From Karen O'Mahoney, Qstream VP Client Services
Step into the world of transformative coaching with this Qstream microlearning module. In a series of engaging and thought-provoking questions, we guide you through the fundamentals of the coaching process, the critical skills of a successful coach, and the renowned GROW model.
Category: Leadership and Communication Workplace Tools & Skills
Industry: All Industries
Questions: 14
FREE
From Karen O’Mahony, Qstream’s VP of Client Services and a professional Executive Coach, each question in this module is meticulously designed to boost your understanding and application of these vital coaching tools, empowering you to facilitate positive change, unlock potential, and inspire peak performance in your coachees. Whether you’re a seasoned coach looking to refresh your skills or a beginner eager to learn, this module offers invaluable insights that will take your coaching expertise to the next level. Start your journey toward mastering the art of coaching with Qstream today!
Click on the question titles below to preview the question stem on the right.
Follow the interactions on each screen to answer Qstream questions as a Participant.
Answer explanation:
Coaching would be the most appropriate approach for Alex's situation as it is a more holistic approach that helps individuals explore their strengths and weaknesses, develop self-awareness, and find their solutions.
While mentoring involves sharing personal experiences and guidance, and training typically involves teaching specific skills or knowledge. Counseling generally focuses on resolving psychological or emotional issues, which doesn't seem to be the primary need in this scenario.
Finally, consulting typically involves an expert providing professional advice or solutions, but Alex is looking to develop their own leadership style rather than implementing an external expert's strategies. Therefore, coaching is the best fit for Alex's needs.
Answer explanation:
A coaching leadership style is known for creating a high-performance culture, defined by collaboration, empowerment, and fulfillment. This contrasts with traditional "command and control" approaches, which may potentially limit individual growth and team performance.
Key aspects of a coaching leadership style include partnership and collaboration, a firm belief in potential, fostering trust and safety, clear intentions, asking powerful questions, active listening, providing meaningful feedback, and promoting continuous learning and development.
Additional reference:
https://www.performanceconsultants.com/what-is-a-coaching-leadership-style#h-how-a-coaching-leadership-style-unlocks-potential
Answer explanation:
According to Timothy Gallwey, the mind can only accurately perceive reality when it is free from thoughts and judgments. A coach's role is to foster an environment conducive to growth, where judgments are absent. Interference can take various forms, including unconscious bias, personal opinions, ego, expertise, and the urge to fix things. By minimizing these interferences, coaches and coachees can better understand their true situation and identify paths for improvement.
For more on The Inner Game by Tim Gallwey:
https://www.performanceconsultants.com/the-inner-game
Answer explanation:
To effectively coach, leaders need to adopt an optimistic view of the dormant capabilities of their team members. They should see people in terms of untapped potential and believe that ordinary individuals can perform extraordinarily when the situation requires. This mindset fosters an environment that encourages growth and development, which can significantly impact team performance.
However, leaders should be cautious of optimism bias, which is an unrealistic view of the potential of a team. This bias can lead to overestimating their team's abilities, which can result in setting unrealistic goals and expectations.
Source: John Whitmore.
https://www.performanceconsultants.com/coaching-in-organizations
Answer explanation:
Coaching is a skill-based practice that does not require the coach to have specific expertise in the topic of conversation. Through skillful questioning and structured dialogue, coaches guide coachees towards self-reflection and exploration of options, fostering self-directed learning and action.
On the other hand, mentoring relies on the mentor's knowledge, experience, and expertise relevant to the mentee's developmental goals. Mentors utilize their interpersonal skills to share these resources effectively.
Answer explanation:
There are several reasons why managers might opt for a directive approach, commonly known as "fixing," over a coaching-led approach.
Firstly, resolving issues provides a sense of gratification and reinforces the manager's position of authority. Secondly, managers, often due to their experience and expertise, may believe they already know the solution to a problem. Lastly, a desire to maintain their credibility and the success of their team might pressure managers into believing they should always know and provide the solution.
