If we have a compass, it’s easier to find our way

In my experience, people engage in coaching because they are seeking to change something and that is why coaching tends to focus on our client’s goals.  However, as a coach, I experience how difficult changes are to make and to sustain for my clients.  The key is for a coachee to discover what are the hidden blockers to their clear desire to change – when they become aware of what’s “in the way” and stopping their behaviour aligning to their intentions, then they can move forward with their goals while understanding these challenges.

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Psychometric tests can help direct us towards the direction we want to move towards.  A psychometric test is any activity or assessment that is conducted in order to evaluate a candidate’s performance and includes, for example skills, knowledge, abilities, personality traits, attitudes and job/academic potential.   Some well-known examples are DISC, Myers Briggs, Cap Finity, ECR, Clifton Strenghts Assessment, to name a few.  Sometimes, if we have a framework, especially one that is unique to each individual and based on their inputs, then we can identify and make sense of patterns and a coachee can become aware of what motivates them to behave and perform in a certain way.

But as always, there may be downsides for clients to focus solely on tests – it’s important to focus on skills and behaviours unique to the coachee and not get stuck in the ‘type’ that the tests indicate – any results should be a coaching support and not the end goal, and a discussion step in the coaching process to align the relevance with the client’s context and situation.

For more information on psychometric test training, see https://kinchlyons.com/get-certified/psychometric-test-training/