Behavioral & Leadership Onsite — Cross-Team Inclusion, Fast Learning, Analytical Conflict

Context

You are a data scientist working cross-functionally with two peer teams (Team A and Team B) on a launch scheduled in 3 weeks. You have no formal authority over either team.

Part A — Cross-Team Inclusion and Delivery Under Time Pressure

A peer in Team B tells you they feel unwelcome because influential members of Team A openly exclude them from discussions that affect shared work.

1. In the first 48 hours, describe step by step how you would diagnose the situation:
   • Specific questions you would ask.
   • Artifacts you would review.
   • Signals you would look for.
2. Provide a stakeholder map and a concrete communication plan (who, when, channel, message goals).
3. Detail immediate risk mitigation to protect both psychological safety and delivery timelines.
4. Define explicit decision criteria for when to escalate to HR or senior leadership.
5. Propose leading and lagging success metrics (quantitative and qualitative) to know the intervention is working, and how you would instrument them.
6. Identify two likely failure modes of your plan and how you would course-correct.

Part B — Rapid Learning Under Deadline (STAR)

Describe a specific example (STAR) where you had ≤14 days to learn a new domain/tool to deliver a high-stakes result. What did you cut from scope, how did you validate you were learning the right things, and how did you measure impact? Include one mistake you made and what you would do differently.

Part C — Conflict With a Senior Stakeholder Over Analytic Approach

Give a concrete example of a conflict with a senior stakeholder who disagreed with your analytic approach. How did you surface interests vs. positions, what trade-offs did you propose, and how did you quantify the impact of the final decision on business outcomes?