CORPORALS COURSE STANDARD EXAMS ANSWERS
AND QUESTIONS SET A+
✔✔METHODOLOGY OF COACHING - ✔✔As a model of peak performance and
emotional intelligence, the Performance Pyramid provides a simple framework that
effectively guides the coaching process and employment of coaching skills. In this way,
the methodology of coaching can be described as helping a person to develop their
emotional intelligence alongside their technical competence. Coaching is a three stage
process where the coach employs three core coaching skills.
✔✔ATTITUDE, KNOWLEDGE, AND SKILLS - ✔✔While coaching may very well be
knowledge- and skill-based, it is first and foremost an attitude—your attitude as a coach
will fundamentally determine the results.
•It has long been acknowledged that a leader's attitude and emotions are contagious
and they must convey energy and enthusiasm if their organization is to survive and
thrive.
•If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got. If you want
different results for yourself or your people, you'll invariably need to change how you
think and feel, but ultimately you'll need do something different.
✔✔Stage one of the three-stage coaching process is: - ✔✔raise awareness. During this
stage, the coach helps the Marine create a vision of their goal in terms of what they
want to achieve, why they might want to achieve it, and how they intend achieve it.
Throughout the process, the emphasis is on guiding the person towards finding their
own solutions to their own performance problems. Raising awareness is about
encouraging the person to think for themselves for the purpose of self-education.
✔✔Stage two of the coaching process is: - ✔✔generate responsibility. During this stage,
the coach challenges the person to take action to make their goals reality, while
ascertaining their readiness to do so. Generating responsibility is about improving self-
motivation.
✔✔The third stage of the coaching process is: - ✔✔facilitate performance. This stage is
accomplished by supporting the Marine in dealing with the challenges of making their
goal a reality for the purpose of self-actualization.
,The principles that guide this stage are:
•Autonomy: the Marine has professional freedom to choose the course of action they
feel best meets their needs in accomplishing their goals.
•Responsibility: the Marine is responsible for the choices they make.
•Accountability: the Marine is accountable for what they do and the results they get.
These principles enable Marines to own the process and the product of their success.
✔✔VISION, CHALLENGE, AND SUPPORT - ✔✔By guiding the coaching process and
employing the core coaching skills, the coach provides the Marine with vision,
challenge, and support.
•Vision - Help your Marines to visualize their goals.
•Challenge - Challenge your Marines to take the necessary action to achieve their
goals.
•Support - Support your Marines throughout the process of achieving their goals.
✔✔CORE COACHING SKILLS - ✔✔During stage one, "raise awareness," of the
coaching process, leaders use questioning to generate thinking and reflection.
Examples of questioning and questioning techniques are:
•Open and closed
•Broad and narrow
•Rhetorical and hypothetical
•Leading and interrogative
•Scale of 1 to 10 questions
The process of thinking and reflecting encourages responsibility in those being
coached.
✔✔Open-Ended and Closed-Ended - ✔✔Ask open-ended questions like: "What do you
think?" or "How do you think we should approach this?"
•Open-ended questions can be used to invite a free response from subordinate leaders
without revealing the senior's point of view.
,•Examples include: "How is work going?" or "Why do you think that approach didn't
work?"
Asking closed-ended questions will lead to a yes or no answer like: "Did you take the
test?"
• By itself, the question leads no further. It may point the way to another question. For
example, if the answer is yes, the next question might be, "Did you pass?"
•Questions that begin with who, what, or when can be closed-end questions. They can
be useful in getting the facts, but they begin to create the atmosphere of a cross-
examination if they dominate the discussion.
✔✔Broad and Narrow - ✔✔Broad questions, like open-ended questions, begin with
broad framework. For example: "Where do you see your leadership development in the
next few years?" These questions are used to gather information and become more
effective as your subordinate leaders become more comfortable with you. Use these
questions to solicit how your subordinate leaders think about certain subjects. For
example: "I'd like to hear more about your past experience leading Marines," or "How
did you become involved in the company's leadership development plan?"
•Narrow questions, like closed-ended questions, are used to focus the subordinate
leader's attention on a specific topic. Closed-ended questions provide detailed
information, verify accuracy, and clarify understanding. They can be used to recall facts,
or choose options from a list. For example, "You mentioned that you wanted to start an
in-depth study on leadership development. Would you prefer coaching, counseling or
mentoring?" Closed or narrow questions are effective in getting agreement or
commitment. For example, "How many hours per week do you think you can devote to
this reading?"
