Do you have a good grasp of your client’s mindset, personality type, and behavioural preferences?
The key to understanding your clients is curiosity – a desire to really know your client and what makes them act the way they do.
Every coach will have a different way of getting to know their clients. But one great way to do this is to use psychometric profiling.
In this episode of The Mindset Coach, I’m discussing the benefits of using psychometric profiling with your clients to help you better understand their needs. I also speak about the diagnostic tool I’ve been working on called Mindset Dimensions and how it can help you become a better coach for your clients.
Listen to the podcast below or keep reading to learn more.
What’s missing from traditional psychometric tests?
Back when I was working in the corporate arena, both as a Consultant and Global Head of HR, I used psychometric profiling and diagnostic tools a lot. They’re great tools for working out what’s really going on in organisations and teams.
Popular ones included the Myers-Briggs test, DiSC profiling, and Hogan reports which are all great for teams. But I’ve always found there’s something missing when it comes to using them as a coach.
What I think they’re missing is a deep understanding of all the things that comprise mindset – beyond behavioural preferences, cognitive ability, or emotional intelligence. Those tools miss a real insight into how people view themselves, and how they express and feel emotions in response to situations and events in their lives.
When I realised that, I wanted to do something about it. So, I got together with Dr. Trish Camp, who participated in the Mindset Coach Certification back in 2019. We decided to put something together that focused on the overall mindset for clients. We called it Mindset Dimensions.
What is Mindset Dimensions?
Mindset Dimensions looks at how people see themselves and how they feel about themselves. It looks at what emotions they experience on a regular basis, their behavioural preferences, and how they see the world overall.
In creating this tool, we really wanted to provide something easily accessible for coaches and leaders, whether you’re working in a corporate team or the therapy arena.
The aim of Mindset Dimensions is to help coaches understand their clients better so they can achieve their goals and make lasting change. Who doesn’t want that?
We made it really quick and easy, so in just 30 minutes, you can get a report to share with clients and use that as a foundation of your coaching programme.
In the Mindset Dimensions report, you’ll gain knowledge about your clients’:
- Beliefs
- Values
- Behaviours
- Levels of self-efficacy
- Self-esteem
- Motivation
This provides your clients with mindset metrics that help you understand them better and build rapport. It paves the way for productive value-based interactions, which can help to facilitate change.
Make diagnostic tools part of your onboarding process
The onboarding process is a crucial moment in the coach-client relationship. How you approach it can set you up for success, so a good foundation is so important.
Diagnostic tools are a fantastic thing to introduce in the onboarding process if you haven’t already.
A diagnostic tool like Mindset Dimensions provides a professional onboarding experience for your client. From that diagnostic tool data, you can then work out which coaching strategies, interventions, and tools will work best for that client.
How Mindset Dimensions and other tools help you become a better coach
The Mindset Dimensions report helps you and your client spot those “Aha!” moments, make correlations and link thoughts and actions to help you both better understand them.
When you’ve done this and have all that information at your fingertips, it can help you gain confidence as a coach. You can be confident in knowing that the work you’re doing will get results.
This translates into more professionalism, which can put the client at ease and help them trust you as soon as possible. It’ll show you clearly know your stuff after all!
Another great thing about tools and reports like Mindset Dimensions is that they can be revisited. You can retest your client in six months’ time to see just how far they have come and what they’ve achieved. Seeing progress is so important for clients’ motivation (and your own).
Tailoring your programme to the client
What can you do with your new and improved methods for understanding clients?
When you start using diagnostic tools and profiling, one of the most important things you can do is tailor your coaching programme to your client.
Knowing whether they’re an introvert or extrovert, their behavioural preferences, and how they like to show up in the world is all key to building rapport.
While there’s lots of talk about getting clients out of their comfort zone, setting challenging tasks for a client really requires good trust and understanding first.
Tasks you set some clients won’t necessarily work with every client. In fact, it could build a rift between you – for example, if you push an introvert into doing something they’re uncomfortable with from the get-go.
Instead of using a blanket coaching approach, a tailored one is what will truly resonate with your clients.
That’s why an accurate and comprehensive diagnostic tool in your onboarding process is the best way to start coaching someone.
With Mindset Dimensions, you get a powerful and accurate tool to help you understand the client’s mindset. Diagnostic tools are brilliant for coaches to have at their disposal, so it’s been a fantastic process developing this report over the past 14 to 15 months.
I’d love to hear what diagnostic tool you use in your practice or for your teams. If you want to learn more about the Mindset Dimensions tool, please get in touch!
To learn more mindset hacks and using diagnostic tools in your coaching programmes, check out The Mindset Coach Academy!