LEK Consulting Assessment Tests

LEK Consulting Situational Judgement Test

1. Question 1 of 10

   You are a client services associate at LEK Consulting. A contact at the client has emailed the manager running the account to say you are slow to answer and hard to deal with. You were not copied in, and you heard about it from your manager this morning. You have that contact’s weekly call on Thursday. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Say nothing to anybody about it and work at answering faster, so that the contact sees the difference over the next few weeks.
   2. Email the contact yourself explaining why each of their requests took as long as it did, and ask them to come to you first next time.
   3. Ask your manager what the contact actually said, agree with them what you will do differently, and go into Thursday's call ready to talk about it.
   4. Stop going to the contact's weekly call because they complained about you, and send them your updates by email from now on instead.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Ask your manager what the contact actually said, agree with them what you will do differently, and go into Thursday's call ready to talk about it.

   Least effective: D. Stop going to the contact's weekly call because they complained about you, and send them your updates by email from now on instead.

   A: Leaves the manager holding a complaint alone: they were told about you and have nothing to say back, and the contact hears from nobody at all.

   B: Answers a complaint with a defence: every point may be true, and the contact hears that their experience of working with you is being argued with.

   D: Withdraws after a complaint: the contact said you were hard to deal with, and the answer they receive is that you have removed yourself from the one conversation you had with them.

   The most effective response is to ask your manager what the contact actually said and agree what you will do differently. You know only your manager’s summary of it so far, the specifics are the part you can act on, and Thursday is the first occasion to show the contact something different. It beats emailing the contact yourself explaining why each of their requests took so long, because a defence of every request tells the contact their experience is being disputed rather than heard. It beats saying nothing and working at answering faster so the contact sees the difference, because the manager is left carrying a complaint with nothing to say, and the contact sees no response at all. The least effective response is stopping the weekly call because they complained and sending updates by email: the other three all keep you in contact with the client, whereas this one answers a complaint about being hard to deal with by removing yourself from the weekly call, which proves the point and takes the relationship with it. The principle: get the specifics, then use the next occasion to show the change.

2. Question 2 of 10

   You are an improvement analyst at LEK Consulting, reviewing how a distribution centre handles returns. Last week the site manager asked you how long the checking step takes on average, and you told them eleven minutes. Working through the rest of your observations, you have found that you left a whole shift out, and the real figure is nearer eighteen. The site manager has been building eleven minutes into their staffing plan. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Wait until the review is finished and set the eighteen minutes out in the final report, where the change and the shift you missed can be shown together.
   2. Use eighteen minutes in your own written report at the end of the review, and keep it to yourself that the answer you gave last week was wrong.
   3. Tell the site manager today that the eleven minute figure was wrong, give them the corrected eighteen, and say which parts of their plan it changes.
   4. Send the site manager the corrected figure on its own, and leave out where the difference came from so that the plan simply gets the right number.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Tell the site manager today that the eleven minute figure was wrong, give them the corrected eighteen, and say which parts of their plan it changes.

   Least effective: B. Use eighteen minutes in your own written report at the end of the review, and keep it to yourself that the answer you gave last week was wrong.

   A: Delays a correction that is already costing: the staffing plan is being built this week on a number you already know to be seven minutes short.

   B: Hides your own mistake: the site manager keeps building on eleven minutes and finds out weeks later from a report, if they happen to compare the two numbers at all.

   D: Leaves the reader to work it out: the site manager holds two figures with no reason attached and cannot tell which of their assumptions to revisit.

   The most effective response is to tell the site manager today that the eleven minute figure was wrong and give them the corrected one. It reaches the person who is actively using the wrong number, it arrives while their plan can still be changed cheaply, and it says what the error was so they can judge how far it spreads. It beats sending the corrected figure on its own and leaving out where the difference came from, because a new figure with no explanation leaves the site manager guessing whether their own assumptions or your work moved. It beats waiting until the review is finished and setting eighteen minutes out in the final report, because a plan is being built this week and the report is weeks away. The least effective response is using eighteen in the final report and keeping it to yourself that last week’s answer was wrong: the other three all put the right number in front of the client at some point, whereas this one protects you rather than the plan, so a client keeps staffing a step at eleven minutes when you know it takes eighteen and the only person who could tell them has decided not to. The principle: a wrong answer you gave is corrected to the person you gave it to, as soon as you know.