✔✔Rhetorical and Hypothetical - ✔✔Rhetorical questions are asked to make a point
without the expectation of a reply and are often answered by the speaker. For example,
"Isn't that window display effective?" or "What sort of impact do you think such a
recommendation can have? Well, I think...." Rhetorical questions are primarily
statements in disguise.
•Hypothetical questions are designed to explore possibilities in an imaginary scenario.
They are helpful when trying to decide between a number of choices. Examples of
Hypothetical questions are:
- What might happen if...?
- What would you do if you were in my shoes?
- What are the potential benefits if...?
, - What is the worst that might happen if...?
✔✔Leading and Interrogative - ✔✔Leading and interrogative questions suggest, hint, or
exclude many other possible answers. For example, if you were testing your Marines on
leadership, a leading question might be, "Which leadership trait is associated with the
way a Marine carries themselves?" This is a leading question because it pointed the
Marine in the direction of the answer (one of the leadership traits) and eliminated many
other possible answers (anything other than a leadership trait).
✔✔Scaling Questions - ✔✔•Scaling questions evaluate a person's feelings towards a
particular topic. Marines use scaling questions in a variety of settings but during
coaching, they are often used to assess someone's goals and motivations. It is
important for both the leader and subordinate leader to rate their interest in a topic
because this number will indicate their likelihood to take the steps towards becoming a
better Marine.
•Here are some sample scaling questions:
-"On a scale of 1 to 10, how ready are you to put energy into that goal?"
-"On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely is it you will work on that plan this week?"
✔✔CORE COACHING SKILLS - ✔✔It is useless to ask the right questions if you do not
listen to the answers. During stage two of the coaching process, leaders focus on
employing active listening skills. To listen actively, a leader must:
•Be silent and actively engage in the listening process as opposed to passively doing
so.
•Be genuinely interested in understanding what the Marine being coached is thinking or
wanting.
•Check your understanding before responding. Restate or paraphrase your
understanding of what is being said and reflect it back to the sender for verification. This
feedback process is what distinguishes active listening and makes it effective.
✔✔CORE COACHING SKILLS - ✔✔The core coaching skill employed to facilitate
performance during stage three of the coaching process is empathetic responding.
Responding with empathy requires the coach to have a true understanding of the
Marine's needs before choosing the best response to meet them.
•To respond with empathy, a coach must employ both constructive feedback and
validated praise appropriately.
AND QUESTIONS SET A+
✔✔METHODOLOGY OF COACHING - ✔✔As a model of peak performance and
emotional intelligence, the Performance Pyramid provides a simple framework that
effectively guides the coaching process and employment of coaching skills. In this way,
the methodology of coaching can be described as helping a person to develop their
emotional intelligence alongside their technical competence. Coaching is a three stage
process where the coach employs three core coaching skills.
✔✔ATTITUDE, KNOWLEDGE, AND SKILLS - ✔✔While coaching may very well be
knowledge- and skill-based, it is first and foremost an attitude—your attitude as a coach
will fundamentally determine the results.
•It has long been acknowledged that a leader's attitude and emotions are contagious
and they must convey energy and enthusiasm if their organization is to survive and
thrive.
•If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got. If you want
different results for yourself or your people, you'll invariably need to change how you
think and feel, but ultimately you'll need do something different.
✔✔Stage one of the three-stage coaching process is: - ✔✔raise awareness. During this
stage, the coach helps the Marine create a vision of their goal in terms of what they
want to achieve, why they might want to achieve it, and how they intend achieve it.
Throughout the process, the emphasis is on guiding the person towards finding their
own solutions to their own performance problems. Raising awareness is about
encouraging the person to think for themselves for the purpose of self-education.
✔✔Stage two of the coaching process is: - ✔✔generate responsibility. During this stage,
the coach challenges the person to take action to make their goals reality, while
ascertaining their readiness to do so. Generating responsibility is about improving self-
motivation.
✔✔The third stage of the coaching process is: - ✔✔facilitate performance. This stage is
accomplished by supporting the Marine in dealing with the challenges of making their
goal a reality for the purpose of self-actualization.
,The principles that guide this stage are:
•Autonomy: the Marine has professional freedom to choose the course of action they
feel best meets their needs in accomplishing their goals.
•Responsibility: the Marine is responsible for the choices they make.
•Accountability: the Marine is accountable for what they do and the results they get.
These principles enable Marines to own the process and the product of their success.
✔✔VISION, CHALLENGE, AND SUPPORT - ✔✔By guiding the coaching process and
employing the core coaching skills, the coach provides the Marine with vision,
challenge, and support.
•Vision - Help your Marines to visualize their goals.
