PMP People — Leading Projects Practice Question
Your agile team has been struggling with low morale and lack of motivation. As a project manager using servant leadership, which THREE actions would be most effective in improving the situation?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse extrinsic motivators (like monetary incentives) with effective servant leadership tools, forgetting that agile frameworks emphasize intrinsic motivation and team autonomy over external rewards or pressure.
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
✓
Identify and remove obstacles that are hindering the team's progress
Servant leadership prioritizes the growth, well-being, and autonomy of the team, so option A is correct because identifying and removing impediments (a core Scrum Master/project manager duty) directly addresses the demotivating friction that slows progress and frustrates team members. Option D is correct because empowering the team to decide their own work processes builds intrinsic motivation, ownership, and self-organization, which are central to agile servant leadership. Option E is correct because regularly acknowledging and celebrating achievements satisfies the need for recognition and reinforces positive behavior, lifting morale without coercion. Option B does not belong because monetary incentives tied to sprint goals are an extrinsic, transactional motivator that can undermine intrinsic motivation and is not characteristic of servant leadership. Option C does not belong because imposing stricter performance metrics is a command-and-control, directive approach that increases pressure and erodes trust rather than serving the team's needs.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Identify and remove obstacles that are hindering the team's progress
Why this is correct
As a core tenet of servant leadership, identifying and actively removing impediments is crucial for an agile team's progress and morale. This proactive approach ensures the team has the necessary resources and an unblocked path to deliver value, directly addressing sources of frustration and fostering a more productive environment. It demonstrates the leader's commitment to supporting the team's success.
- ✗
Offer monetary incentives for meeting sprint goals
Why it's wrong here
Offering monetary incentives for meeting sprint goals can inadvertently undermine intrinsic motivation, shifting the focus from collaborative value delivery to individual reward. While seemingly beneficial, such extrinsic motivators often lead to short-term gains at the expense of long-term team cohesion and a genuine commitment to quality, potentially causing demotivation if not consistently applied or perceived as unfair.
- ✗
Set stricter performance metrics to push the team to improve
Why it's wrong here
Setting stricter performance metrics to push a struggling team is a command-and-control approach that typically exacerbates low morale and erodes trust, rather than fostering improvement. This method often leads to fear, burnout, and a focus on meeting arbitrary targets over delivering true value, which is antithetical to agile principles of self-organization and continuous improvement.
- ✓
Empower the team to make decisions about their own work processes
Why this is correct
Empowering the team to make decisions about their own work processes is fundamental to fostering self-organizing teams and increasing ownership. This autonomy enhances intrinsic motivation, encourages innovative problem-solving, and cultivates a sense of accountability, directly contributing to improved morale and more effective workflow adaptations within an agile framework.
- ✓
Regularly acknowledge and celebrate team achievements
Why this is correct
Regularly acknowledging and celebrating team achievements is a powerful way to boost morale, reinforce positive behaviors, and strengthen team cohesion. This recognition validates the team's efforts and contributions, fostering a sense of accomplishment and psychological safety, which are vital for sustained motivation and a healthy agile working environment.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every PMP question from scratch — 820 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
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.