However, a coaching approach is more effective for long-term employee development. Although it might take longer to address immediate issues, the investment of time fosters employee growth, confidence, and autonomy, as they learn to create and implement their own solutions with managerial support.
Answer explanation:
Coaching as a management style is highly effective in developing your team members’ skills, confidence, abilities as well as drawing on and developing their own leadership.
There are, of course, some situations where a coaching style is not appropriate – for example if a building is on fire, the correct approach is direct instruction – “Aim that hose at the fire now!” But other than in a crisis or when discussing a topic governed by regulation or law, there is always opportunity for a coaching conversation.
Drawing out team members to create solutions themselves will benefit both team and manager.
As a manager this switch into coaching can be challenging. You’re used to being responsible for finding the solution: seeing the way forward, having the answers, being able to direct resources and achieve results. True. But not when we’re coaching.
Always be on the lookout for ‘the coaching moment’: helping your team to find the solutions for themselves. Coaching moments can be in 1-1 discussions, team meetings and other group discussions too.
In this moment, you take off your ‘management hat’ and put on your ‘coaching hat’. You stop giving advice, stop providing direction, stop offering solutions. All you do is ask great questions that help your team members to become more aware, see the situation for themselves and find solutions (and in doing so, take responsibility).
Answer explanation:
Open questions in coaching are designed to encourage the coachee to explore their thoughts, feelings, and possibilities. These questions often start with 'what,' 'how,' 'where,' 'who,' 'when,' or with phrases like 'tell me about...' or 'explain more about...'.
For example:
• What would you like to achieve from the session?
• How did you do that?
• Can you tell me more about that?
These questions promote exploration and deeper thinking, enabling the coachee to arrive at their own solutions.
However, questions like "Are you going to carry out that action this week?" are considered closed questions. They typically result in a 'yes' or 'no' response and do not encourage further exploration or thought.
Answer explanation:
Active listening requires a leader to fully concentrate, understand, respond and then remember what is being said. It involves paying attention, reflecting, summarizing, and occasionally asking clarifying questions. In this scenario, summarizing the main points at the end of the conversation to confirm mutual understanding is the most appropriate action that aligns with the principles of active listening.
Active listening helps establish trust, shows empathy, and fosters psychological safety. It is a significant skill in effective coaching and in improving professional relationships.
Answer explanation:
In a coaching context, mirroring and reflecting can involve several techniques:
• Summarizing: This involves briefly restating the coachee's main points to ensure understanding and demonstrate active listening.
• Paraphrasing: Like summarizing, paraphrasing involves restating the coachee's words in a different way to show comprehension and prompt further reflection.
• Clarifying: This involves asking questions or making statements to ensure the coachee's messages are understood correctly.
These methods help the coach accurately understand the coachee's perspective, demonstrate active listening, and provide opportunities for the coachee to hear their own words and possibly reconsider their statements.
"Expanding upon" and "Questioning" are important in coaching but are not typically associated with mirroring back, as they involve adding information or asking further questions, rather than reflecting the coachee's own words back to them.
Answer explanation:
In the GROW model, the "Goals" phase is all about clarifying what the coachee wants to achieve. This involves not just identifying specific targets, but also inspiring the coachee to pursue ambitious, meaningful objectives.
These questions align with that purpose:
• "What would you like to work on today?" helps identify the immediate focus for the coaching session.
• "What outcomes do you wish to achieve with this goal?" encourages the coachee to articulate their desired end state, which can help motivate them and guide the coaching process.
• "What will it be like if you achieve your goal?" asks the coachee to envision the positive impacts of reaching their goal, fostering motivation and engagement.
On the other hand, the incorrect options pertain more to the "Reality" phase of the GROW model, which is about understanding the coachee's current situation and identifying obstacles to their goals.
