How do you identify your coaching strengths?

1 Assess your skills and knowledge

One way to identify your coaching strengths is to assess your skills and knowledge in different areas of coaching, such as communication, feedback, goal setting, motivation, and emotional intelligence. You can use self-assessment tools, such as the Coaching Skills Inventory or the Emotional and Social Competency Inventory, to evaluate your level of proficiency and identify your areas of strength and improvement. You can also ask for feedback from your clients, peers, mentors, or supervisors to get an external perspective on your coaching skills and knowledge.

2 Reflect on your experience and style

Another way to identify your coaching strengths is to reflect on your experience and style as a coach. Think about the coaching situations that you have handled well, the challenges that you have overcome, the results that you have achieved, and the feedback that you have received. What are the common themes or patterns that emerge from your experience? What are the aspects of coaching that you enjoy the most and feel most comfortable with? How do you approach coaching and what are your values and beliefs as a coach? These questions can help you discover your unique coaching style and the strengths that underlie it.

3 Align with your personality and preferences

A third way to identify your coaching strengths is to align them with your personality and preferences. Your personality and preferences can influence how you interact with others, how you process information, how you make decisions, and how you cope with stress. You can use personality assessments, such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or the DiSC Profile, to understand your personality type and preferences and how they affect your coaching approach. For example, if you are an extrovert, you may have a strength in building rapport and energizing others. If you are an introvert, you may have a strength in listening and observing.

4 Develop and leverage your strengths

Once you have identified your coaching strengths, you can use them to enhance your coaching practice and performance. To do this, you should seek opportunities to use your strengths in different contexts and scenarios, share them with clients to build trust, and receive feedback and mentoring from other coaches. Moreover, you can learn from coaches with different or opposite strengths and explore how they use them. Additionally, it's important to balance your strengths with other essential skills and competencies for coaching, while also recognizing any potential pitfalls or blind spots that may arise from overusing or misusing your strengths. Identifying your coaching strengths is a valuable exercise that can help you grow as a leadership development coach. By knowing and using your strengths, you can increase your confidence, credibility, and impact as a coach.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?