Leadership Labtech

Course Quiz – Coaching and Mentoring for Growth

Choose the best answer for each question.

1. Which statement best describes coaching?

   A. Giving direct instructions to ensure compliance.
   B. Helping a person generate insight, options, and action through structured conversation.
   C. Sharing personal career stories as the main form of guidance.
   D. Evaluating performance against formal targets only.

2. When is mentoring usually most useful?

   A. When someone needs access to experience, professional judgement, and contextual knowledge.
   B. When a task must be completed immediately with no discussion.
   C. When the leader wants to avoid giving feedback.
   D. When performance standards are irrelevant.

3. Which behaviour best demonstrates active listening?

   A. Preparing advice while the other person is speaking.
   B. Interrupting to correct the person quickly.
   C. Summarising what you heard and checking whether you understood correctly.
   D. Moving quickly to your own similar experience.

4. What is the main purpose of reframing in coaching?

   A. To deny that the problem is difficult.
   B. To help the person see the situation from a more useful perspective.
   C. To persuade the person that the leader is right.
   D. To replace action planning with positive thinking.

5. Which question is most clearly action-focused?

   A. Why are you like this?
   B. Who caused the issue?
   C. What is one step you can take before Friday?
   D. Do you agree with my advice?

6. Why should mentoring relationships have clear boundaries?

   A. To make the relationship formal and impersonal.
   B. To prevent vague expectations, dependency, and confusion about confidentiality.
   C. To stop mentees from asking questions.
   D. To ensure mentors make all decisions for mentees.

7. A person has the capability to complete a task but doubts their ability. What type of development need is this most likely to be?

   A. Skill gap.
   B. Confidence gap.
   C. System barrier.
   D. Technical impossibility.

8. Which action statement is the strongest?

   A. I will communicate better.
   B. I will try to be more confident.
   C. I will send a one-page project risk summary to the team by Thursday afternoon.
   D. I will improve my leadership someday.

9. Which practice helps build a coaching and mentoring culture?

   A. Limiting development conversations to annual reviews.
   B. Treating feedback as a threat.
   C. Normalising regular growth conversations, feedback, and reflection.
   D. Allowing only senior executives to mentor others.

10. Which ethical issue is especially important in coaching and mentoring?

    A. Confidentiality and boundaries.
    B. Avoiding all feedback.
    C. Making the mentee follow the mentor’s career path.
    D. Removing accountability from the relationship.