Chapter 8 — Coaching Assessments

Question 1

What is the benefit of asking client to complete an assessment prior to the first coaching session?

Answer 1

Basic Benefits _{113 - 114}

1. Assessments stimulate reflection and self-awareness ♣
2. Assessments inform coaches ♣
3. Help clients gain self-awareness, insights, and a sense of priorities
4. Efficient because precious time is not lost gathering information and it saves the client from being bombarded with so many questions that can feel like an interrogation.

Other Benefits of Having Clients Complete an Assessment:

1. Trust and rapport: The online or paper assessment offers the client a place to tell her “story.”
2. Honoring personality preferences: Introverts prefer to communicate personal information in writing initially. Not so with extroverts.
3. The written word: Provides an opportunity for the client to see a qualitative and quantitative summary of their state of well-being. The information can collectively be both affirming and a powerful motivator for action.
4. Developing discrepancy: An assessment can help a client more clearly see the difference between where they are and where they are not in terms of behaviors and outcomes. The process of deliberately answering questions about subjects such as one’s priorities, needs, values, readiness, and challenges promotes self-discovery and expands awareness. In order to progress, the client must expand her awareness of what is possible. If the coach attempts to do this for the client, resistance is provoked.

Question 2

Describe the steps to take in reviewing a well-being assessment. ₁₁₉

Answer 2

Read with an open mind. Consider responses with open-minded curiosity. This allows the coach to 119

• Ask better questions during the assessment review
• Use intuition and sense what is unsaid ♣ Challenge the coach’s assumptions about the client
• Develop a strengths-based frame which to appreciate the client ♣
• Be open to new information and energy shifts during the first coaching session

Seek out success. Focus on the positive drawing from Appreciative Inquiry and Positive psychology. ₁₁₉ Remember: ♣

• What we focus on grows
• Our first questions are fateful

Assumptions: All clients can tap to capacities and leverage strengths for positive change. This in turn supports the client to build — self-efficacy

Notice the client’s arousal. Look for the areas where the client is ₁₁₉ ♣

• Feeling an Emotional Charge, either — positive or negative.
• Concentrated Energy — like Priorities for Change and the Importance each well-being
• Autonomous motivation — the areas where the client is expressing an interest in growth change.

Consider the Stages of Change. Notice the client’s stage(s) of change. Does this impact the coaching client’s needs? 119 ◊

• Early stages of change Prioritize the cognitive motion.
• Later stages of change: Prioritize planning and action.

Question gaps.

• Note any inconsistencies in responses.
• Inquire about the discrepancy in information.
• Gaps can be due to assessment design or user error or incomplete answers. Example: Improving nutrition = “Highest Priority” but the Stages of Change show the client in Contemplation and not ready for action. ₁₁₉

Note concerns.

• Look at any mental health or medical concerns indicated by the client. Red Flags — That might require a physician’s release before engaging in regular exercise: ₁₁₉
• Health risks
• Injuries
• Concerns

Question 3

When reviewing an assessment, what is the value in looking for strengths and areas for celebration? ₁₁₉

Answer 3

Remember: 119 ♣

• What we focus on grows
• Our first questions are fateful
• Assumptions: All clients can tap to capacities and leverage strengths for positive change. This in turn supports the client to build — self-efficacy

Question 4

During an initial coaching conversation how does one best approach the client with information gleaned from the assessment? _{121 – 122***}

Answer 4

1. Thank the client for completing the assessment (s)
2. Ask about their experience and learning from the assessment. ♣
3. Ask the client to share any feelings, issues, or questions they may have in the wake of the assessment(s)
4. Pay attention to the emotional charge — Offer empathy reflections as needed.
5. Notice the language and approaches the client uses. Uncover Motivation — Questions to Consider
   
   • What’s most important are you right now?
   • What are you most excited to talk about?
   • What are you yearning for in your life?
   • What areas of life make you feel most alive?
6. Key Coach Behaviors:
   
   • Work with the client in the moment ♣ Remain open to the presenting energy and issues of the client ♣
   • Remember: The goal is to flow and co-construct things with the client rather than to where the expert hat of teacher or advisor
   • Masterful coaching is about paying attention to and building on the energy client show up with her coaching. ♣
   • The coach demonstrates respect for the client’s perceptions, learning style, and personal being Use Appreciative Inquiry to Discover Client Successes, Strengths, Frameworks, and Hopes. _{121 - 122}
   • Ask clients open-ended questions about their
   • Successes
   • Strengths — Identify strengths that need to be reinforced
   • Frameworks
   • Hopes
7. Other Inquiries are:
   
   1. ​What questions do you have after completing the assessment?
   2. What insights do have by completing the assessment?
   3. I’m curious about the way you responded to . . .Tell me more.
   4. About what will most proud?
   5. What surprised you?
   6. What concerned you?
8. Discover Preferred Client Learning Modes and Styles ₁₂₂ ♣
   
   • How does the client best like to learn?
     