Reference: Performance Consultants International, GROW Model (https://www.performanceconsultants.com/grow-model)
Answer explanation:
In the GROW model, the 'Reality' phase focuses on exploring the coachee's current circumstances, obstacles, and actions. This stage aims to understand the 'status quo' before identifying options and planning action steps.
These questions align with this purpose:
• "What is happening at the moment?" allows the coachee to share their current situation, forming the baseline for the coaching conversation.
• "What problems are you experiencing? How do they make you feel?" helps identify challenges or obstacles the coachee is facing and their emotional responses to these.
• "Describe what is taking up most of your time?" can provide insight into the coachee's priorities or potential areas of concern.
• "What are you doing that takes you towards your goal?" assesses the coachee's current actions and their alignment with their stated goals.
On the other hand, "What is a good outcome?" is more related to the 'Goals' phase of the GROW model, where the coachee identifies their desired outcomes.
Reference: Performance Consultants International, GROW Model (https://www.performanceconsultants.com/grow-model)
Answer explanation:
In the GROW model, the 'Options' phase is focused on exploring the various possibilities, strategies, and resources that the coachee can leverage to achieve their goals.
Appropriate questions for this phase include:
• "What actions can you take to achieve your goals?" helps the coachee to think about potential strategies or steps to take.
• "How will you do that?" encourages the coachee to consider the specifics of implementing a potential option.
• "Can you think about that and we’ll talk about it next time?" can prompt the coachee to spend more time considering their options outside of the coaching session.
On the other hand, "When will you do that?" pertains more to the 'Will/What Now' stage of the GROW model, where the focus is on commitment and action. Similarly, "What do you want to achieve?" is typically part of the 'Goals' phase, where the coachee defines what they hope to accomplish.
Reference: Performance Consultants International, GROW Model (https://www.performanceconsultants.com/grow-model)
Answer explanation:
In the GROW Model, the WILL (or What Now) stage is the final step where the coachee commits to specific actions and a way forward based on the goals, reality, and options that have been explored. The primary focus of this stage is to create a summary and action plan based on the identified steps, ensuring that the coachee has clear guidance on how to move forward.
While reflecting on lessons learned, anticipating future obstacles, assessing past actions, and determining the level of commitment to actions may be relevant during the coaching process, the primary focus of the WILL stage is to develop a clear and actionable plan for the coachee.
Reference: Performance Consultants International, GROW Model Guide (https://www.performanceconsultants.com/document/GROW-Model-Guide.pdf)
Answer explanation:
Coaching would be the most appropriate approach for Alex's situation as it is a more holistic approach that helps individuals explore their strengths and weaknesses, develop self-awareness, and find their solutions.
While mentoring involves sharing personal experiences and guidance, and training typically involves teaching specific skills or knowledge. Counseling generally focuses on resolving psychological or emotional issues, which doesn't seem to be the primary need in this scenario.
Finally, consulting typically involves an expert providing professional advice or solutions, but Alex is looking to develop their own leadership style rather than implementing an external expert's strategies. Therefore, coaching is the best fit for Alex's needs.
Answer explanation:
A coaching leadership style is known for creating a high-performance culture, defined by collaboration, empowerment, and fulfillment. This contrasts with traditional "command and control" approaches, which may potentially limit individual growth and team performance.
Key aspects of a coaching leadership style include partnership and collaboration, a firm belief in potential, fostering trust and safety, clear intentions, asking powerful questions, active listening, providing meaningful feedback, and promoting continuous learning and development.
Additional reference:
https://www.performanceconsultants.com/what-is-a-coaching-leadership-style#h-how-a-coaching-leadership-style-unlocks-potential
Answer explanation:
According to Timothy Gallwey, the mind can only accurately perceive reality when it is free from thoughts and judgments. A coach's role is to foster an environment conducive to growth, where judgments are absent. Interference can take various forms, including unconscious bias, personal opinions, ego, expertise, and the urge to fix things. By minimizing these interferences, coaches and coachees can better understand their true situation and identify paths for improvement.
