Skip to content
PMPMedium

PMP Practice: Ensure Shared Vision with Stakeholders

Question 4 of 20 in Develop a Common Vision

Pick an answer below — you'll get the explanation instantly, no signup.

Bo-Wen Fang is managing a hybrid initiative at Crimson Narwhal Interactive to redesign the company's customer portal. The project will use iterative development for the user interface and predictive planning for backend infrastructure upgrades. During the initial vision workshop, the Chief Marketing Officer insists the portal must prioritize promotional campaigns and personalized upselling, while the Chief Technology Officer demands the focus be on system performance and security enhancements. The two executives have a long history of disagreement on technology priorities. The development team is present but remains silent, appearing uncomfortable with the escalating tension. The project sponsor, who funded the initiative to improve customer satisfaction scores by 25%, has not yet weighed in. What should Bo-Wen do to help establish a shared vision?
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: Facilitate a collaborative discussion by restating the project's original objective of improving customer satisfaction, then guide both executives to identify how their priorities contribute to that shared outcome

Explanation

Developing a common vision requires bringing stakeholders together around a unifying goal rather than allowing competing agendas to fragment the project direction. By facilitating a collaborative discussion that anchors on the sponsor's stated objective—improving customer satisfaction by 25%—Bo-Wen redirects attention from competing functional priorities to the shared outcome. This approach helps both executives see how their concerns are complementary contributors to customer satisfaction rather than mutually exclusive demands. Marketing features that delight customers and technical capabilities that ensure reliable performance both serve the same vision. The project manager's role is to create the conditions for this shared understanding to emerge through skilled facilitation, especially when stakeholder conflict threatens alignment. The closing fact that the development team is silent and uncomfortable signals that the conflict is inhibiting progress, making immediate collaborative intervention necessary rather than sequential compromises or escalation.

**Why not A:** Escalating to the sponsor for a top-down decision bypasses the project manager's facilitation role and misses the opportunity to build genuine alignment. Having the sponsor choose one executive's vision over the other would likely deepen the conflict rather than resolve it, and the losing party may disengage.

**Why not B:** Meeting with executives separately and creating a compromise solution behind closed doors prevents the collaborative dialogue needed for genuine alignment. A compromise crafted without both parties present may not address underlying concerns and lacks the transparency needed to build shared ownership.

**Why not C:** Proposing a two-phase approach that sequences marketing features before technical improvements creates a false hierarchy between the two priorities. This sequential solution does not actually integrate both perspectives around the shared customer satisfaction objective and may leave the CTO feeling deprioritized.

Key Concept

This question covers Ensure Shared Vision with Stakeholders under Develop a Common Vision (People).

Share:

This is 1 of 100 free PMP questions

Unlock 6,300+ PMP practice questions with detailed explanations, progress tracking, and exam readiness prediction.

Unlock All Questions