3. Question 3 of 10

   You are a data analyst at LEK Consulting. On Tuesday you sent a client’s operations team an extract of their order data, and you have found this morning that it left out every order placed at the weekend. The client’s operations manager has already used the extract to work out where to move staff next month, and says those numbers go to their own team this afternoon. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Amend the entry in the shared log so it shows the corrected extract as the one sent on Tuesday, and let the client carry on with the figures they have.
   2. Send a corrected extract straight away with a note of what was missing, and leave the operations manager to work out for themselves what it changes.
   3. Tell the manager running the engagement what happened and ask them to decide who speaks to the client and when, doing nothing more about the extract yourself until they come back to you.
   4. Ring the operations manager now, tell them the extract missed every weekend order and should not be shared today, and send a corrected extract explaining what has changed.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Ring the operations manager now, tell them the extract missed every weekend order and should not be shared today, and send a corrected extract explaining what has changed.

   Least effective: A. Amend the entry in the shared log so it shows the corrected extract as the one sent on Tuesday, and let the client carry on with the figures they have.

   A: Alters a record so a mistake never happened: the log then says the client received a clean extract on Tuesday, and the wrong figures going out this afternoon have nothing behind them to explain where they came from.

   B: Leaves the reader to size the damage: the manager is hours from sharing conclusions, and a replacement file does not tell them which of those conclusions moves.

   C: Hands on a clock you are holding: the numbers reach the client's team this afternoon, and the correction now waits on somebody else's diary.

   The most effective response is to ring the operations manager now and tell them the extract missed every weekend order. The client is hours from acting on figures you know are wrong, a phone call reaches them before that happens, and the corrected extract arrives with the one thing they need, which is what changed. It beats sending a corrected extract straight away with a note of what was missing, because a replacement file leaves the manager to work out on their own which of today’s conclusions has moved. It beats asking the manager running the engagement to decide who speaks to the client, because the deadline is this afternoon and the decision about who rings is smaller than the delay it buys. The least effective response is amending the entry in the shared log so it shows the corrected extract as sent on Tuesday: the other three all leave the client holding something true, whereas this one makes the record say they were sent a clean extract on Tuesday, so a mistake that is still live in their staffing plan is written out of existence rather than corrected. The principle: correct the person who is about to act, and never repair a mistake by repairing the record of it.

4. Question 4 of 10

   You are a deployment analyst at LEK Consulting, on a client site where a new system goes live on Monday. Your review meeting with your team lead is on Friday morning, and you have been asked to write up the work you have done on this engagement. The last set of deployment checks also has to be finished by Friday, and you are the only person on the site who has run them before. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell your team lead today that the checks and the write-up both land on Friday, and ask which can move, since only you have run the checks.
   2. Work through the checks first and write the review up on Thursday evening, so that both of them are ready by Friday morning without anybody else being asked.
   3. Mark the remaining deployment checks as done so that Friday is clear for the write-up, and run them properly over the weekend before Monday.
   4. Ask your team lead to move the review meeting to the following week, without saying that the deployment checks are the reason you are asking.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Tell your team lead today that the checks and the write-up both land on Friday, and ask which can move, since only you have run the checks.

   Least effective: C. Mark the remaining deployment checks as done so that Friday is clear for the write-up, and run them properly over the weekend before Monday.

   B: Leaves no room for the checks to overrun: a check that fails on Thursday takes exactly the evening you were relying on for the write-up.

   C: Records work as finished that has not been done: the one set of checks standing between the client and a bad go-live is signed off on the strength of a promise you have made to yourself.

   D: Fixes the clash and hides its cause: the meeting moves, and your team lead still does not know that the go-live checks rest on one person.

   The most effective response is to tell your team lead today that both land on Friday and ask which of them can move. It names both commitments while there is a working week left, it puts the choice with the person who can actually move one of them, and it keeps you on the checks that only you have run. It beats working through the checks first and writing the review up on Thursday evening, because a failed check on Thursday takes the evening the write-up was going to use, and Friday then loses both. It beats asking your team lead to move the review meeting to the following week, because moving the meeting buys the time and leaves your team lead unaware that a Monday go-live depends on one person being free. The least effective response is marking the remaining deployment checks as done so Friday is clear for the write-up: the other three all leave the checks either honestly finished or honestly outstanding, whereas this one writes them down as done three days before go-live so that a meeting can happen, and the client’s Monday then rests on a record that is not true. The principle: when two things you owe fall on one day, say so early and let the person who owns the priorities choose.

