PMP · Question #784
The marketing team is transitioning to using hybrid approaches for their projects. The marketing director is not knowledgeable about hybrid methodologies, and the project manager needs the director's
The correct answer is B. Mentor the marketing director on hybrid approaches.. To gain the support of a key stakeholder unfamiliar with hybrid methodologies, the project manager should directly mentor the marketing director on these approaches.
Question
Options
- ATrain the marketing team and keep the director informed.
- BMentor the marketing director on hybrid approaches.
- CAsk the marketing team members to coach the director.
- DAsk the marketing director to participate in daily meetings.
How the community answered
(25 responses)- A4% (1)
- B84% (21)
- C4% (1)
- D8% (2)
Why each option
To gain the support of a key stakeholder unfamiliar with hybrid methodologies, the project manager should directly mentor the marketing director on these approaches.
Training the team and merely informing the director is less direct and personalized than mentoring, which is crucial for gaining the active support of a key stakeholder who lacks understanding.
Mentoring the marketing director directly is the most effective way to address their knowledge gap and secure their support as a key stakeholder. This personalized guidance builds understanding, trust, and buy-in, ensuring the director can effectively support the transition to hybrid approaches.
While team members can contribute, the project manager is ultimately responsible for stakeholder engagement; delegating critical coaching to the team might not be as effective or appropriate as direct mentorship.
Asking the marketing director to participate in daily meetings without first providing foundational understanding of hybrid approaches could be overwhelming and counterproductive, potentially increasing confusion rather than support.
Concept tested: Stakeholder engagement and mentorship
Source: https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/managing-stakeholders-for-project-success-6842
Topics
Community Discussion
7
Ola B.Jun 11, 2026B is correct. The PM owns stakeholder engagement, so mentoring the director directly on hybrid approaches is the move that builds trust and secures buy-in. A keeps the director at arm's length when you need them invested, and C offloads a stakeholder management task that is squarely the PM's job. D sounds agile but drags a busy exec into daily standups before they even understand the methodology, which is a fast way to annoy them.
Mei-Ling H.Jun 23, 2026Picking B. Why is mentoring the director better than training the whole team here?
Ola B.Jun 23, 2026B is right but the reasoning is that the director becomes a force multiplier who can tailor the knowledge to each team member's context, so spin up a quick sandbox and walk the director through a couple real scenarios yourself before they cascade it down.
Wesley A.Jul 5, 2026I first leaned toward A since keeping the director informed sounded safe and low friction. But the stem explicitly says the director is not knowledgeable about hybrid and you need their active support as a key stakeholder. Mentoring the director directly on hybrid approaches addresses the knowledge gap head-on and builds the buy-in you need. B is the answer because you have to educate the person whose support matters most, not just send them status updates.
Mateus R.Jul 8, 2026Right call, and the plain analogy is you do not hand a cookbook to someone who has never tasted the food, you sit them down at the table first: that direct mentoring is what turns a sign-off into real backing.
Mateus R.Jun 30, 2026B is the right call here. Think of it like a rancher trying to get the bank to finance a new irrigation system, if the banker has never seen a sprinkler, you don't hand him a wrench and put him to work in the field, you sit him down and walk him through how the setup pays off. Mentoring the director builds the buy-in you need from a key stakeholder before asking him to commit to anything. A is tempting because training the team sounds productive, but keeping a non-technical boss merely "informed" leaves him on the outside looking in, which
Wesley A.Jul 2, 2026Agree with B, and the stakeholder buy-in angle is exactly why, but the first time I took this I picked A because the word "training" tricked me into thinking it was about capability when the stem is really about sponsorship.