Unit 6: Becoming successful - Practice Quiz

1 What is the primary difference between leadership and management?

2 Which quality is most commonly associated with effective leadership?

3 When moving into a leadership role for the first time, what is an important early step?

4 What does the term delegation mean for a manager?

5 Which of the following best describes a good manager's approach to feedback?

6 Why is time management an important skill for a successful manager?

7 What is a common sign of a motivated and well-managed team?

8 What is the main purpose of professional networking?

9 Which of the following is a good networking practice?

10 Which online platform is most commonly used for professional networking?

11 Networking is often described as being based on what key principle?

12 Why is it important to regularly review your career plans?

13 What does it mean to set a SMART goal?

14 When reviewing plans, what should you do if a goal is no longer relevant?

15 How often should career and development plans ideally be reviewed?

16 What is a mentor?

17 What is one key benefit of having a mentor?

18 What is the role of the mentee in a mentoring relationship?

19 Which of the following most improves your chances of achieving a promotion?

20 What does achieving promotion generally mean in a career context?

21 A newly promoted team lead notices that team members still bring every decision to her for approval, slowing progress. Which action best reflects an effective transition into a leadership role?

22 A leader who relies mainly on inspiring a shared vision and encouraging personal growth in followers is primarily demonstrating which leadership style?

23 When a person first steps into a leadership position, a common psychological challenge is shifting their sense of identity. What does this shift mainly involve?

24 A manager sets a goal for the team that is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. This approach is best described as using which framework?

25 A manager gives feedback by describing the situation, the specific behaviour observed, and its impact. Which feedback model is being applied?

26 A manager wants to develop an employee who is highly skilled but recently unmotivated. According to situational leadership, which style is most appropriate?

27 A manager notices that one team member handles 80% of customer complaints while others handle very few. Applying the Pareto principle, what is the most useful managerial insight?

28 A first-time manager struggles because they keep completing tasks themselves rather than trusting their team. This behaviour is best described as which management pitfall?

29 A professional attends events mainly to swap business cards and asks for favours without ever offering help. Why is this networking approach likely to be ineffective?

30 In networking theory, contacts who connect you to entirely new groups and information you would not otherwise access are best described as which type of tie?

31 A person wants to build their professional network authentically. Which strategy best supports long-term relationship development?

32 An employee is described as a network 'broker' because they connect otherwise unconnected groups. What is the main career advantage of occupying this position?

33 A professional reviews their annual development plan and finds a goal is no longer relevant due to a change in company strategy. What is the most appropriate response?

34 A manager uses a cycle of Plan, Do, Check, Act to continuously improve their development approach. This reflects which model of reviewing and improving?

35 When reviewing progress toward a career goal, why is it important to use measurable indicators rather than general impressions?

36 A person conducts a reflective review after completing a major project, asking what went well and what could improve. This practice is best described as which activity?

37 A mentee frequently asks their mentor to solve problems for them rather than guide their thinking. Why does this reduce the value of the mentoring relationship?

38 To get the most from a mentoring relationship, which action should a mentee take before each meeting?

39 What is the key difference between a mentor and a line manager in supporting someone's career development?

40 An employee consistently performs well but is repeatedly overlooked for promotion. Which action is most likely to improve their chances?

41 A newly promoted team leader continues to complete technical tasks personally rather than delegating, believing this maintains quality. Team output slows and members disengage. Which analysis best explains the underlying failure in this leadership transition?

42 Two leaders face an identical crisis. Leader A imposes a fixed solution immediately; Leader B frames the problem, sets boundaries, and invites the team to co-create the response. Under conditions of high uncertainty and skilled staff, why is Leader B's approach generally more effective?

43 A manager consistently hits short-term targets but experiences high staff turnover and declining morale. Applying a balanced view of managerial success, what is the most defensible interpretation?

44 A manager must allocate limited attention across planning, monitoring, developing staff, and firefighting. Over three months, they spend roughly of time firefighting. What does this pattern most likely indicate about their managerial practice?

45 Research on professional networks distinguishes strong ties from weak ties. A professional seeking novel job opportunities and fresh information relies almost exclusively on their close inner circle. Why is this strategy likely to underperform?

46 A professional treats networking purely as extracting favours, contacting people only when needing something. Over time their network becomes less responsive. Which principle best explains this decline?

47 Two professionals have networks of identical size. One's contacts all come from the same department; the other's span multiple functions and organisations. In terms of career capital, why does structural diversity usually matter more than raw size?

48 A professional reviews annual goals only at year-end, comparing outcomes to the original plan and finding large deviations. What is the most significant methodological weakness in this review practice?

49 During a review, a professional discovers a goal is no longer relevant because the market changed, yet they persist because abandoning it feels like failure. Which cognitive bias best explains this, and what is the sound response?

50 A well-designed plan review separates two distinct questions. Which pairing correctly captures the two questions that should not be conflated?

51 A mentee brings every decision to their mentor for a definitive answer and implements it without independent evaluation. Although outcomes are initially good, this pattern is problematic. Why?

52 A professional confuses the roles of mentor, coach, and sponsor. In a scenario where they need someone to actively advocate for their promotion in rooms they are not in, which relationship is required and why?

53 A mentoring relationship has become stale: meetings are pleasant but no growth occurs. Applying good mentoring practice, what is the most constructive response for the mentee?

54 An employee performs their current role excellently but is repeatedly passed over for promotion. A common misconception explains their frustration. What is the key insight they are missing?

55 Two candidates for promotion are equally competent. One has quietly delivered strong results; the other has delivered comparable results while ensuring key decision-makers understand their contributions. Which analysis best explains why the second is more likely to be promoted?

56 A professional's promotion case rests entirely on a single high-profile project. From a risk and evidence standpoint, why is this a fragile strategy?

57 A technically brilliant specialist is promoted to lead a team and struggles despite deep expertise. This illustrates a well-known principle of organisational advancement. Which principle and its implication is being demonstrated?

58 A manager oscillates between micromanaging some staff and neglecting others. Applying situational thinking, what is the most sophisticated correction to this inconsistency?

59 An introverted professional avoids networking, believing it requires being outgoing and working large rooms. Reframing networking accurately, which strategy best suits them without contradicting the evidence on effective networking?

60 In a robust review process, a professional builds in explicit checkpoints to test the assumptions their plan depends on. Why is testing assumptions, rather than only tracking progress, the more powerful review discipline?