CPM Coaching & Leadership Pipeline 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A manager notices a high-potential employee consistently avoids presenting to senior leadership. Which coaching approach best addresses this development gap?
- Assign the employee to a cross-functional project with no presentation requirements
- Create stretch assignments that gradually increase the employee's executive exposure (Correct answer)
- Inform the employee that presentation skills are required for promotion
- Ask HR to enroll the employee in a mandatory public speaking course
Correct answer: Create stretch assignments that gradually increase the employee's executive exposure
Gradual stretch assignments build confidence through progressive exposure while keeping the employee in their growth zone.
Question 2: In the leadership pipeline model, what is the primary shift required when moving from managing managers to functional manager?
- Focusing exclusively on technical skill development
- Managing a broader business unit and developing other managers' leadership skills (Correct answer)
- Reducing involvement in day-to-day team operations
- Shifting from people management to project management
Correct answer: Managing a broader business unit and developing other managers' leadership skills
The functional manager passage requires overseeing multiple departments and coaching managers to develop their own teams.
Question 3: Which coaching conversation technique is most effective when an employee is stuck and cannot identify solutions on their own?
- Telling the employee the answer to save time
- Using Socratic questioning to help the employee explore new perspectives (Correct answer)
- Escalating the issue to HR for intervention
- Reassigning the task to a more experienced colleague
Correct answer: Using Socratic questioning to help the employee explore new perspectives
Socratic questioning guides the employee to discover their own solutions, building critical thinking and ownership.
Question 4: A team leader consistently achieves results but struggles to develop team members. In the leadership pipeline framework, this represents a failure at which level?
- Individual contributor
- Managing managers
- Managing self
- Managing others (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Managing others
The 'managing others' passage explicitly requires shifting from personal productivity to developing and enabling others.
Question 5: When coaching an employee who is resistant to feedback, what is the most effective first step?
- Document the resistance for the performance review
- Explore the employee's perception of the feedback before presenting your own view (Correct answer)
- Deliver the feedback more directly and firmly
- Involve the employee's skip-level manager immediately
Correct answer: Explore the employee's perception of the feedback before presenting your own view
Understanding the employee's perspective first reduces defensiveness and creates psychological safety for the coaching conversation.
Question 6: Which element distinguishes a coaching conversation from a mentoring conversation?
- Coaching relies on the coach's expertise; mentoring relies on the employee's self-discovery
- Mentoring is directive; coaching draws out the employee's own thinking (Correct answer)
- Coaching is only used for performance problems; mentoring is for high potentials
- Mentoring is shorter in duration than coaching engagements
Correct answer: Mentoring is directive; coaching draws out the employee's own thinking
Mentoring typically involves sharing the mentor's experience and advice, while coaching facilitates the coachee's own problem-solving.
Question 7: A senior manager wants to build a stronger internal leadership pipeline. Which action has the greatest long-term impact?
- Hiring externally for all leadership roles to bring fresh perspectives
- Creating individual development plans tied to future role requirements for high-potential employees (Correct answer)
- Promoting the highest performers regardless of leadership readiness
- Offering leadership training only when a vacancy arises
Correct answer: Creating individual development plans tied to future role requirements for high-potential employees
Proactive individual development plans aligned to future roles systematically build bench strength over time.
CPM Coaching & Leadership Pipeline 2
A manager notices a high-potential employee consistently avoids presenting to senior leadership.
Which coaching approach best addresses this development gap?