5. Question 5 of 10

   You are a data analyst at LEK Consulting, on an engagement where every action has an owner and a status on a shared list the client reads. An action of yours, cleaning a set of address records, was due yesterday and you have not started it. The client’s project sponsor is going through the list with your team lead in an hour. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Leave the status on the list as it stands, and mention to your team lead after the meeting that the address records still need doing this week.
   2. Start cleaning the address records now, and change the status only once enough of the work is genuinely under way for you to say so honestly.
   3. Change the status to say the work has not started, put a date on it you can hold, and tell your team lead before the meeting.
   4. Mark the action as done on the shared list, and clean the address records this afternoon before anybody goes looking at what sits behind the entry.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Change the status to say the work has not started, put a date on it you can hold, and tell your team lead before the meeting.

   Least effective: D. Mark the action as done on the shared list, and clean the address records this afternoon before anybody goes looking at what sits behind the entry.

   A: Leaves your team lead to find it in the room: they answer for an action in front of the sponsor without knowing it is a day late and untouched.

   B: Puts the record behind the meeting: the status the sponsor reads in an hour is the old one, and the honest update arrives after the conversation it was needed for.

   D: Alters a record the client reads: the sponsor works through the list believing the address work is finished, and the entry stays untrue for as long as nobody opens it.

   The most effective response is to change the status to not started, put a date on it you can hold and tell your team lead. It makes the list true before the people who use it read it, it replaces a missed date with one that can be relied on, and your team lead walks into the meeting knowing rather than finding out. It beats leaving the status as it stands and mentioning it to your team lead afterwards, because your team lead is the one who has to answer for the action, and an hour’s warning is the difference between an explanation and a surprise. It beats starting the records now and changing the status only once the work is under way, because the sponsor reads the list in an hour, so an accurate status that appears this afternoon is accurate too late. The least effective response is marking the action as done on the shared list and cleaning the records afterwards: the other three leave a status the client can rely on or at worst a stale one, whereas this one puts a false entry into a record the client is reading right now, so a sponsor plans around finished work that has not begun. The principle: make the record say what is true before the meeting that reads it, and warn the person who will be asked.

6. Question 6 of 10

   You are an operations analyst at LEK Consulting, three weeks into a process review at a food producer, Marden Foods. In a meeting with the client’s site team on Friday you said you would send your colleague the shift observation notes by Monday, so that they could start the staff interviews. You forgot. It is now Tuesday morning, your colleague has done the first day of interviews without them, and the client’s site manager has just asked you in passing whether the notes were useful. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Send the observations to your colleague this morning with an apology, and leave the site manager out of it, since what passes between the two of you is not the client's concern.
   2. Write the notes up tonight and send them, hiding the fact that they were never sent on Monday, and leave your colleague and the site manager both assuming they arrived.
   3. Tell the site manager straight away that the notes were a day late, and let your colleague hear about it from the client rather than from you.
   4. Tell your colleague now that the notes never went, send them today, and tell the site manager that the first day of interviews ran without them so that those answers can be checked again.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Tell your colleague now that the notes never went, send them today, and tell the site manager that the first day of interviews ran without them so that those answers can be checked again.

   Least effective: B. Write the notes up tonight and send them, hiding the fact that they were never sent on Monday, and leave your colleague and the site manager both assuming they arrived.

   A: Leaves the client holding a wrong answer: the site manager asked a direct question and walks away believing the interviews were run from notes that never arrived.

   B: Hides your own slip: your colleague carries on believing the first day of interviews was run from the notes, and the site manager is left with the same wrong picture.

   C: Tells the client before the colleague: the person the promise was made to hears about it second, from the client's own site manager.

   The most effective response is to tell your colleague now that the notes never went and to tell the site manager the interviews ran without them. It repairs the practical damage first, and it gives both the person you let down and the person who asked the question the same true account on the same morning. It beats sending the observations with an apology and leaving the site manager out of it, because the site manager asked a direct question and would be left believing the interviews were run from notes that never arrived. It beats telling the site manager straight away and letting your colleague hear it from the client, because your colleague is the person the promise was made to, and hearing it first from the client is the one route that makes it worse for them. The least effective response is hiding that the notes were never sent and letting both of them assume they arrived: the other three all leave somebody able to check the first day’s answers, whereas this one covers the gap over so that nobody ever knows the interviews ran without the notes. The principle: when you drop something you committed to in front of the client, tell the colleague and the client the same thing on the same day.

