IntermediateSITUATIONAL
You receive two conflicting requests from different departments, both marked as high priority and both due by the end of the day. One is from a senior manager, the other impacts a critical customer deadline. How do you decide what to do first, and how do you communicate your decision to each stakeholder?
Other
General

Sample Answer

I start by clarifying impact, risk, and true deadlines. In a similar situation, a senior manager requested a slide deck update while Support needed data consolidated in Excel to meet a 6 p.m. SLA for a key customer worth 18% of quarterly revenue. I quickly verified both timelines, then quantified impact: customer risk vs. internal reporting. I prioritized the customer task, blocked a 90-minute window, and communicated transparently. To the senior manager, I shared a concrete timeline (“deck by 5:30 p.m.”), outlined the customer risk, and proposed a trimmed version of the deck. I updated both stakeholders via Slack and Jira, delivered the customer file 45 minutes early, and the deck on time. Result: no SLA breach and both stakeholders rated responsiveness 5/5 in our weekly survey.

Keywords

Clarify real deadlines, impact, and risk before decidingPrioritize external/customer impact over internal work when stakes are highGive each stakeholder a concrete, time-bound plan and rationaleUse written updates (Slack/Jira/email) to maintain transparency
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