The conflict of interest you didn't see
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.
- 4 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 next time you're about to vote on something, pause and ask: is there anyone in this decision I have a relationship with — even indirectly — that the rest of the board doesn't know about?
The situation
You've been on the board of a community health organisation for two years. You're the longest-serving director other than the chair, and you've developed a real feel for the organisation — its funding challenges, its staff culture, and the populations it serves. You care about it.
At your most recent board meeting, the organisation approved a new service contract with Rata Wellbeing Solutions, a provider you recommended after meeting their CEO at a sector conference. The decision passed without controversy. You voted in favour.
Today you receive a message from Emma, one of two directors who joined the board three months ago. She's done her due diligence reading through board papers and noticed something. She writes: "I was reading the board register and wanted to check something with you privately before I raise it more formally. Is it right that your sibling is a senior manager at Rata Wellbeing Solutions? I don't see any disclosure recorded against the Rata contract decision. I may be missing something — happy to be wrong."
You sit with the message. She's right. Your sibling works there. You knew it at the time of the decision. You didn't think of it as a conflict — your sibling isn't the CEO, you weren't acting on their behalf, and you genuinely believed Rata was the best provider. But you can see, reading Emma's message, that you never named it. You never gave the board the chance to assess it.
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.
- Shame and the urge to minimise — wanting to frame it as a non-issue so the discomfort goes away faster
- Defensiveness dressed as principle — the belief that because your recommendation was genuinely good, the process failure doesn't really matter
- Loyalty to your sibling — not wanting to name them publicly, even when transparency requires it
- Gratitude to Emma mixed with resentment — she's right, and that's hard to sit with
Policies this draws on
- Your organisation's conflict of interest policy
- Charities Act 2005 (NZ) / Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Act 2012
- Your organisation's board charter or constitution
- Institute of Directors — Director Duties guidance
- Your own organisation's policies take precedence — check them where they apply.
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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