CAE CAE Agile Leadership & Coaching 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: When should an Agile leader shift from a coaching stance to a teaching stance?
- When the team already has the needed knowledge
- When the team lacks specific knowledge or skills needed to move forward (Correct answer)
- When the team is performing at its highest level
- Only during onboarding
Correct answer: When the team lacks specific knowledge or skills needed to move forward
Teaching is appropriate when the team lacks specific knowledge or skills and needs direct instruction to bridge the gap.
Question 2: What is a 'growth mindset' as applied in Agile leadership?
- Believing team size must grow to improve output
- Believing abilities and intelligence can be developed through dedication and learning (Correct answer)
- Focusing only on product growth metrics
- Hiring new talent rather than developing existing team members
Correct answer: Believing abilities and intelligence can be developed through dedication and learning
A growth mindset, as defined by Carol Dweck and embraced in Agile, is the belief that abilities can be developed through effort and learning from failure.
Question 3: How does an Agile leader best support psychological safety on the team?
- By shielding the team from all negative feedback
- By creating an environment where team members feel safe to speak up, experiment, and fail without fear of punishment (Correct answer)
- By ensuring no conflicts ever arise
- By only praising successful outcomes
Correct answer: By creating an environment where team members feel safe to speak up, experiment, and fail without fear of punishment
Psychological safety means team members feel safe to take interpersonal risks like sharing ideas, raising concerns, or admitting mistakes.
Question 4: What does 'inspect and adapt' mean at the leadership level in Agile?
- Leaders check team code quality and fix bugs
- Leaders regularly review their own leadership practices and adjust based on outcomes (Correct answer)
- Leaders inspect the backlog and adapt priorities
- Leaders audit compliance with Agile ceremonies
Correct answer: Leaders regularly review their own leadership practices and adjust based on outcomes
Agile leaders apply inspect-and-adapt to their own leadership approach, continuously reflecting and adjusting to better serve the team.
Question 5: What is the purpose of a 'leadership self-assessment' in an Agile context?
- To evaluate the team's performance
- To identify gaps between a leader's current behavior and Agile leadership ideals (Correct answer)
- To determine salary adjustments
- To assess technical skills
Correct answer: To identify gaps between a leader's current behavior and Agile leadership ideals
A leadership self-assessment helps Agile leaders identify where their behaviors align with or diverge from Agile principles so they can grow.
Question 6: Which approach best describes how an Agile leader handles conflict within the team?
- Resolve all conflicts directly on behalf of the team
- Ignore minor conflicts to keep morale high
- Coach the team to resolve conflicts themselves using agreed-upon norms (Correct answer)
- Escalate all conflicts to HR immediately
Correct answer: Coach the team to resolve conflicts themselves using agreed-upon norms
Agile leaders coach teams to develop conflict-resolution skills, building team resilience and self-sufficiency rather than resolving every conflict for them.
CAE CAE Agile Leadership & Coaching 2
When should an Agile leader shift from a coaching stance to a teaching stance?