Late but Critical Colleague
Company: Amazon
Role: Product Manager
Category: Behavioral & Leadership
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Online Assessment
##### Question
In a recurring bi-weekly meeting a teammate who owns essential data is habitually late because the meeting overlaps with their prior call. Describe how you would:
Decide whether to approach the colleague in-person, by phone, or another channel and why.
Evaluate options such as moving the meeting, collecting their data in advance, or sending a delegate.
Select and implement the best solution while preserving team morale and delivery cadence.
Overview: Practice a behavioral scenario about a late but critical colleague in a recurring planning meeting. The solution covers private communication, option evaluation, pre-reads, delegates, agenda changes, meeting reliability metrics, morale, and escalation.
Community answers
Answer by rschroeter2124
I would have a call, or a 1:1 with the employee at our earliest convenience after the most recent incidence of lateness.
Discuss the issue with the owner of the previous call and ask why they are always late in ending. See if we can come to an agreement given the disruptive costs and impact.
Keep it light, keep it fact-based, explain the impact, and cost that is currently happening.
