CAL-1 Coaching and Facilitation 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the primary distinction between coaching and mentoring in an agile leadership context?
- Coaching provides answers while mentoring asks questions
- Coaching draws out the coachee's own solutions while mentoring shares the mentor's experience and advice (Correct answer)
- Coaching focuses on technical skills while mentoring focuses on soft skills
- Coaching is short-term while mentoring is always long-term
Correct answer: Coaching draws out the coachee's own solutions while mentoring shares the mentor's experience and advice
Coaching uses powerful questions to help individuals discover their own solutions, whereas mentoring involves sharing the mentor's knowledge, experience, and guidance.
Question 2: Which coaching stance best describes an agile leader who withholds their own opinion to allow the team to self-discover solutions?
- Expert advisor
- Directive manager
- Coach-like leader (Correct answer)
- Consulting partner
Correct answer: Coach-like leader
A coach-like leader intentionally withholds personal opinions and uses questions to guide individuals toward self-discovered insights and solutions.
Question 3: When facilitating an agile retrospective, what should a leader prioritize above all else?
- Ensuring the team identifies at least five improvement items
- Sharing their own analysis of what went wrong
- Creating a safe environment where all voices can be heard (Correct answer)
- Finishing the session within the allotted timebox
Correct answer: Creating a safe environment where all voices can be heard
Psychological safety is the foundation of an effective retrospective; without it, team members will not share honest feedback or surface real impediments.
Question 4: An agile leader notices a team member is resistant to a new process change. Which coaching approach is most appropriate?
- Mandate compliance and document the resistance
- Ask open-ended questions to understand the root cause of their concerns (Correct answer)
- Assign the team member to a different team
- Explain the benefits of the change repeatedly until they agree
Correct answer: Ask open-ended questions to understand the root cause of their concerns
Open-ended questions uncover the underlying reasons for resistance, allowing the leader to address real concerns and co-create commitment.
Question 5: What is the purpose of active listening as a facilitation skill in agile leadership?
- To quickly identify who is wrong in a conflict
- To demonstrate authority during team discussions
- To fully understand the speaker's perspective before responding (Correct answer)
- To speed up decision-making by summarizing quickly
Correct answer: To fully understand the speaker's perspective before responding
Active listening ensures the leader genuinely understands the speaker's meaning and emotions, building trust and enabling more effective problem-solving.
Question 6: Which facilitation technique is best suited for generating a large number of ideas from a team in a short amount of time?
- Fishbone diagram
- SWOT analysis
- Brainstorming or brainwriting (Correct answer)
- Five Whys
Correct answer: Brainstorming or brainwriting
Brainstorming (or the silent variant brainwriting) is designed specifically to rapidly generate a high volume of ideas by suspending judgment during ideation.
Question 7: In the GROW coaching model used by agile leaders, what does the 'R' stand for?
- Resolve
- Reality (Correct answer)
- Results
- Responsibility
Correct answer: Reality
In the GROW model (Goal, Reality, Options, Will/Way Forward), 'Reality' represents the current situation assessment, helping the coachee understand where they are now.
CAL-1 Coaching and Facilitation 1
What is the primary distinction between coaching and mentoring in an agile leadership context?