PMP · Question #1190
A company is moving to a hybrid approach and conducted capacity activities for all of the project managers. During these capacity-building activities, the focus was on agile approaches and team facili
The correct answer is C. The capacity building activities missed the servant leadership concept transfer.. Project managers are struggling to motivate new agile staff because their capacity-building focused on agile approaches and facilitation, but failed to instill the servant leadership mindset essential for empowering and guiding self-organizing agile teams.
Question
A company is moving to a hybrid approach and conducted capacity activities for all of the project managers. During these capacity-building activities, the focus was on agile approaches and team facilitation skills. When starting the implementation phase, the project managers faced issues motivating the newly hired agile staff. Why are the project managers having issues motivating the agile staff?
Options
- AProject managers are expected to become coaches in agile teams.
- BThe agile staff is not used to being led by a project manager.
- CThe capacity building activities missed the servant leadership concept transfer.
- DTransitional periods normally cause this type of problem.
How the community answered
(29 responses)- A3% (1)
- B3% (1)
- C83% (24)
- D10% (3)
Why each option
Project managers are struggling to motivate new agile staff because their capacity-building focused on agile approaches and facilitation, but failed to instill the servant leadership mindset essential for empowering and guiding self-organizing agile teams.
While project managers are expected to become coaches in agile teams, this choice doesn't explain why they are having issues motivating the staff; it describes an expectation, not the root cause of the motivation problem.
While agile staff might not be used to traditional PM leadership, this is a symptom, not the root cause, which lies in the PMs' unpreparedness to lead in an agile way.
Agile methodologies emphasize servant leadership, where the project manager (or Scrum Master) supports the team by removing impediments and fostering self-organization, rather than directing or controlling. A lack of training in this concept would prevent project managers from effectively motivating agile staff who expect to be empowered and supported, not traditionally managed.
While transitional periods can be challenging, this answer is too general and doesn't identify the specific training gap in servant leadership that led to the motivation issue, making it less precise than option C.
Concept tested: Agile leadership principles and team motivation
Source: https://www.agilealliance.org/glossary/servant-leadership/
Topics
Community Discussion
7
Zlatan X.Apr 17, 2026C is correct here. The capacity building focused on agile mechanics and facilitation skills but completely missed the mindset shift to servant leadership, which is the actual enabling capability for motivating agile teams. Without that governance-level competency transfer, the project managers default to traditional directive behaviors that disengage agile practitioners who expect leaders to remove impediments and shield the team from disruption. A, B, and D all describe symptoms or surface-level observations, but the root cause is the gap in the capability-building program itself.
Yuki V.Apr 29, 2026C on exam last week. Does servant leadership vs traditional PM motivation click for everyone here?
Mateus R.Apr 1, 2026Had this one on my exam last March and picked C because it fits the classic gap. Think of it like sending a bunch of old-school diner cooks to a knife-skills class but never teaching them that the kitchen now runs as a team where the head cook clears plates and fetches ingredients instead of barking orders, that is servant leadership, and without it the new hires feel managed instead of supported.
Mei-Ling H.Mar 27, 2026First leaned D but the word missed in C points to the training gap.
Mateus R.Mar 30, 2026Right call on C, but I'd frame it as the word forgot rather than missed, since the question is testing whether you can spot a training gap versus a content gap, and forgot pins it tighter.
Wesley A.Apr 8, 2026Going with A here. The training covered facilitation skills but the real gap is that PMs in a hybrid environment need to step into a coaching role, not a traditional command-and-control one. Motivation issues with agile teams almost always trace back to the PM still operating in a directive mode instead of coaching the team to self-organize. I missed a very similar question on my first attempt because I leaned toward a generic "transitional" answer instead of tying it back to the role shift the PMBOK sixth edition Agile Practice Guide emphasizes.
Mei-Ling H.Apr 9, 2026C is correct here. Wesley's reasoning about coaching is solid in general but the stem is asking about the facilitation gap specifically, and the Agile Practice Guide frames the PM's role shift in hybrid environments as moving from directing to facilitating team interactions and decision making, not coaching.