     • Books, a close personal mentor,
     • Online self-help programs, a trainer,
     • Online social networks,
     • A local life group discussion,
     • Class format
     • Competitions, or
     • Going away for an intensive learning weekend with experts.
9. Consider assessments: Myers Briggs and DISC Assessments ♣ How does the client best like to learn?
10. Discuss Components of the Assessment 123 Let the client know —
    
    • That you have reviewed the assessments ahead of time to get a sense of where they are right now where/what they want to work.
    • Assessments never tell the whole story.
    • It would be helpful if you feel comfortable/willing to share what surfaced for you during the assessment and where you want to go with what emerged.
    • Ask specific questions to
      
      1. Clarify missing information
      2. Bolster the self-confidence on the client Do the following:
         
         1. Seek out successes to notice the client’s emotional charge.
         2. Identify the client’s readiness to change.
         3. Note concerns that may relate to physical or mental health risks.
         4. Be curious — Curiosity is an open, inviting, judgment-free, leisurely, and even playful expiration of opportunities for learning and growth.
         5. Champion a client’s capacity to change and help her find compelling reasons to try again

Question 5

What is a medical “red flag”? _{<strong>114</strong>}

Answer 5

Medical “red flag”:

These are situations where a medical or mental health referral may be necessary.

Examples include:

• Physical health issues — Medical care gaps, injury, or contraindications to exercise
• Mental health issues — Depression, anxiety, etc.

Question 6

List three physical health “red flags” that would require a brief thorough to a health professional or a physician’s release. _{<strong><span>114</span></strong>}

Answer 6

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Highly stressed

Question 7

Name three types of learning styles and explain how a client might learn best for each style. Learning Styles —

Answer 7

Ask: What do you know about how you learn best? ♣

1. Note Taker: Writing or typing information, goals, and instructions gives these folks a more active role in their learning. It helps them think through the information and absorb it and remember it better.
2. Detail Oriented: Want to know why, what, and how — What sets them apart is the amount of detail they require. They can use any Mode of Learning. These people are often intelligent, highly educated, and in a detail-oriented profession.
3. Holistic: Want a sense of the whole —How it all fits together. Don’t want detail and will be bored by it. These are often kinesthetic or visual Learners.
4. Affective: People-oriented and focused on emotions and involvement with others —
   
   1. Responding to exploring their own attitudes and those of others as a means to learning. How do you feel about this? What do you think about this?
   2. Like to start with an example that involves emotions or other people before moving onto thinking about a concept.

Tend to put others ahead of themselves. Key: Encourage them to nurture themselves

1. Observer: Prefer to watch and listen — Could take a while before they feel comfortable interacting with you. Ask: Do you like to learn best by just taking things in? Take small steps to draw them out - to become independent learners.
2. Self-directed: Take the ball and run with it. They like to be in charge of their decisions and actions, and will sometimes take over the coaching session. They want options and information first — Then they will accept questions about what direction to take. Ask them frequently: What did you learn?
3. Thinker: Rely on reason and logic — Like to analyze and evaluate concepts and ideas. These folks are intelligent, independent, and like to challenge ideas that they think do not have merit. And, they want coaches to match their intellectual level.

Question 8

What are three basic cautions or dangers of assessments to keep in mind? _{114 - 115}

Answer 8

Assessments offer/get into

1. Less Room for Collaboration and More Room for the Expert Hat. It is tempting to get into “fix it” mode and put on the “expert hat.”
2. Evaluation Rather than Empathy. The assessment is an opportunity to show acceptance and express empathy.
3. Assessments are Completed by Humans. Sometimes clients fill out the assessment in a way that they think will please the coach — aren’t always accurate.
4. Assessments don’t tell the whole story.

