Assess

The Assess phase of the A6 Coaching Model, often referred to as the exploration or discovery stage, focuses on gaining a deeper understanding of the coachee's current situation, challenges, and opportunities. The goal is to foster self-awareness and help the coachee identify areas of growth and action. This phase is pivotal in setting the groundwork for the transformation the coachee seeks, allowing both coach and coachee to align on insights and next steps.

Activities

During this phase, several activities can help to evaluate the coachee's strengths, areas for improvement, and overall circumstances:

1. Personality and Strengths Assessments: Tools such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) or CliftonStrengths are often employed to highlight personal attributes and how they affect leadership and decision-making. These can deepen self-awareness and clarify where strengths can be leveraged more effectively.

2. Visioning Exercises: This involves helping the coachee articulate a clear picture of their desired future in personal and professional contexts. Visualisation techniques or guided imagery can be used to imagine successful outcomes.

3. Values Inventories: The coachee reflects on their core values to ensure alignment between their actions and beliefs. This may also involve identifying dissonance between their current behaviour and values.

4. Work-Life Balance Satisfaction Scales: These assessments gauge the satisfaction level in different life areas, such as work, relationships, health, and personal fulfilment. A balance audit helps the coachee explore whether their energy is optimally distributed.

5. Organisational Assessments: For executive or business coaching, assessments of organisational culture, team dynamics, and leadership effectiveness may be conducted to provide context for the coachee's work environment and influence.

6. 360° Feedback Results: Feedback from peers, managers, and direct reports can provide a holistic view of the coachee’s behaviour and leadership impact, highlighting both strengths and areas for growth.

7. Observation and Reflection: Both the coach’s and coachee’s personal observations play a critical role in this phase. These reflections can reveal hidden patterns or unconscious behaviours affecting progress.

Coaching Questions

This phase requires a blend of broad, exploratory questions and more specific, focused ones to dig deeper into the coachee's experience. Powerful questions help the coachee reflect on their current situation and what they truly want to achieve. Here are some key questions for the Assess phase:

1. "What are the key challenges you're facing right now?" This question helps the coachee surface pressing issues or obstacles preventing them from moving forward.

2. "What strengths do you see in yourself that you can leverage?" Encourages the coachee to recognise their capabilities and how they can use them to address challenges or seize opportunities.

3. "How does this situation align with your core values?" This helps the coachee reflect on whether their actions and decisions are congruent with their personal or professional values.

4. "What feedback have you received about your performance or behaviour?" Helps the coachee consider outside perspectives that might shed light on their leadership or effectiveness in team dynamics.

5. "How do you feel about your current work-life balance?" This allows the coachee to assess whether they are dedicating enough time and energy to different areas of their life, which might affect their overall satisfaction and success.

6. "What would success look like for you in this situation?" Encourages the coachee to imagine a positive outcome and provides insight into their goals and aspirations.

By utilising these activities and questions, the Assess phase facilitates deep reflection, helping the coachee better understand their personal and professional context, strengths, and growth areas. The coach, in turn, gains crucial insights into how to support the coachee best moving forward.