•Challenge - Challenge your Marines to take the necessary action to achieve their
goals.
•Support - Support your Marines throughout the process of achieving their goals.
✔✔CORE COACHING SKILLS - ✔✔During stage one, "raise awareness," of the
coaching process, leaders use questioning to generate thinking and reflection.
Examples of questioning and questioning techniques are:
•Open and closed
•Broad and narrow
•Rhetorical and hypothetical
•Leading and interrogative
•Scale of 1 to 10 questions
The process of thinking and reflecting encourages responsibility in those being
coached.
✔✔Open-Ended and Closed-Ended - ✔✔Ask open-ended questions like: "What do you
think?" or "How do you think we should approach this?"
•Open-ended questions can be used to invite a free response from subordinate leaders
without revealing the senior's point of view.
,•Examples include: "How is work going?" or "Why do you think that approach didn't
work?"
Asking closed-ended questions will lead to a yes or no answer like: "Did you take the
test?"
• By itself, the question leads no further. It may point the way to another question. For
example, if the answer is yes, the next question might be, "Did you pass?"
•Questions that begin with who, what, or when can be closed-end questions. They can
be useful in getting the facts, but they begin to create the atmosphere of a cross-
examination if they dominate the discussion.
✔✔Broad and Narrow - ✔✔Broad questions, like open-ended questions, begin with
broad framework. For example: "Where do you see your leadership development in the
next few years?" These questions are used to gather information and become more
effective as your subordinate leaders become more comfortable with you. Use these
questions to solicit how your subordinate leaders think about certain subjects. For
example: "I'd like to hear more about your past experience leading Marines," or "How
did you become involved in the company's leadership development plan?"
•Narrow questions, like closed-ended questions, are used to focus the subordinate
leader's attention on a specific topic. Closed-ended questions provide detailed
information, verify accuracy, and clarify understanding. They can be used to recall facts,
or choose options from a list. For example, "You mentioned that you wanted to start an
in-depth study on leadership development. Would you prefer coaching, counseling or
mentoring?" Closed or narrow questions are effective in getting agreement or
commitment. For example, "How many hours per week do you think you can devote to
this reading?"
✔✔Rhetorical and Hypothetical - ✔✔Rhetorical questions are asked to make a point
without the expectation of a reply and are often answered by the speaker. For example,
"Isn't that window display effective?" or "What sort of impact do you think such a
recommendation can have? Well, I think...." Rhetorical questions are primarily
statements in disguise.
•Hypothetical questions are designed to explore possibilities in an imaginary scenario.
They are helpful when trying to decide between a number of choices. Examples of
Hypothetical questions are:
- What might happen if...?
- What would you do if you were in my shoes?
- What are the potential benefits if...?
, - What is the worst that might happen if...?
✔✔Leading and Interrogative - ✔✔Leading and interrogative questions suggest, hint, or
exclude many other possible answers. For example, if you were testing your Marines on
leadership, a leading question might be, "Which leadership trait is associated with the
way a Marine carries themselves?" This is a leading question because it pointed the
Marine in the direction of the answer (one of the leadership traits) and eliminated many
other possible answers (anything other than a leadership trait).
✔✔Scaling Questions - ✔✔•Scaling questions evaluate a person's feelings towards a
particular topic. Marines use scaling questions in a variety of settings but during
coaching, they are often used to assess someone's goals and motivations. It is
important for both the leader and subordinate leader to rate their interest in a topic
because this number will indicate their likelihood to take the steps towards becoming a
better Marine.
•Here are some sample scaling questions:
-"On a scale of 1 to 10, how ready are you to put energy into that goal?"
-"On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely is it you will work on that plan this week?"
✔✔CORE COACHING SKILLS - ✔✔It is useless to ask the right questions if you do not
listen to the answers. During stage two of the coaching process, leaders focus on
employing active listening skills. To listen actively, a leader must:
•Be silent and actively engage in the listening process as opposed to passively doing
so.
•Be genuinely interested in understanding what the Marine being coached is thinking or
wanting.
•Check your understanding before responding. Restate or paraphrase your
understanding of what is being said and reflect it back to the sender for verification. This
feedback process is what distinguishes active listening and makes it effective.
✔✔CORE COACHING SKILLS - ✔✔The core coaching skill employed to facilitate
performance during stage three of the coaching process is empathetic responding.
Responding with empathy requires the coach to have a true understanding of the
Marine's needs before choosing the best response to meet them.
•To respond with empathy, a coach must employ both constructive feedback and
validated praise appropriately.
