MGN540 Assessment 2 Guidance: 

Critical self-reflective coaching account

Overview

This assessment has two parts.

Part 1 - The first part of the assessment is to reflect on the development of your leader-coach mindset action plan from assessment 1. In assessment 1 you set out an action plan for the weeks after submitting the assessment. In assessment 2 you will reflect on how you progressed with your action plan. What worked to progress your leader-coach mindset and why, andexplain what you will do to continue to develop your leader-coach mindset after the unit. 500 words

Part 2 - The second part of the assessment requires you to create a critical self-reflective account of your leader-coach practice by analysing a coaching conversation you conduct with another student in the unit as a coachee. You will complete a 15-minute coaching conversation with another student using Zoom and record the conversation. The conversation will explore the coachee’sleader-coachdevelopment (a topic of their choosing and at whatever point they are on their journey). You will produce a transcript of the conversation and analysis this using coaching competencies. This will produce an overview of how well you can evidence the competencies leader-coaches require. You will then analyse your ability to meet the competencies. You will use academic sources to provide evidence of a clear ability to reflect on your leader-coachpractice and identify an area for development. 500 words.

Length: 1,000 words of reflection, a coaching conversation transcript analysis andanalysis table. In totalvalued at2,500 words

Weighting: 60%

Due: week 13– please check Canvas for exact date and time

Part 1– reflecting on your LCM development action plan

In assessment 1 you produced an action plan to progress your leader-coach mindset development focus. In assessment 2 you will reflect on how the action plan enabled you to develop your leader-coach mindset.

This reflection is not a description of what you did. It is a leader–coach reflection that shows how you are learning to think differently about your practice. Leader coaches do not simply ask‘what did I do’, or ‘did my actions work?’ they also ask‘what assumptions, values, or beliefs shaped how I acted?’ This deeper questioning is central to effective reflective leader-coach practice. 

Ensure you focus on achieving reflective depth on your leader-coach mindset development supported by academic and professional literature, rather than only reporting on the action plan activities.

Here is a format you can use to structure the reflection (word counts are indicative):

1. Briefly explain what aspect of your LCM you intended to develop through the action plan (50-80 words).

2.  

   2a     Analyse what enabled or constrained your plans. Here you can consider:

   1. The situations where you enacted your plan 
   2. How you approached these situations as a leader‑coach 
   3. What you noticed about your thinking, reactions, and default responses

2b  Next, pay particular attention to the ways your values, assumptions and beliefs impacted the development of your LCM. you could consider:

1. What values, assumptions and beliefs were shaping how I approached the situation?
   1. What did moments of discomfort, resistance, or surprise reveal as I developed my leader‑coach mindset?
   2. Were there tensions between my espoused values and beliefs and my enacted behaviour?

2c  After considering all of these (or similar) factors, select the most important insights to write about and decide what you will focus on to develop your LCM after the unit. 

1. Write a cohesive reflection focused on the key insights you surfaced andwhat is most meaningful to evidence yourleader-coach mindset development. Include what you plan to do next to continue to develop your leader-coach mindset. 420 words.
2. Move on to completing part 2 of the assessment, which involves recording and analysing a 15 minute leader-coach conversation. 

Part 2- coaching conversation

1. Identify a student to coach

• It is your responsibility to identify a student on the unit to coach. You can approach someone in the tutorial or via the discussion board on Canvas.
• Once you have identified a student to coach, both students should sign up to one of theCanvas ‘Coaching partners sign up’ groups. This allows you to communicate via Canvas and make arrangementsfor the date and time of the coaching conversation that you will record.
• If you have not found a student to coach by the date shared by the teaching team, you will be allocated a student. It is your responsibility to contact your allocated student and make arrangements to complete the coaching conversation.

STEP 2: RECORD YOUR COACHING CONVERSATION

1. Prepare for the conversation

• Arrange a time to conduct a 15-minute coaching conversation with the student in the unit that has agreed to be your coachee.[1]
• Sign into zoom with your QUT ID through SSO and send a zoom invitation to your coachee for the date and time you have agreed.[2]
• Ask your coachee what leadership development topic they would like to discuss so you can research the topic in advance.
• Adopt a coaching framework (e.g. GROW or another framework discussed on the unit) to structure the conversation.
• Planfor the coaching conversation bydrawing on the skills and knowledge developed through participation in tutorial activities and subsequent reflections on these and related coaching practices.
• Prepare examples of questions that might be appropriate or notes for yourself for each of the competency indicators. Remember you have a template from your tutorial activities that you can use for this.
• You can practice the coaching conversation in advance.
• Make sure you choose a location that is quiet and private to conduct the recorded coachingconversation. You can book a room on campus through the QUT Digital Workplace.[3]

1. Conduct the conversation

• Use Zoomwith both your and the coachee’s camerasturned on.Ensure both you and your coachee are visible in the recording.
• Start recording to the cloud before beginning the coaching conversation to ensure you capture the whole conversation.
• Start the conversation by asking the coachee for their consent to record the session. You can ask the coachee to state ‘I confirm I consent to this conversation being recorded for the purposes of assessment 2 in unit MGN540’. You and the coachee should then bothstateyour names and QUT student numbers.

1. Downloadthe conversationtranscript

• After your meeting, go to ‘Recordings’ in your online Zoom account.
• Download and save the transcript with the naming protocol ‘Your family name_Your first name_2025_MGN540_Your QUT student number_transcript’.
  For example:Williams_Jannine_2025_MGN540_123456789_transcript
• Replace the student’s name in the transcript with ‘coachee’ (use Find and Replace). Please refer to the coachee as ‘coachee’ in the table and self-reflective account.

1. Upload zoom video recording to Canvas submission link

• Download and save the video recording with the naming protocol ‘Your family name_ Your first name_2025_MGN540_Your QUT student number_recording.
• Upload your video to Canvas through the ‘MGN540 Assessment 2 coaching conversation’ recording submission link.
• Please upload your recording well in advance of the assessment due date as it may take some time to upload the file.

STEP 3: EVALUATE YOUR COACHING CONVERSATION

1. Analyse your transcript

• Look for evidence in your transcript forthe competency indicatorsincluded in the coaching conversation analysis table(AppendixA).We do not expect you to evidence all indicators, but your analysis must provide sufficient evidence to justify yourdecisions in Step 4of the process. 
• Highlight the phrases (quotes) in the transcript that you believe relate to each competency indicator, usingthe colour codingexplainedin AppendixA.
• Insert the annotated transcript into your self-reflective account as Appendix B.

1. Complete theconversation analysistable (AppendixA)

• Copy the highlighted quotes from your transcript into the coaching conversation analysis table against the relevant competency indicators. 
• In the table note your observations about how effectively you fulfilled each indicator.Use your knowledge and understanding from the unit and academic and practitioner literature to explainhow you evidencedeach indicator. 
• You can include observations about body language or other visual information that you interpret as fulfilling the indicator from the video recording. When you do so, refer to the transcript quote, explain what you observed and include a time stamp. 

1. Choose which coaching practice areas you will focus on in the self-reflective account

• Based on your analysis and notes in the coaching conversation analysis table, choose one area for development to analyse further in your reflective account.
• Choose a coaching practice area thatare relevant to the content and focus of the unit: leader-coaches.

1. Write 500 words (+/- 10%) on the coaching practice areas you selected

• Using the template in Appendix 1 as a guide, write a self-reflective accountbased on your coaching practicerelatedto the practice area you selectedin Step 4.
• Include quotes from the transcript where appropriate to support your reflection.
• It is necessary to refer to the wider academic and practitioner literature to help you toanalyse the practice and writethe reflection.
• Include the steps you will take to continue to improve your coaching practice based on your reflections on thepractice area. 
• Please refer to thecoachee as ‘coachee’ rather than by their name in the self-reflective account.

1. Complete the AI use declaration (Appendix C)

• Complete the AI use declarationtable (Appendix C) specifying which QUT approved tools (e.g. the AI tools QUT provides such as Zoom and Microsoft CoPilot) that you used (if any). The table requires you to record what prompts you gave the AI, and how you used the results in your assessment. Please add a new row for each use of GenAI.
• If you did not use AI in any stage of producing the assessment, use the statement noted on Canvas module: ‘The writing is my own and I take responsibility for all errors. No generative AI was used and no AI Translation Tools were used to produce this assignment’

Please submit the following through the submission link on Canvas:

• Zoom video recording of your conversation
• Self-reflective account(see Appendix 1 – Template). This includes:
• Short introduction
• Reflection on the LCM development focus action plan
• Reflection on coaching conversation 
• Appendix A – Coaching conversation analysis
• Appendix B – Coaching conversation transcript
• Appendix C – AI use declaration

Appendix 1 –Self-reflective account structure

Critical Self-reflective Coaching Account

Coaching for Leadership Development

MGN540

[Your NAME]

[Student number]

Word count: [

Date uploaded: [dd/mm/year]

Coachee name:

Coachee student number:

Reflective account

Introduction

LCM development areaaction plan reflection 

Provide an overview sentence or two on what you learned from the analysis to contextualise your reflection focus.

Coaching conversation practice area reflection

Provide an overview sentence or two on what you learned from the analysis to contextualise your reflection focus.

Reference list

[insert references here in APA format]

appendices

Appendix A – Coaching conversation analysis

[insert your completed coaching conversation table here. Delete the example evidence and notes provided]

Appendix B– Annotated conversation transcript

[insert your transcript here]

Appendix C – AI use declaration

[insert your completed AI use declaration table here. Delete the examples]

[1]If you are unable to identify a fellow student to conduct the conversation with, please contact the unit coordinator. The unit coordinator will expect you to provide evidence of what you have done to try to find a student with whom to complete the conversation. You will then be supported to resolve the issue.

[2]If you are unfamiliar with how to sign in or set up and record a zoom meeting please follow instructions:https://qutvirtual4.qut.edu.au/group/student/it-and-printing/software-and-learning-tools/zoom#h2-5

[3]In addition to your required text which covers ethical practice, you can use the Association for Coaching Global Code of Ethics.

Note: This report is provided as a sample for reference purposes only. For further guidance, detailed solutions, or personalized assignment support, please contact us directly.

Sample Solution – MGN540 Assessment 2

Critical Self-Reflective Coaching Account

Coaching for Leadership Development – MGN540

Student Name: [Your Name]
Student Number: [Your Student Number]
Word Count: 2,450 words
Date Uploaded: 23/05/2026

Introduction

This reflective account analyses my development of a leader-coach mindset (LCM) and evaluates my coaching practice through a recorded coaching conversation with another student. The assessment is divided into two parts. The first part critically reflects on the effectiveness of my leader-coach mindset action plan developed in Assessment 1. The second part analyses my coaching competencies demonstrated during a coaching conversation using academic literature and reflective practice.

Through this assessment, I recognised that effective leader-coaching requires more than simply asking questions or solving problems. It requires self-awareness, active listening, curiosity, emotional regulation, and the ability to challenge assumptions while empowering others to develop their own solutions.

Part 1 – LCM Development Action Plan Reflection

LCM Development Focus

In Assessment 1, my goal was to develop stronger active listening and questioning skills to improve my leader-coach mindset. I identified that I often approached conversations with a “problem-solving” mindset rather than a coaching mindset. My action plan focused on practising open-ended questioning, reducing interruptions, and becoming more comfortable with silence during conversations.

Initially, I believed being an effective leader meant providing quick solutions and guidance. However, throughout the action plan, I realised leader-coaching involves facilitating reflection and supporting others to generate their own insights (Whitmore, 2017).

During the weeks following Assessment 1, I intentionally practised coaching conversations in group projects, workplace discussions, and personal interactions. One situation involved supporting a classmate who was struggling with time management during a group assignment. Instead of immediately giving advice, I attempted to ask reflective questions such as, “What do you think is contributing most to the pressure you are experiencing?” and “What strategies have worked for you previously?”

Although this approach initially felt uncomfortable, I noticed the conversation became more collaborative and reflective. My classmate became more engaged and eventually identified practical strategies independently. This experience demonstrated how coaching conversations can empower others rather than create dependency on the leader.

However, several assumptions constrained my progress. One major assumption was my belief that silence in conversations indicates poor leadership or lack of preparation. As a result, I often rushed to fill pauses with additional questions or suggestions. Cox (2013) explains that novice coaches frequently experience discomfort with silence because they feel pressure to maintain conversational momentum. Reflecting on my behaviour, I recognised that my discomfort stemmed from a deeper belief that leaders should always appear knowledgeable and in control.

Another challenge involved balancing empathy with curiosity. In emotionally charged conversations, I tended to shift into advising mode because I wanted to help quickly. While my intention was supportive, this often reduced opportunities for deeper reflection by the other person. Grant and O’Connor (2018) argue that leader-coaches must resist the urge to “fix” problems and instead foster self-awareness and accountability.

One significant insight emerged when I reflected on the difference between my espoused values and enacted behaviour. I claimed to value empowerment and collaboration, yet my communication style sometimes remained directive and solution-focused. This tension revealed that developing a leader-coach mindset requires behavioural change as well as cognitive change.

The most meaningful learning from this process was recognising that effective leader-coaching requires patience, curiosity, and emotional self-regulation. Rather than measuring success through providing answers, I began evaluating success through the quality of reflection and insight generated during conversations.

Moving forward, I plan to continue developing my leader-coach mindset by practising reflective listening techniques, engaging in peer coaching opportunities, and maintaining a reflective journal after leadership interactions. I also intend to seek feedback from peers regarding how supported and empowered they feel during conversations. Developing a sustainable leader-coach mindset will require ongoing self-awareness and deliberate practice.

Part 2 – Coaching Conversation Practice Area Reflection

Overview

After analysing my coaching transcript, I identified “raising awareness and insight through powerful questioning” as the most important area for development in my coaching practice. Although I demonstrated empathy and active listening throughout the conversation, my questioning techniques occasionally limited deeper reflection because I asked multiple questions simultaneously or unintentionally led the coachee toward specific answers.

The coaching conversation focused on the coachee’s challenge with balancing academic responsibilities and part-time employment. I used the GROW coaching framework to structure the discussion.

One strength evident in the conversation was my ability to establish psychological safety and rapport early in the session. For example, I asked:

“What would you like to focus on during today’s conversation?”

This question encouraged autonomy and established a collaborative coaching relationship. According to Whitworth et al. (2007), effective coaching begins by creating a supportive environment where coachees feel ownership over the discussion.

Additionally, I demonstrated active listening through paraphrasing and clarification. At one point, I stated:

“So it sounds like you’re feeling overwhelmed because you’re trying to meet expectations in both work and university?”

This reflected the competency of demonstrating effective listening and clarifying skills. The coachee responded positively and expanded further on their emotional experience. Rogers (1957) emphasises that empathetic listening strengthens trust and encourages deeper self-exploration.

Despite these strengths, transcript analysis revealed limitations in my questioning style. One example included the following statement:

“Do you think better planning or reducing work hours would help you manage the stress?”

This question unintentionally narrowed the coachee’s thinking by presenting predefined solutions. Instead of encouraging exploration, the question directed the conversation toward options I had already assumed were appropriate.

Furthermore, I occasionally asked stacked questions such as:

“What do you think is causing the stress, and how long has this been affecting you?”

The coachee appeared uncertain about which part to answer first and responded briefly. Starr (2021) explains that powerful coaching questions should be concise, open, and focused to maximise reflection and insight generation.

Through reflection, I recognised that my tendency to ask leading or stacked questions was linked to anxiety about maintaining conversational flow and producing “successful” outcomes. I felt responsible for helping the coachee achieve clarity quickly, which reduced my patience with silence and exploration.

Another important insight involved emotional regulation. During moments of silence, I interpreted pauses as signs that the conversation was becoming awkward or ineffective. Consequently, I often interrupted reflective moments with additional prompts. However, coaching literature suggests silence can create space for deeper processing and self-awareness (Passmore, 2016).

To improve my coaching practice, I plan to focus on developing more intentional questioning skills. Specifically, I will practise asking one open-ended question at a time and allowing greater space for reflection before responding. I also intend to record and review future coaching conversations to identify patterns in my questioning behaviour.

Overall, this reflective process highlighted that effective leader-coaching is less about directing conversations and more about facilitating insight, autonomy, and self-awareness. My development as a leader-coach will require continuous reflection, feedback, and deliberate practice.

Reference List (APA 7th Edition)

Co-Active Coaching by Whitworth, L., Kimsey-House, H., Kimsey-House, K., & Sandahl, P. (2007).

Cox, E. (2013). Coaching Understood: A Pragmatic Inquiry into the Coaching Process. Sage Publications.

Grant, A. M., & O’Connor, S. A. (2018). Broadening and building solution-focused coaching: Feeling good is not enough. Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, 11(2), 165–185.

Passmore, J. (2016). Excellence in Coaching: The Industry Guide. Kogan Page.

Rogers, C. (1957). The necessary and sufficient conditions of therapeutic personality change. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 21(2), 95–103.

Starr, J. (2021). The Coaching Manual (5th ed.). Pearson.

Whitmore, J. (2017). Coaching for Performance (5th ed.). Nicholas Brealey Publishing.

Appendix A – Coaching Conversation Analysis (Sample)

Appendix B – Annotated Transcript (Short Sample)

Coach: What would you like to focus on during today’s coaching conversation? (Blue 2.3)

Coachee: I want to discuss how stressed I’ve been balancing university and work.

Coach: It sounds like you’re feeling overwhelmed trying to meet expectations in both areas. (Magenta 5.1)

Coachee: Yes, exactly.

Coach: What assumptions might you be making about success and responsibility? (Yellow 6.1)

Coachee: I think I feel like I always need to say yes to everything.

Appendix C – AI Use Declaration (Sample)