CPM Performance Management & Coaching 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which of the following best describes 'feedforward' as a coaching technique?
- Reviewing past mistakes in detail
- Offering future-focused suggestions for improvement rather than analyzing past errors (Correct answer)
- Providing written documentation of performance failures
- Giving feedback anonymously through surveys
Correct answer: Offering future-focused suggestions for improvement rather than analyzing past errors
Feedforward focuses on what the employee can do differently going forward, making feedback more actionable and less threatening.
Question 2: A manager conducts quarterly check-ins instead of relying solely on annual reviews. What is the primary benefit of this approach?
- It reduces the manager's documentation burden
- It enables timely course corrections and stronger employee engagement (Correct answer)
- It eliminates the need for formal performance ratings
- It shifts accountability entirely to the employee
Correct answer: It enables timely course corrections and stronger employee engagement
Frequent check-ins allow managers to address issues early and maintain ongoing alignment between employee effort and organizational goals.
Question 3: In a calibration session, managers review performance ratings together primarily to:
- Reduce the total number of high ratings to save on bonuses
- Ensure consistency and fairness in ratings across teams and managers (Correct answer)
- Replace the need for direct manager feedback
- Speed up the review cycle
Correct answer: Ensure consistency and fairness in ratings across teams and managers
Calibration sessions align rating standards across managers, reducing bias and ensuring comparable assessments organization-wide.
Question 4: Which coaching behavior most directly builds an employee's self-efficacy?
- Solving problems on the employee's behalf
- Asking the employee to reflect on past successes relevant to the current challenge (Correct answer)
- Avoiding difficult feedback to preserve confidence
- Assigning only tasks the employee already masters
Correct answer: Asking the employee to reflect on past successes relevant to the current challenge
Helping employees connect current challenges to previous successes reinforces their belief in their own capability.
Question 5: What is the primary purpose of a 360-degree feedback assessment?
- To replace the manager's performance rating
- To gather multi-source input on an employee's behaviors from peers, direct reports, and supervisors (Correct answer)
- To identify employees for termination
- To measure technical skills only
Correct answer: To gather multi-source input on an employee's behaviors from peers, direct reports, and supervisors
360-degree feedback provides a well-rounded view of an individual's performance and interpersonal impact from multiple stakeholders.
Question 6: An employee consistently delivers work late despite previous conversations. What is the most appropriate next step in performance management?
- Ignore the pattern and hope it self-corrects
- Document the issue and initiate a structured performance improvement plan with clear expectations (Correct answer)
- Immediately terminate the employee
- Reassign all deadlines to other team members
Correct answer: Document the issue and initiate a structured performance improvement plan with clear expectations
When informal coaching hasn't resolved a recurring issue, formal documentation and a PIP provide clear expectations and protect both employee and manager.
Question 7: Which of the following is an example of extrinsic motivation in a performance management context?
- An employee feels proud when solving a complex problem
- An employee works harder after receiving a performance bonus (Correct answer)
- An employee enjoys the challenge of learning new skills
- An employee finds personal meaning in their work
Correct answer: An employee works harder after receiving a performance bonus
Extrinsic motivation is driven by external rewards like bonuses, recognition, or promotions rather than internal satisfaction.
CPM Performance Management & Coaching 3
Which of the following best describes 'feedforward' as a coaching technique?