CAL-1 Coaching and Facilitation 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which of the following best describes the role of a facilitator during an agile team meeting?
- Deciding the best solution for the team
- Documenting meeting minutes and action items only
- Guiding the process while remaining neutral on content (Correct answer)
- Representing management's interests to the team
Correct answer: Guiding the process while remaining neutral on content
A facilitator is responsible for managing the process and structure of a meeting while remaining content-neutral, leaving decisions to the participants.
Question 2: An agile leader is coaching a Scrum Master who struggles with conflict in their team. What is the MOST effective first step?
- Intervene directly in the team's conflicts on behalf of the Scrum Master
- Ask the Scrum Master what outcome they want from resolving the conflict (Correct answer)
- Tell the Scrum Master the correct way to handle conflict
- Escalate the issue to the team's Product Owner
Correct answer: Ask the Scrum Master what outcome they want from resolving the conflict
Starting with the coachee's desired outcome anchors the coaching conversation and activates their own problem-solving capability rather than creating dependency.
Question 3: What is 'powerful questioning' in the context of agile coaching?
- Asking leading questions that guide the coachee toward the coach's preferred solution
- Using closed yes/no questions to quickly confirm understanding
- Asking open-ended questions that evoke reflection, insight, and new possibilities (Correct answer)
- Questioning the coachee's competence to motivate improvement
Correct answer: Asking open-ended questions that evoke reflection, insight, and new possibilities
Powerful questions are open-ended, thought-provoking, and designed to stimulate self-reflection and help coachees discover their own insights.
Question 4: A team's retrospective consistently produces action items that are never completed. As a coaching leader, what should you do first?
- Cancel future retrospectives until past items are resolved
- Assign action items to individuals publicly on a tracking board
- Coach the team to explore why action items are not being completed (Correct answer)
- Reduce the number of action items generated per retrospective
Correct answer: Coach the team to explore why action items are not being completed
Exploring the systemic reasons why commitments aren't followed through helps the team develop lasting behavioral change rather than applying surface-level fixes.
Question 5: Which stance should an agile leader adopt when a team member is stuck and has no ideas about how to proceed?
- Tell them exactly what to do to save time
- Shift from a coaching stance to a teaching or advising stance temporarily (Correct answer)
- Leave them to figure it out independently
- Reassign the task to a more experienced team member
Correct answer: Shift from a coaching stance to a teaching or advising stance temporarily
Skilled agile leaders fluidly shift between coaching, mentoring, and teaching stances depending on the individual's need and developmental level in the moment.
Question 6: What is the 'Columbian Mammoth' anti-pattern in facilitation?
- A facilitator who dominates discussion with their own ideas
- A single vocal participant who controls the conversation and suppresses other voices (Correct answer)
- A meeting that runs far over its timebox
- A retrospective with too many action items to complete
Correct answer: A single vocal participant who controls the conversation and suppresses other voices
The 'HiPPO' (Highest Paid Person's Opinion) or dominant voice anti-pattern occurs when one person overshadows the group, and a skilled facilitator must actively draw out quieter voices.
Question 7: When coaching an organization through an agile transformation, what does 'meeting people where they are' mean?
- Conducting coaching sessions at the coachee's workplace location
- Accepting the current cultural and capability state as the starting point before introducing change (Correct answer)
- Agreeing with everything the coachee says to build rapport
- Adjusting the agile framework to match the organization's existing waterfall processes
Correct answer: Accepting the current cultural and capability state as the starting point before introducing change
Effective agile coaching begins by understanding and accepting the current reality of individuals and the organization before designing appropriate change interventions.
CAL-1 Coaching and Facilitation 2
Which of the following best describes the role of a facilitator during an agile team meeting?