Question 9

What are the 13 Well-Being Assessments that Meg Moore lists? _{<strong>115 - 118</strong>}

Answer 9

Well-Being Assessments

1. Six Dimensions of Wellness
2. The Wheel of Life
3. Values-in-Action (VIA) Signature Strengths Questionnaire
4. The Quality of Life Inventory
5. DISC: Dominance, influence, steadiness, and compliance — a 4 quadrant behavioral model
6. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
7. Positivity Ratio
8. Self-Compassion Scale
9. Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS)
10. Five-Facet Mindfulness Scale
11. Quickie Well-Being Assessment
12. Decisional Balance Tool
13. Transtheoretical Model of Change

Question 10

What are the three ways that the —Well-Being Assessment designed by Dee Edington, PHD (2008) that is offered online by Wellcoaches — provides information about a client’s motivation in coming to coaching? *** ₁₁₈

Answer 10

1. Priorities:
2. Confidence: Strength in their belief that they can make a behavioral change. This allows the coach to design opportunities for the development of self-efficacy — by working with personal, environmental, and behavioral factors.
3. Readiness for Change:

Question 11

What initial information does Dee Edington’s holistic Well-Being Assessment provide about a client?

That is, what are the areas of content/well-being that this assessment covers? _{<strong>*** 118</strong>}

_{<strong>Hint: There are 7 areas of content to the Well-Being Assessment.</strong>}

Answer 11

1. Energy: Variations in energy level throughout the day. Energy boosters and energy drains.
2. Life Satisfaction: Sense of purpose, joy, gratitude, work satisfaction, and personal relationship satisfaction
3. Mental and Emotional Fitness: Coping skills, resilience, sleep patterns, stress levels, emotional status, social activity/support, and personal loss
4. Weight Management: Body mass index, height, weight, and waist measurement
5. Physical Activity/Exercise: Frequency and types of physical activity
6. Nutrition: Intake frequency of healthy snacks, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, water, soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, and trans fats
7. Health: Blood pressure, cholesterol, heart rate, relationship with a physician, gender-related health issues, frequency of illness, medications, tobacco use, and personal/family health history

Question 12

What are red flags to look for when reading through the Well-Being Assessment Results? _{<strong><span>119 See #6. Note Concerns</span></strong>}

Answer 12

1. Health Risks
2. Injuries
3. Health concerns that might require a physician release form. (Coach would provide this.) This document would ask for recommendations or restrictions in working with a coach.

Question 13

What are the organizations where we can look for medical clearance and exercise participation information? _{<strong><span>120</span></strong>}

Answer 13

1. Exercise Testing and Fitness: American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM, 2013): ACSM Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription.
2. Nutrition

• Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: www.eatright.org
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Healthy Living Site: www.cdc.gov/healthyliving/index.html
• www.nutritionfacts.org

Question 14

What are 4 mental health risks that require recommendations or referrals to a psychologist, therapist, or physician for consultation?_{<span>120</span>}

Answer 14

1. Depression:
   
   • Not eating or sleeping in normal patterns — not sleeping or sleeping all of the time
   • Appetite loss
   • Binge eating
2. Eating Disorders:
   
   • Lost a great deal of weight without surgery or use medication and continue to do so when advised it will be harmful to their health (anxorexia)
   • Exercise beyond their normal physical capacity
   • Lose 20 -30 lbs. without stabilizing
3. Substance Abuse: Display unusual behaviors like acting out or violent outbursts that are uncharacteristic of their usual behaviors or steroid use
4. Anxiety Disorders: Suffer from

• Panic attacks
• Claustrophobic behavior
• Shortness of breath

Question 15

What should the coach do if a client shares a serious or life-threatening mental or physical health issue during an assessment or coaching session? _{<strong>120</strong>}

Answer 15

Advise the client that the situation is outside of the scope of coaching and encourage her to seek professional help ASAP.

Question 16

What should a coach do if she has an intuitive sense that the client needs further medical attention or needs further resources outside of the coach’s expertise*?_{<strong><span> 120 - 121</span></strong>}

Answer 16

1. Express your concern to the client
2. If the client chooses not to engage with additional resources, terminate the relationship.

* Note. It is important to build relationships with highly respected health experts that could serve as sources for referrals.

Question 17

What are the coaching guidelines for talking with a health care professional regarding a client? _{<span>121</span>}

Answer 17

Follow HIPAA Guidelines (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act: Do Not Share

1. Client’s name
2. Any revealing information

Question 18

Coaches work with clients in the moment. How do we get a sense of the client’s experience and learning from a well-being assessment?

Answer 18

Ask the client to share any _____ that they have in the wake of the assessment.

