CBC Leadership & Executive Development 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A CEO client tells their coach they avoid difficult conversations with a long-tenured underperformer. What underlying leadership gap should the coach explore?
- The leader's relationship to conflict and courageous communication (Correct answer)
- The employee's compensation package
- The company's org chart structure
- The industry's talent market conditions
Correct answer: The leader's relationship to conflict and courageous communication
Avoidance of difficult conversations typically stems from the leader's own discomfort with conflict, which coaching can surface and address.
Question 2: Which concept describes a leader's belief in their ability to successfully execute leadership tasks, which coaches often strengthen through small early wins?
- Self-efficacy (Correct answer)
- Cognitive dissonance
- Groupthink
- Confirmation bias
Correct answer: Self-efficacy
Self-efficacy, from Bandura's work, is task-specific confidence that grows through mastery experiences such as small early wins.
Question 3: An executive coach observes that a leadership team avoids debate and quickly agrees with the CEO in meetings. This dynamic most likely indicates which risk?
- Groupthink suppressing candid dissent and quality decision-making (Correct answer)
- Healthy alignment around strategy
- Strong psychological safety
- Effective delegation of authority
Correct answer: Groupthink suppressing candid dissent and quality decision-making
Rapid unanimous agreement with a dominant leader is a classic symptom of groupthink, which degrades decision quality.
Question 4: When coaching an executive on delegation, which task should the coach suggest the leader retain rather than delegate?
- Setting the strategic vision and direction for the organization (Correct answer)
- Routine status reporting
- Scheduling team meetings
- First-draft preparation of operational documents
Correct answer: Setting the strategic vision and direction for the organization
Vision-setting is a core, non-delegable leadership responsibility, while routine and preparatory tasks are prime candidates for delegation.
Question 5: A coach's executive client scores high on drive but low on empathy in an assessment. Which development risk is most associated with this profile?
- Derailment through damaged relationships and inability to build followership (Correct answer)
- Excessive caution in decision-making
- Over-reliance on consensus
- Reluctance to pursue ambitious goals
Correct answer: Derailment through damaged relationships and inability to build followership
Research on executive derailment shows that interpersonal insensitivity is a leading cause of failure in otherwise driven leaders.
Question 6: Which practice best helps an executive client build psychological safety within their leadership team?
- Modeling vulnerability by openly acknowledging their own mistakes and inviting dissent (Correct answer)
- Ranking team members publicly by performance
- Limiting discussion time to keep meetings efficient
- Requiring unanimous agreement on all decisions
Correct answer: Modeling vulnerability by openly acknowledging their own mistakes and inviting dissent
Amy Edmondson's research shows leaders create psychological safety by modeling fallibility and actively inviting input and dissent.
Question 7: An executive preparing for succession asks their coach how to develop a successor. What is the most effective first step?
- Defining the future capabilities the role will require, then assessing candidates against them (Correct answer)
- Selecting the longest-tenured direct report automatically
- Keeping succession plans secret until retirement
- Copying the current leader's job description as the benchmark
Correct answer: Defining the future capabilities the role will require, then assessing candidates against them
Effective succession planning starts with future-focused role requirements rather than tenure or replicating the incumbent.
CBC Leadership & Executive Development 3
A CEO client tells their coach they avoid difficult conversations with a long-tenured underperformer.
What underlying leadership gap should the coach explore?