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A Guide to Asking Coaching Evaluation Questions
Coaching evaluation questions can be used to get feedback from a client about your coaching.
The answers to these questions will provide valuable feedback for your coaching. I'll share with you the questions to ask on completion of a coaching series. Also, how the right questions before and during a Discover Session can help you get to know the client and evaluate whether they are a good fit.
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Best Life Coaching Evaluation Questions for Client Feedback
Here are 10 powerful coaching evaluation questions to choose from. You can, of course, put these into your own words and adapt them to suit your particular style or make more relevant for your coaching specialty. For your convenience I include a free download of my own client completion feedback form, below.
- As you went through the coaching journey, how did it change things for you?
- What new strengths do you think you have developed from the coaching experience?
- Did you surprise yourself through the coaching series and if so how?
- What was the thing you benefited from and/or enjoyed the most?
- What do you see as the major insights or breakthroughs you made through coaching?
- What negative beliefs did you let go of?
- What new positive beliefs do you now have?
- What will you now do differently to how you operated before the coaching experience?
- How were your expectations of my coaching met, or not met? Could I have done anything differently?
- If you are willing to endorse my coaching but are stuck on how to write a testimonial, would you like me to help you with this?
Download Your Free Client Completion Coaching Evaluation Form
You can download this coaching evaluation form in PDF format to use during your client's final session.
The form takes the 10 questions listed above and provides a structured format that you can either print for you to fill in for in-session questions, or email to the client to fill in.
For your records—and so the client can keep a copy—include both of your names and the date. A signature can also add a sense of ownership and commitment for the client.
If requested you can mail or email the completed evaluation form to the client so they have a record of their progress and wins through coaching.
Another good time to ask feedback questions
In addition to asking these questions at the end of a coaching series, it's beneficial to conclude each session with a question or two, such as:
- "How was this session for you?"
- "What did you discover that could help you move forward?"
Asking coaching evaluation questions like these throughout the process not only provides valuable feedback but also uncovers insights that can be incorporated into a testimonial.
If life coaching testimonials are important to you, here are some solutions to the sometimes challenging process of gathering genuine testimonials on this page.
Related Pages
How Should I Ask Life Coaching Feedback Questions?
Life coaching feedback questions should be asked as open-ended questions—that is, questions that require more than just a "yes" or "no" answer but encourage the client to think, reflect, and share.
The 4th question in the list above is a good example of an open ended question:
"What new strengths can you see that you have developed from the coaching experience?"
If we had used "Did you find any new strengths..." instead, it would have been a closed question. It can be answered simply with a "Yes" or "No".
The key to a successful open-ended question (like with all coaching!) is to patiently wait until the client provides an answer. This can sometimes take a minute or two so let them be comfortable as they think about the answer.
Open ended questions can help your client realise and acknowledge changes and achievements they may not even have recognised and acknowledged to themselves.
Of course if after an appropriate length of time the client gets stuck, you can prompt them from your experience coaching them.
Of course the questions can either be asked during the session or sent to the client for filling in and returning.
I favor asking in person because it is more personal, flexible, and promptly addressed. You will get a much better result than waiting anxiously for a reply from a client with a life coaching evaluation form who has moved on and may not see it as a priority to get back to you.
What Questions to Ask Before and During a Discovery Session?
Evaluation questions are also invaluable to ask prospective clients before committing to having them as a client. They should be asked two sets of questions
1. Pre-Diiscovery Session questions to be sent out after the initial request for a Discovery Session to be returned before the actual booked session. Sending out pre-Discovery Session questions can mean you can avoid automatically saying yes to booking a session with people who are obviously not serious or a good fit for your coaching.
It is also a time saverand gives you a helpful snapshot of why they want coaching whether you can help them.
2. Questions to be asked during the actual Discovery Session to build on the answers in the pre-session questions and establish whether you and the person are a good match for your coaching.
Having a good list of questions to ask during the Discovery Session session itself and knowing how to evaluate the answers can help make sure, as much as is possible, that you and the prospective client are a good match.
My eBook "Mastering the Coaching Discovery Session" helps you with all this. This detailed page includes some of the questions to ask and how to shape a successful Discovery Session, whatever the outcome.
Some More Powerful Questions To Use In Your Coaching
If you find it a challenge thinking of the right questions to ask, 555 Powerful Questions for Coaching, Mentoring and Leading at Work by Mauricio Vasquez (yes it is a mouthful😊) is a handy book to invest in for all areas of coaching.
You can have a peek in the book before a session with a client, when you know certain issues are going to come up, and find some relevant powerful questions to ask.
The book is divided into numerous sections for questions in various coaching situations, such as Action, Accountability, Goals, Change, Decisions and so on.
(You can see the full list in the sample of the book on Amazon).
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