Technicals

Question 1

Program Execution: “Walk me through a complex program you managed end-to-end” (3)

Answer 1

1. COP Phase III (data-heavy, shitstorm) if asked for key milestones and tracking progress toward them!
2. Venture Basecamp (lack of data)
3. UNGC reorg (lack of data)

Question 2

Lack of data (4)

Answer 2

1. UNGC reorg
2. Gram Vaani
3. Commonwealth
4. Venture Basecamp

Question 3

“Too much” or “poor “ data (2)

Answer 3

1. COP Phase II (disaggregated and needed cleaning)
2. USPS

Question 4

Tell me about a time when “everything went wrong on a project” and “when a program you were leading was behind schedule” (2)

Answer 4

1. COP Phase II (tight deadline, understaffed, messy data)
2. Commonwealth (survey disaster)
   Try to reference the Assess framework if possible!

Question 5

Improved a process (3 int, 1 ext) or behind schedule!

Answer 5

1. Commonwealth (survey disaster; worklflow optimization)
2. COP Phase II (data automation & workflow optimization)
3. Unitus Ventures (transparency & task management improvements with Asana)
4. External: UNGC reorg

Question 6

Poor data (2)

Answer 6

1. COP Phase II (disaggregated and needed cleaning)
2. USPS

Question 7

Failure (5)

Answer 7

1. Commonwealth (survey)
2. Unitus Ventures (cross-functional misalignment due to lack of transparency)
3. Unitus Ventures (redefine MVP)
4. COP Phase II (operational failure missing internal deadlines)
5. Gram Vaani

Question 8

Communication & Influence: Need to convince senior stakeholders when met with resistance (4) and non-senior stakeholders (1)

Be sure to ask whether they’d prefer an example in real-time or long-term persuasion!

Answer 8

1. LT: Gram Vaani (leadership / lack of data / internal)
2. RT & high stakes: UNGC reorg (rec-first vs. issue first / lack of data / internal but external also possible)
3. LT: UNGC delisting (cross-functional / external)
4. Commonwealth survey
5. RT: Unitus Ventures (redefine MVP / internal team / not as high stakes)

Question 9

Example of a time you had to adopt the view of someone you didn’t agree with (3)

Answer 9

1. Unitus Ventures (redefine MVP)
2. Gram Vaani (adopting a leadership perspective because you realized his concerns were valid)
3. UNGC Delisting (building consensus on a highly contested issue)

Question 10

Stakeholder Management (2)

Answer 10

1. Commonwealth (management)
2. UNGC delisting (alignment)

Question 11

Risk Management (4)

Answer 11

COP Phase II
PIPE interdependencies
FHI Ventures
Commonwealth survey timeline risk

Question 12

Managing Multiple Projects
Managing competiting priorities
Working cross-functionally
(2)

Answer 12

1. PIPE
2. FHI Ventures

Question 13

How you define the success of a program? Provide examples.

Answer 13

1. Financial: 22x returns on an edtech startup; cost optimization by 10%
2. Strategic: Venture Basecamp positioned VC to have more ecosystem partners, number of new members complying with CoP standards YOY
3. Operational: improve variance between ACT vs. ECT, % of time on planned tasks, APCR rate, vacancy rate

Question 14

CS: Where is “How to measure success”

Answer 14

Blue, bottom

Question 15

CS: To improve sales by value chain

Question 16

CS: GTM framework vs GTM Steps

Question 17

CS: GNG

Question 18

CS: How to engage with stakeholders

Question 19

CS: E2E product develoment or feature development

Question 20

CS: How to motivate team

Question 21

CS: How to align

Question 22

CS: Dealing with unresponsiveness

Question 23

CS: Indirect workplan disruption (broader, change management)

Question 24

CS: Direct workplan disruption

Question 25

CS: Risk management

Question 26

CS: Risk types

Question 27

CS: Software vs. Hardware Integration Challenges

Question 28

CS: Prioritization of a feature or a product

Question 29

CS: How to prioritize risk

Question 30

Describe a time you had to adapt a program / reallocate resources due to changing business priorities

Answer 30

Commonwealth (adapt mission and core focus areas of each department to tie into the overarching new mission and focus areas of the executive committee who initially was not going to update their mission and focus areas) COP Phase II (adapt execution strategy to meet the deadline) UNGC COP focusing on participation rather than quality of data and their ability to demonstrate improvement YOY Gram Vaani

Question 31

Describe a time when you had to align multiple teams with competing priorities (3)