7. Question 7 of 10

   You are an improvement analyst at LEK Consulting, reviewing how orders are handled at Verlow Textiles. The client gave you access to their order system so that you could take reports from it. You can see that one setting is sending every rush order into the wrong queue, and you could change it in an hour. The client’s operations manager is away until Monday. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Ask the manager running the engagement whether to raise it, and do nothing further about it until they have come back to you.
   2. Change the setting yourself this afternoon with the access you already have, and tell the operations manager on Monday what you changed and why.
   3. Put it in your report for Monday with the evidence behind it, and leave the queue as it is until the operations manager has read the report.
   4. Tell whoever is covering for the operations manager today what the setting is doing to rush orders, and offer to show their system team the change so that their own people make it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Tell whoever is covering for the operations manager today what the setting is doing to rush orders, and offer to show their system team the change so that their own people make it.

   Least effective: B. Change the setting yourself this afternoon with the access you already have, and tell the operations manager on Monday what you changed and why.

   A: Waits for permission to pass on a fact: the client's orders are going astray now, and telling them what you can see needs nobody's approval.

   B: Breaches the limit on the access you were given: the client let you take reports, not reconfigure a live system, and their own people would learn on Monday that something had moved.

   C: Files a live problem as a finding: rush orders go to the wrong queue for another three days while the evidence sits in a document nobody has read.

   The most effective response is to tell whoever is covering today what the setting is doing to rush orders. The client owns their system, somebody is covering while the operations manager is away, and what they need from you today is the finding and your help with it. It beats putting it in your report for Monday and leaving the queue as it is, because three more days of rush orders go to the wrong queue while a document waits to be read. It beats asking the manager running the engagement whether to raise it first, because telling a client what you can see in their own data is not a decision that needs clearing first. The least effective response is changing the setting yourself with the access you already have: the other three all leave the change in the client’s hands, whereas this one reaches into a live system with access given for a different purpose, so the client finds their configuration altered by somebody they never asked to alter it. The principle: the finding is yours to give quickly, and the change is theirs to make.

8. Question 8 of 10

   You are an insight analyst at LEK Consulting, building reports on a client’s test system. While changing a setting this morning you deleted a table that two of the client’s own analysts use for their weekly figures. Nobody has mentioned it, and their weekly run is on Monday. Putting the table back would need the client’s technical team, who would ask how it was lost. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Ask the client's technical team to put the table back this morning without saying how it was lost, then get on with building the reports before Monday.
   2. Tell the client's two analysts directly that their table has gone, and let them raise it with their own technical team.
   3. Rebuild the table from the copy on your own machine and keep it to yourself, so that nothing has to be said.
   4. Tell the manager running the engagement now and ask the client's technical team to restore the table, saying plainly that you deleted it this morning.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Tell the manager running the engagement now and ask the client's technical team to restore the table, saying plainly that you deleted it this morning.

   Least effective: C. Rebuild the table from the copy on your own machine and keep it to yourself, so that nothing has to be said.

   A: Leaves out the part that matters: the table returns, and the people who decide who may change that system are missing the fact that it was you.

   B: Sends it round the wrong way: the analysts cannot say how the table was lost, and your own engagement first hears of the problem from the client.

   C: Conceals your own fault: the client's analysts run Monday's figures from a table nobody has checked, and the one person who knows what happened to it has decided not to say.

   The most effective response is to tell the manager now and ask the client’s technical team to restore the table, saying you deleted it. It gets the table back through the people who own the system, it does so before Monday, and it puts your own account of what happened on the record before anybody has to ask. It beats telling the client’s two analysts directly and leaving them to raise it, because the analysts cannot explain a loss they did not cause, and your engagement then learns about it from the client. It beats asking the technical team to put the table back without saying how it was lost, because a restore without the reason leaves the client unable to judge whether the same thing can happen again. The least effective response is rebuilding the table from the copy on your own machine and keeping it to yourself: the other three all end with the client’s own people knowing their table was lost, whereas this one substitutes your private copy for the real thing and closes the matter without anyone else ever knowing, so Monday’s figures rest on something no one has checked. The principle: your own mistake is the one you say out loud, and quickly.

