Leadership Academy — Week 5 Assessment Practice

Part of the Leadership Academy series — practice questions to go with the Week 5 study guide.

Q1 (scenario). A team member says, “I don’t know how to structure a client proposal — I’ve never done one.” Which mode do you use, and why not the others?

A1. Manage or mentor — this is a genuine knowledge gap, not a confidence block, so coaching (asking questions instead of giving answers) would withhold help from someone who has nothing to draw on yet. Mentor if it’s a “here’s how I’d approach it” conversation; manage if there’s a deadline and a specific standard that has to be hit right now.

Q2 (analysis). A manager, when a team member raises a problem, immediately says “here’s what I’d do” before the person finishes explaining. What’s the failure, and what should happen instead?

A2. The advice instinct overriding coaching — jumping to your own answer instead of asking a question that lets the person find their own. Should run GROW instead: ask what they want from the conversation (Goal), what they’ve already tried (Reality), what other options exist (Options) — resisting your own ready-made answer, since a person’s own imperfect idea, because they own it, usually gets executed far better than someone else’s handed-over “better” one.

Q3 (scenario). A delivery lead asks you to “mentor” one of your peers on their behalf, listing specific areas they want that peer developed in. What’s wrong with this request, and how do you respond?

A3. Mentoring can’t be assigned by a third party — it has to be negotiated directly between the mentor and mentee, around a purpose the mentee actually wants, not one handed down from someone else. Response: redirect it — the delivery lead can raise the development need directly with the peer, or ask whether it’s actually a coaching or managing need instead, but the mentoring relationship itself, if it happens, has to be agreed between you and the peer.

Q4 (scenario). Someone says, “I know how to do this, I’m just not doing it — I don’t really want to.” What does this tell you, and which mode fits?

A4. Something’s blocking them — confidence, habit, or a relationship issue, not a knowledge gap. Coach: ask what’s actually in the way before anything else, rather than re-explaining something they already know how to do.

Q5 (analysis). A coach, during a GROW conversation, spends most of the time on the coachee’s long-term career goal instead of the goal for that specific conversation. What’s the mistake?

A5. Confusing Goal at the GROW-session level with the person’s whole trajectory — a single session doesn’t resolve a five-year goal. The session’s Goal should be scoped to what they want to walk away from this conversation with, e.g., “one thing to practice,” not the full career arc.

Q6 (scenario). A team member has a genuine, ongoing performance problem — missed deliverables, avoidable errors. They also seem to want coaching on their approach. Which mode leads?

A6. Manage first, always — coaching and mentoring can enhance performance, but they can’t substitute for managing an actual performance problem. Address the performance issue directly and specifically (SBI or COIN), and bring in coaching afterward if it’s still relevant once the immediate issue is handled.

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