PMP · Question #765
A project manager finds that there are knowledge gaps in the project team relating to the core competencies required to deliver the desired results. What should the project manager do to achieve the…
The correct answer is A. Communicate the situation to the team and plan for the necessary training and coaching. When a project team has knowledge gaps in core competencies, the project manager should address this by communicating the issue to the team and implementing training and coaching to bridge those gaps.
Question
Options
- ACommunicate the situation to the team and plan for the necessary training and coaching
- BReport the situation back to upper management and request to have the scope changed
- CPlan to hire more experienced team members and lay off a few of the existing team members.
- DCommunicate the situation to the customer and inform them about potential delays in delivery.
How the community answered
(63 responses)- A81% (51)
- B5% (3)
- C3% (2)
- D11% (7)
Why each option
When a project team has knowledge gaps in core competencies, the project manager should address this by communicating the issue to the team and implementing training and coaching to bridge those gaps.
When knowledge gaps exist, the most direct and supportive action for a project manager is to openly communicate the situation with the team and proactively plan for necessary training and coaching. This empowers the team, builds capabilities, and helps achieve desired results by addressing the root cause of the competency shortfall.
Changing the scope is a drastic measure that doesn't directly address the team's skill deficits and might not be necessary if the team can be upskilled.
Hiring new team members and laying off existing ones is an extreme measure, often costly, demotivating, and typically a last resort, not the first step to address skill gaps.
Informing the customer about potential delays without first attempting to resolve the internal skill gaps shows a lack of proactive management and might unnecessarily alarm the customer.
Concept tested: Team development and skill gap remediation
Source: https://www.pmi.org/pmbok-guide-standards/foundational/pmbok
Topics
Community Discussion
5
Hiroshi T.Jul 5, 2026A is the correct answer. The PMBOK Guide section on Develop Team is clear that the project manager is responsible for identifying competency gaps and providing training, coaching, or mentoring to close them, not changing scope or replacing personnel.
Imani T.Jun 17, 2026A is the right call here. PMI wants you to fix the problem at the team level first, not escalate or panic the customer. Training and coaching is literally in the PMBOK playbook under resource management, so when you see that keyword combination it's almost always the answer. One thing I'm not totally clear on though, if the training takes weeks and puts you behind schedule, at what point are you expected to loop in stakeholders about the impact versus just handling it quietly within the team?
Hiroshi T.Jun 19, 2026Agreed on A, but to answer your question, the PMBOK is clear that schedule impacts from corrective action feed into the Monitor and Control Project Work process, which means stakeholders get looped in through routine performance reporting rather than waiting for some separate trigger point.
Olusegun A.Jun 25, 2026D is right, you owe the customer transparency on delays before anything else.
Imani T.Jun 27, 2026Respectfully disagree, Olusegun. The answer is A because you cannot communicate anything about delays to the customer until you have actually identified the root cause and impact first. Transparency matters but you need facts to share before you start making promises or setting expectations you cannot keep.