Coaching and Facilitation Flashcards

What is the primary distinction between coaching and mentoring in an agile leadership context?

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.

Which coaching stance best describes an agile leader who withholds their own opinion to allow the team to self-discover solutions?

Answer: Coach-like leader

A coach-like leader intentionally withholds personal opinions and uses questions to guide individuals toward self-discovered insights and solutions.

When facilitating an agile retrospective, what should a leader prioritize above all else?

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.

An agile leader notices a team member is resistant to a new process change. Which coaching approach is most appropriate?

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.

What is the purpose of active listening as a facilitation skill in agile leadership?

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.

Which facilitation technique is best suited for generating a large number of ideas from a team in a short amount of time?

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.

In the GROW coaching model used by agile leaders, what does the 'R' stand for?

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.