PMP People — Leading Projects Practice Question
You are the project manager for a team that recently transitioned to remote work. You notice that team morale is declining and collaboration has decreased. What is the BEST action to improve team cohesion?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse accountability mechanisms (like status meetings) with team cohesion, or they mistake individual support (mentoring) for team-level bonding, leading them to choose options that address symptoms (e.g., low productivity) rather than the underlying human factors of morale and collaboration.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Schedule a virtual team-building activity and weekly informal coffee chats
It directly addresses the root causes of declining morale and reduced collaboration in a remote team by creating structured opportunities for social interaction and informal bonding. Virtual team-building activities and weekly coffee chats foster psychological safety and interpersonal connections, which are critical for team cohesion in a distributed environment. This aligns with the PMI talent triangle's emphasis on leadership and emotional intelligence, as it proactively builds trust and engagement rather than relying on formal oversight or one-way communication.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Schedule a virtual team-building activity and weekly informal coffee chats
Why this is correct
Scheduling virtual team-building activities and informal coffee chats directly addresses the need for social connection and psychological safety in a remote team environment. These informal interactions are crucial for fostering trust, strengthening interpersonal relationships, and building team cohesion, which are foundational elements for a high-performing team, especially after a transition. This proactive approach helps team members feel more connected and engaged, mitigating the isolation often associated with remote work.
- ✗
Increase the frequency of status meetings to ensure everyone is accountable
Why it's wrong here
Increasing the frequency of formal status meetings primarily focuses on task accountability and formal reporting, which does not effectively address the underlying need for social connection and informal bonding in a newly remote team. Such an approach can inadvertently lead to increased workload, meeting fatigue, and a perception of micromanagement, potentially decreasing team morale and productivity rather than fostering cohesion. Accountability can be managed through other means, while social connection requires different, more interactive strategies.
- ✗
Assign a mentor to each remote team member
Why it's wrong here
While assigning mentors is beneficial for individual skill development, knowledge transfer, and onboarding support, it is a one-on-one relationship that does not inherently build collective team cohesion or foster a sense of shared identity across the entire group. Mentoring focuses on individual growth, whereas the challenge of a newly remote team often lies in maintaining the collective 'team' feeling and ensuring all members feel connected to the broader unit. This approach is valuable but insufficient for addressing team-wide bonding needs.
- ✗
Send a motivational email to the team every week
Why it's wrong here
Sending weekly motivational emails constitutes passive, one-way communication that lacks the interactive engagement necessary to build genuine team connection and address potential feelings of isolation in a remote setting. While well-intentioned, such emails do not facilitate real-time interaction, shared experiences, or the spontaneous informal exchanges that are vital for strengthening interpersonal bonds and fostering a cohesive team culture. Effective team building requires active participation and two-way communication channels.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Introduction to the PMP Exam and Project Management Basics
Key term
Project Management Plan
A formal, approved document that defines how a project is executed, monitored, controlled, and closed, serving as the single source of truth for the project team.
Key term
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand, and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others to communicate and lead effectively.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PMP practice question is part of Courseiva's free PMI certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the PMP exam.