Answer 31

UNGC Delisting (different views) PIPE (competing priorities with interdependencies) COP Phase II (resource restraints and conflicting priorities)

Question 32

Tell me about a time you had to mitigate a significant risk

Answer 32

COP Phase II (data and resourcing risks threatening delivery) Unitus Ventures (MVP at risk due to engineer bandwidth issues) Commonwealth (survey design)

Question 33

Give an example of when you had to make a difficult trade-off decision (3)

Answer 33

Redefine MVP (quantity vs. quality) COP Phase II (identifying best and most relevant data to use to stay speedy vs. boiling the ocean) Commonwealth (had to decide between keeping rich qualitative responses (which slowed down analysis) or shifting to structured responses (which would limit insights). Solution was to develop a hybrid survey design with optional qualitative follow-ups, leverage AI, and create automated reporting templates

Question 34

How do you ensure continuous improvement in program execution? How do you ensure a program stays on track and meets deadlines?

Answer 34

FT. OLA 1. Establish feedback loops 2. Track performance & KPIs 3. Optimize processes and remove bottlenecks 4. Foster a culture of learning, iteration, experimentation, refining deliverables 5. Leverage automation & tech

Question 35

CS: What’s your approach to balancing structured processes with flexibility in execution?

Question 36

Describe a time when you had to upskill or mentor a team on program management best practices (1)

Answer 36

Commonwealth - teaching good survey design

Question 37

CS: What's your approach to breaking down an ambiguous project into an actionable execution plan?

Question 38

Describe a time when you faced resistance to implementing a new process. How did you overcome it? (1)

Answer 38

Survey Design - piloted two different types of surveys

Question 39

CS: Managing scope creep or "how do you ensure programs remained aligned with business objectives over time?"

Question 40

CS: Handling pressure to deliver results on an unrealistic timeline

Question 41

CS: How do you drive alignment between technical and non-technical teams?

Question 42

CS: "How do you ensure transparency and accountability in large programs?"

Answer 42

Same as "manage dependencies"

Question 43

Tell me about a time you had to influence a team without direct authority

Answer 43

COP Phase II Gram Vaani

Question 44

CS: "How do you manage dependencies across different teams to ensure program success?"

Answer 44

Same as "ensure transparency and accountability"

Question 45

Give an example of a time you had to communicate a difficult message to stakeholders (3)

Answer 45

UNGC reorganization (MDP, BS) UNGC (limited value without a delisting policy) Gram Vaani

Question 46

CS: "How do you tailor your communication when dealing with different stakeholder groups"?

Answer 46

Look at Engaging with Stakeholders! Blue, lower left

Question 47

Give an example of how you managed stakeholder expectations in a high-visibility program.

Answer 47

Commonwealth stakeholders

Question 48

Tell me about a time when a stakeholder blocked progress on a project. How did you handle it?

Answer 48

UNGC Delisting Gram Vaani Unitus (lead developer) Unitus (redefine MVP) - Potentially UNGC reorg with MDP BS but not necessarily

Question 49

CS: How do you ensure strong communication across globally distributed teams?

Question 50

Tell me about a time when you had to ESCALATE an issue to leadership.

Answer 50

COP Phase II (resources) Commonwealth survey to get permission to go heads down USPS

Question 51

CS: What strategies do you use to build trust with stakeholders?

Answer 51

How do you approach working with external partners or vendors in a program?

Question 52

CS: How do you approach working with external partners or vendors in a program?

Answer 52

CS: What strategies do you use to build trust with stakeholders?

Question 53

CS: How do you prioritize projects when multiple are going on at the same time?

Question 54

CS: How do you balance strategic initiaitves with day-to-day execution?

Question 55

CS: How do you define program success at the start of a project?

Question 56

Have you ever managed a program where qualitative success was just as important as quantitative success? How did you measure it? (1)

Answer 56

Commonwealth - needed teams to be bought in and feel good about the strategies in addition to the outputs themselves

Question 57

CS: How do you set OKRs/KPIs for a program?

Question 58

Have you ever had to sunset a program? How did you decide and execute the phase-out? (1)

Answer 58

Gram Vaani

Question 59

CS: What tools and frameworks do you use for program management?

Question 60

CS: How do you identify risks in a program? What frameworks do you use?

Question 61

SMART acronym

Answer 61

Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant Time-bound

Question 62

RAID Logs acronym

Answer 62

Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies

Question 63

Define Eisenhower Matrix

Answer 63

Balances LT goals with ST execution needs by looking at importance and urgency

Question 64

Example of different working styles

Answer 64

Commonwealth