For more on The Inner Game by Tim Gallwey:
https://www.performanceconsultants.com/the-inner-game
Answer explanation:
To effectively coach, leaders need to adopt an optimistic view of the dormant capabilities of their team members. They should see people in terms of untapped potential and believe that ordinary individuals can perform extraordinarily when the situation requires. This mindset fosters an environment that encourages growth and development, which can significantly impact team performance.
However, leaders should be cautious of optimism bias, which is an unrealistic view of the potential of a team. This bias can lead to overestimating their team's abilities, which can result in setting unrealistic goals and expectations.
Source: John Whitmore.
https://www.performanceconsultants.com/coaching-in-organizations
Answer explanation:
Coaching is a skill-based practice that does not require the coach to have specific expertise in the topic of conversation. Through skillful questioning and structured dialogue, coaches guide coachees towards self-reflection and exploration of options, fostering self-directed learning and action.
On the other hand, mentoring relies on the mentor's knowledge, experience, and expertise relevant to the mentee's developmental goals. Mentors utilize their interpersonal skills to share these resources effectively.
Answer explanation:
There are several reasons why managers might opt for a directive approach, commonly known as "fixing," over a coaching-led approach.
Firstly, resolving issues provides a sense of gratification and reinforces the manager's position of authority. Secondly, managers, often due to their experience and expertise, may believe they already know the solution to a problem. Lastly, a desire to maintain their credibility and the success of their team might pressure managers into believing they should always know and provide the solution.
However, a coaching approach is more effective for long-term employee development. Although it might take longer to address immediate issues, the investment of time fosters employee growth, confidence, and autonomy, as they learn to create and implement their own solutions with managerial support.
Answer explanation:
Coaching as a management style is highly effective in developing your team members’ skills, confidence, abilities as well as drawing on and developing their own leadership.
There are, of course, some situations where a coaching style is not appropriate – for example if a building is on fire, the correct approach is direct instruction – “Aim that hose at the fire now!” But other than in a crisis or when discussing a topic governed by regulation or law, there is always opportunity for a coaching conversation.
Drawing out team members to create solutions themselves will benefit both team and manager.
As a manager this switch into coaching can be challenging. You’re used to being responsible for finding the solution: seeing the way forward, having the answers, being able to direct resources and achieve results. True. But not when we’re coaching.
Always be on the lookout for ‘the coaching moment’: helping your team to find the solutions for themselves. Coaching moments can be in 1-1 discussions, team meetings and other group discussions too.
In this moment, you take off your ‘management hat’ and put on your ‘coaching hat’. You stop giving advice, stop providing direction, stop offering solutions. All you do is ask great questions that help your team members to become more aware, see the situation for themselves and find solutions (and in doing so, take responsibility).
Answer explanation:
Open questions in coaching are designed to encourage the coachee to explore their thoughts, feelings, and possibilities. These questions often start with 'what,' 'how,' 'where,' 'who,' 'when,' or with phrases like 'tell me about...' or 'explain more about...'.
For example:
• What would you like to achieve from the session?
• How did you do that?
• Can you tell me more about that?
These questions promote exploration and deeper thinking, enabling the coachee to arrive at their own solutions.
However, questions like "Are you going to carry out that action this week?" are considered closed questions. They typically result in a 'yes' or 'no' response and do not encourage further exploration or thought.
Answer explanation:
Active listening requires a leader to fully concentrate, understand, respond and then remember what is being said. It involves paying attention, reflecting, summarizing, and occasionally asking clarifying questions. In this scenario, summarizing the main points at the end of the conversation to confirm mutual understanding is the most appropriate action that aligns with the principles of active listening.
Active listening helps establish trust, shows empathy, and fosters psychological safety. It is a significant skill in effective coaching and in improving professional relationships.
Answer explanation:
In a coaching context, mirroring and reflecting can involve several techniques:
• Summarizing: This involves briefly restating the coachee's main points to ensure understanding and demonstrate active listening.
