CLC Strategic Planning & Goal Setting 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A coachee consistently meets short-term targets but makes no progress on long-term strategic goals. A CLC should first:
- Praise the short-term wins and ignore long-term goals
- Explore whether urgent tasks are systematically crowding out important strategic work (Correct answer)
- Set stricter deadlines for long-term goals
- Replace long-term goals with more short-term targets
Correct answer: Explore whether urgent tasks are systematically crowding out important strategic work
Covey's urgent-vs-important matrix helps coaches identify when reactive work displaces strategic investment.
Question 2: Which element of the GROW coaching model directly addresses the strategic planning phase of identifying desired outcomes?
- Reality
- Will
- Goal (Correct answer)
- Options
Correct answer: Goal
The Goal phase of GROW establishes what the coachee wants to achieve, which is the foundation of any strategic planning effort.
Question 3: In the context of leadership coaching, 'stretch goals' are most useful when they:
- Are set so high that failure is expected
- Challenge the leader while remaining achievable with significant effort (Correct answer)
- Replace all standard performance objectives
- Are kept confidential from the team
Correct answer: Challenge the leader while remaining achievable with significant effort
Effective stretch goals push beyond comfort zones but stay within the realm of achievability to motivate rather than demoralize.
Question 4: A strategic plan that relies heavily on a single competitive advantage is best described as:
- Focused and efficient
- Vulnerable to disruption (Correct answer)
- A best-practice model
- Optimally resourced
Correct answer: Vulnerable to disruption
Overreliance on one advantage creates fragility; if that advantage erodes, the entire strategy is at risk.
Question 5: Which goal-setting approach emphasizes making goals public and recruiting social support to increase commitment?
- HARD goal framework
- Implementation intentions
- Public commitment strategy (Correct answer)
- Backward goal design
Correct answer: Public commitment strategy
Public commitment leverages social accountability, increasing follow-through by making intentions visible to others.
Question 6: A nonprofit leader's strategic plan focuses on expanding services but ignores funding sustainability. As a CLC, you would:
- Approve the plan since mission is more important than finances
- Help the leader stress-test the plan by exploring financial assumptions and risks (Correct answer)
- Recommend they hire a CFO instead of working with a coach
- Suggest reducing the expansion scope without further analysis
Correct answer: Help the leader stress-test the plan by exploring financial assumptions and risks
Coaches help leaders examine blind spots and stress-test assumptions to build more resilient strategic plans.
Question 7: In strategic planning, 'backward planning' (also called reverse engineering) involves:
- Reviewing past failures to avoid repeating them
- Starting from the desired end state and working backward to identify required steps (Correct answer)
- Planning for worst-case scenarios first
- Delegating goal-setting to subordinates first, then reviewing
Correct answer: Starting from the desired end state and working backward to identify required steps
Backward planning starts with the end goal and maps the sequence of actions needed to reach it, clarifying the path forward.
CLC Strategic Planning & Goal Setting 4
A coachee consistently meets short-term targets but makes no progress on long-term strategic goals.
A CLC should first: