Sarah doesn't want to make a fuss. Now what?
What a Coaching Scenario is
Not quiz style. This is judgement practice — you're put inside a real situation from human-services work and asked what you would actually do. It draws on the knowledge you use on the job, not the kind you can look up.
Every choice changes what happens next, and every choice gets a coaching beat straight after it: what drew you toward that option, and how it played out. What's held back is the verdict on your path, so you stay with what you'd genuinely do rather than working out what you're supposed to say.
- 3 decisions
- Each one shaped by the one before it. No two paths through are the same.
- Coaching as you go
- A beat after every decision, naming the pull behind your choice and where it led.
- A full debrief
- Your whole path replayed at the end, with the reasoning behind each decision you made.
- Evidence you can keep
- A completed scenario is recorded in your PracticeLab and appears in your downloadable ProofKit.
Scenarios are made to be talked about. Most people finish one still turning it over, which makes them a ready-made prompt for supervision, a team meeting or a conversation with a colleague — everyone walks the same situation, and comparing where you each landed is often where the real learning happens.
This one ends with
The moment a disclosure lands, document it and brief HR or your manager the same day — even if you're not sure what to do yet, you've started the clock on your duty of care to both parties.
The situation
You're the team leader at a community services site. On Monday morning, Sarah — a support worker who's been on your team for 18 months — asks to speak with you privately.
She tells you she's been losing sleep over the way Mark has been treating her. Mark is a senior support worker, six years in the team, and well-liked. Sarah describes public sarcasm in handovers, being excluded from team chat decisions, and a comment last week that "people like her don't last here."
Sarah is visibly upset. She hasn't told anyone else. She asks you not to make a fuss.
What you're practising
Before you start, notice
Real-world decisions in scenarios like this are shaped as much by feeling as by reasoning. People often notice one of these pulls — naming what you feel before you decide is half the skill.
- Discomfort with conflict — and the urge to make it go away quickly
- Loyalty to long-tenured staff — and the unconscious weighting of their account
- The urge to be seen acting decisively
- Discomfort with formality and paperwork — and the urge to keep things informal
- The wish to handle it yourself rather than escalate to HR
Policies this draws on
Check your organisation's own policies in this area — they take precedence over anything in this scenario.
Heads up — coaching scenarios work differently. You'll make a sequence of decisions as the situation unfolds, and after each one you'll get a coaching beat: what drew you toward that choice, and how it played out. The one thing held back is the verdict on the path you took — that lands in the debrief at the end, with your whole walk replayed alongside it.
New to Good Practice Hub? Coaching Scenarios come with PracticeLab Pro, or browse the practice library to see what else is there.
More Coaching Scenarios
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