• Paraphrasing: Like summarizing, paraphrasing involves restating the coachee's words in a different way to show comprehension and prompt further reflection.
• Clarifying: This involves asking questions or making statements to ensure the coachee's messages are understood correctly.
These methods help the coach accurately understand the coachee's perspective, demonstrate active listening, and provide opportunities for the coachee to hear their own words and possibly reconsider their statements.
"Expanding upon" and "Questioning" are important in coaching but are not typically associated with mirroring back, as they involve adding information or asking further questions, rather than reflecting the coachee's own words back to them.
Answer explanation:
In the GROW model, the "Goals" phase is all about clarifying what the coachee wants to achieve. This involves not just identifying specific targets, but also inspiring the coachee to pursue ambitious, meaningful objectives.
These questions align with that purpose:
• "What would you like to work on today?" helps identify the immediate focus for the coaching session.
• "What outcomes do you wish to achieve with this goal?" encourages the coachee to articulate their desired end state, which can help motivate them and guide the coaching process.
• "What will it be like if you achieve your goal?" asks the coachee to envision the positive impacts of reaching their goal, fostering motivation and engagement.
On the other hand, the incorrect options pertain more to the "Reality" phase of the GROW model, which is about understanding the coachee's current situation and identifying obstacles to their goals.
Reference: Performance Consultants International, GROW Model (https://www.performanceconsultants.com/grow-model)
Answer explanation:
In the GROW model, the 'Reality' phase focuses on exploring the coachee's current circumstances, obstacles, and actions. This stage aims to understand the 'status quo' before identifying options and planning action steps.
These questions align with this purpose:
• "What is happening at the moment?" allows the coachee to share their current situation, forming the baseline for the coaching conversation.
• "What problems are you experiencing? How do they make you feel?" helps identify challenges or obstacles the coachee is facing and their emotional responses to these.
• "Describe what is taking up most of your time?" can provide insight into the coachee's priorities or potential areas of concern.
• "What are you doing that takes you towards your goal?" assesses the coachee's current actions and their alignment with their stated goals.
On the other hand, "What is a good outcome?" is more related to the 'Goals' phase of the GROW model, where the coachee identifies their desired outcomes.
Reference: Performance Consultants International, GROW Model (https://www.performanceconsultants.com/grow-model)
Answer explanation:
In the GROW model, the 'Options' phase is focused on exploring the various possibilities, strategies, and resources that the coachee can leverage to achieve their goals.
Appropriate questions for this phase include:
• "What actions can you take to achieve your goals?" helps the coachee to think about potential strategies or steps to take.
• "How will you do that?" encourages the coachee to consider the specifics of implementing a potential option.
• "Can you think about that and we’ll talk about it next time?" can prompt the coachee to spend more time considering their options outside of the coaching session.
On the other hand, "When will you do that?" pertains more to the 'Will/What Now' stage of the GROW model, where the focus is on commitment and action. Similarly, "What do you want to achieve?" is typically part of the 'Goals' phase, where the coachee defines what they hope to accomplish.
Reference: Performance Consultants International, GROW Model (https://www.performanceconsultants.com/grow-model)
Answer explanation:
In the GROW Model, the WILL (or What Now) stage is the final step where the coachee commits to specific actions and a way forward based on the goals, reality, and options that have been explored. The primary focus of this stage is to create a summary and action plan based on the identified steps, ensuring that the coachee has clear guidance on how to move forward.
While reflecting on lessons learned, anticipating future obstacles, assessing past actions, and determining the level of commitment to actions may be relevant during the coaching process, the primary focus of the WILL stage is to develop a clear and actionable plan for the coachee.
Reference: Performance Consultants International, GROW Model Guide (https://www.performanceconsultants.com/document/GROW-Model-Guide.pdf)
© Qstream, Inc. 2025. All Rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Qstream AI Terms & Conditions | Accessibility