9. Question 9 of 10

   You are a project analyst at LEK Consulting, running the plan for a client’s warehouse move. Over coffee their project sponsor asks how a competitor of theirs handled the same move last year. You worked on that project and you remember what they did and what it cost them. The sponsor says it is only for their own thinking. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell the sponsor you cannot discuss another client's project, offer what is publicly known about moves of that size, and mention the question to the manager running the engagement.
   2. Describe the other project in general terms without naming the client, keeping to the parts you judge the sponsor could have read about elsewhere.
   3. Answer the question, describing how the other client organised their move and roughly what it cost, keeping it to a conversation rather than anything in writing.
   4. Say you would rather not answer that one, turn the conversation back to the plan, and leave the sponsor to work out for themselves why the question was unwelcome.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Tell the sponsor you cannot discuss another client's project, offer what is publicly known about moves of that size, and mention the question to the manager running the engagement.

   Least effective: C. Answer the question, describing how the other client organised their move and roughly what it cost, keeping it to a conversation rather than anything in writing.

   B: Substitutes your own judgement for somebody else's: you decide alone, over coffee, which parts of a former engagement are safe to repeat.

   C: Breaches a confidence you were trusted with: the sponsor learns what another client paid, and the same sponsor now knows exactly how far their own arrangements would travel.

   D: Avoids the difficult conversation: the sponsor is left guessing what the refusal meant, and nobody on your side ever learns that the question was asked.

   The most effective response is to say you cannot discuss another client’s project and offer what is publicly known. It gives the sponsor a plain answer they can respect, it still leaves them with something useful, and it puts a question worth knowing about in front of the person who runs the relationship. It beats saying you would rather not answer and turning the conversation back to the plan, because a refusal with no reason and no substitute reads as evasion and leaves the sponsor to invent an explanation. It beats describing the other project in general terms without naming the client, because you are making a fine judgement about another client’s information on your own, in a coffee queue, with nothing to check it against. The least effective response is answering the question and describing how the other client organised their move: the other three all keep the other client’s arrangements where they belong, whereas this one hands them over on the strength of a request made informally, so the sponsor learns what a competitor paid and learns at the same moment how safe their own information is with you. The principle: what a former client told you is not yours to spend on the good will of a current one.

10. Question 10 of 10

    You are a systems analyst at LEK Consulting, in your first weeks on a client’s site. You work in the same room as another supplier’s team and see their progress daily, and you were told when you arrived that what you see of their work stays inside your own engagement. The client’s operations manager offers you a lift to the station and on the way asks how the other supplier is getting on. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

    1. Move the conversation on to something else for the rest of the journey and leave the question hanging, so that the subject is not returned to before the station.
    2. Answer with what you have seen of the other supplier's progress on their part of the system, treating it as ordinary conversation on a short car journey.
    3. Say you are not the person to ask about the other supplier, offer what you can about your own work, and mention the question to your manager afterwards.
    4. Give a general answer that the other supplier looks broadly on track, keeping away from anything specific about their testing or the dates they are working to.
    Show the answer

    Most effective: C. Say you are not the person to ask about the other supplier, offer what you can about your own work, and mention the question to your manager afterwards.

    Least effective: B. Answer with what you have seen of the other supplier's progress on their part of the system, treating it as ordinary conversation on a short car journey.

    A: Handles the moment and not the problem: the manager is left unsure whether you are being evasive, and the same question arrives again next week.

    B: Breaches what you were told when you arrived: a friendly car journey is still the client hearing one supplier's account of another, from the person sitting closest to them.

    D: Treats a limit as a matter of degree: a broad verdict is still your account of somebody else's progress, and the client will hear it as an informed one.

    The most effective response is to say you are not the person to ask and mention the question to your manager afterwards. It answers the manager honestly about what you can and cannot discuss, it leaves them with something useful, and it tells your own side that the question was asked so nobody is surprised when it comes back. It beats giving a general answer that they look broadly on track, because a broad verdict is still a report on another supplier and the client will treat it as one. It beats moving the conversation on and leaving the question hanging, because dodging leaves the manager guessing and settles nothing for next time. The least effective response is answering with what you have seen of the other supplier’s progress: the other three all keep the other supplier’s progress where you were told to keep it, whereas this one hands the client an account of a competitor’s work because the setting felt informal, which is exactly where a limit stops being one. The principle: a limit on what you may discuss holds in the car as much as in the meeting, and the graceful version of it says so out loud.