• Feelings
• Issues
• Questions

Emotional Charge — Notice any emotional charge and any underlying needs. Then offer an empathetic reflection.

Work with the client in the Moment:

• What’s most important for you right now?
• What are you most excited to talk about?
• What are you yearning for in your life?
• What areas of life make you feel most alive?

Question 19

When do coaches need to establish trust and rapport with their clients?_{<span>121</span>}

Answer 19

Establish trust and rapport

1. At the outset of each coaching session with the client and each time you communicate with the client.

Question 20

How do coaches establish trust and rapport with their clients?_{<span>121</span>}

Answer 20

Put the client at ease and bring them into their confidence through:

• Holding clients in positive regard
• Express empathy
• Slowing down
• Listening with full attention
• Allowing clients to formulate and find their own answers
• Honestly sharing observations
• Under-promising and over-delivering
• Being humble in sharing information and advice
• Honoring confidentiality

Question 21

What is the best way to discuss an assessment with a client? _{<strong><span>121</span></strong>}

Answer 21

Use

Appreciative Inquiry

to

Discover/Make/Use

1. Powerful, client-specific, strength-based inquires that will assist the clients to know themselves (develop awareness) and move forward in the direction of their desired future.
2. Open-ended questions about their — successes, strengths, frameworks and hopes. This helps the clients learn more about their priorities, issues on which to focus, and readiness and energy for change.

Other questions to ask include:

• What questions do you have after completing the assessment?
• What insights do you have by completing the assessment?
• “I’m curious about the way you responded. . . Tell me more.”
• About what do you feel most proud?
• What surprised you?
• What concerns you?

Question 22

How can Appreciative Inquiry help _{<span>122</span>}

When a client’s energy is low — physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually.

When a client’s energy is high?

Answer 22

Low Energy

Use Appreciative Empathy.

High Energy

AI can assist with getting or staying inspired through —

1. Discovering client successes, strengths, frameworks, and hopes that are grounded in reality as revealed by the assessments.
2. By what they have to say now in the moment.

This will enable clients to develop a vision and to design appropriate actions.

Question 23

State the ICF’s Core Coaching Competencies

Relationship to Learning Styles_{<span><strong>122</strong></span>}

Answer 23

“[The Coach] demonstrates respect for client’s perceptions, learning style, and personal being.”

The Coach

• Connects with clients in ways that promote their learning and growth
• Notice the client’s language to come along side them —> to more rapidly and successfuly acquire new knowledge and skills.

Question 24

How does the coach go about dissussing the components of the Well-Being Assessment?_{<span>122 - 123</span>}

Answer 24

1. Say: Assessments never tell the whole story. It would be hepful if you share what surfaced for you during the assessment. And, where do you want to go with what emerged.
2. Clarify missing information. This helps to boost confidence.
3. Seek out successes to
   
   • Notice the client’s emotional charge
   • Readiness to change
4. Reframe client’s “failures”.
   
   • We grow through “trial and correction.”
   • Champion a client’s capacity to change and assit her in finding compelling reasons to give it a try again.
5. Note concerns that may related to mental or physical health risks.
6. Be curious. Curiosity is an open, inviting, udgment-free, leisurely and playful explorations of opportunities for learning and growth.

Question 25

How can Assessments foster Autonomy? _{<span>115</span>}

Answer 25

Assessments are a Tool to

• Uncover the motivational drivers for the clients — What is most important to them and their priorities for their lives.
• Strategy to allow client to be in
  
  • Control of the process
  • Competent to make progress
  • In a relationship with a compassionate coach partner on the journey.

Question 26

What are the 7 components of well-being convered on the Wellcoaches Well-Being Assessment?_{<span>118</span>}

Answer 26

Components of Well-Being

on

Wellcoaches Well-Being Assessment

1. Energy: Levels of energy throughout a typical day.
2. Life Satisfaction: Sense of purpose, joy, gratitude, work satisfaction, and personal relationship satisfaction.
3. Mental and Emotional Fitness: Coping skills, resilience, sleep patterns, stress levels, social activity/support and personal loss.
4. Weight Management: Body mass index, height, weight, and waist measurement.
5. Physical Activity/Exercise: Frequency and types of physical exercise.
6. Nutrition: Intake frequency of healthy snacks, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, water, soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, and trans fats.
7. Health: Blood pressure, cholesterol, heart rate, relationship with a physician, gender related health issues, frequency of illness, medications, tobacco use, and personal/family health history.