multiple options. It could be internal or external conflict. And, you could have led them through communication, logistical changes, etc. etc.
If you want to add your proposed answers we can provide feedback as well.
Hello Mr. Ian, thank you very much. Let me see if I can post it here - it's very long probably so I'll have to cut. Can it be shared privately? A follow-up: when you convince or influence someone (no conflict as such but you have to change their minds) - 1) is that also a challenge? 2) are all conflicts a subset of influencing instances?
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Dear A,
In my eyes there two completely different questions, because the Q1 is about the challenge - it shouldn't be nessessarily related to the team, it could be leadership experience, where yu show that in from of the client youhave understood the challenge and cracked it as the whole team, while showing your leadership skills.
On the other hand, conflict management is more interpersonal one and for here you may apply the Harvard concept of negotiation, mitigation and solving the conflicts.
Hope it helps you,
Wish you best of luck,
Q1) Wondering when you talk about the challenge you talk about multiple challenges in a PEI story. One instance can have different kinds of challenges - do you talk about more than one?
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Q2) When you have nuances in a story - say when you are asked 1) when you led a team through a challenging time vs 2) when you led a team, how you worked with them and what were the team dynamics. How do you adapt and answer?
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Q1) Would recommend to keep focus - one challenge with a rich set of aspects is usually the best strategy.
Q2) Every answer to Q2 would also work for Q1, but not vice versa (since Q2 is a subset of Q1)
Hello Mr. Sidi, thank you very much. For Q1) I think I'm mixing the words instance, challenge and aspects. So one challenge with rich aspects. I had to organize and move a physical event to virtual platform which is the challenge. I cover two aspects then - 1) how I worked with my team to identify what aspects were key to reproduce and 2) after #1 when we were planning, there was a team conflict. Would these be two aspects or two challenges? They are good alone too but I thought in PEI you'd probably discuss both given its 15 mins - it will add richness perhaps?
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