The Coachability Index

 

Not all people are ready to be coached at a particular point in their lives. Others may not be coachable at all. If we try to coach a client who is not ready, it could negatively impact our coaching skills and in turn our confidence as a coach.

 

The Coachability Index is a simple tool that can be administered on the potential client to make sure they are coachable.

The Coachability Index is forced choice questions on the following parameters:

 

• Learnability: A measure of the willingness to learn, unlearn and relearn.
• Changeability: A measure of the willingness to change mindset and habits.
• Believability: A measure of how much one believes in himself and his coach.
• Abortability: A measure of how much one is willing to give up solutions that do not work and replace with them alternatives.

 

The Coachability Index is deliberately designed as forced choice so the outcome will be that the client is either coachable or not coachable at the time the test is taken.

 

The questionnaire below is in order of Learnability, Changeability, Believability and Abortability. It is important to mingle them when administering the test.

 

1. I am open to learning new things.
2. I am afraid of learning new things.
3. I believe in the statement: Learning makes one thrive.
4. I am willing to do things differently.
5. Doing things in rote fashion bores me.
6. I am willing to give up existing learnings for new ones.
7. I remove my filters when evaluating my coach.
8. Trusting someone is natural to me.
9. I will trust someone for my own learning and development.
10. After investment of time in developing a solution, if it does not work I am willing to abandon it.
11. One must not change a developed solution unless proven useless after long time.
12. If a developed solution does not work one must work hard to make the solution workable.

 

More than simple arithmetic, focusing on these questions in qualitative manner and providing feedback to the potential coachee would help them to focus where they should focus. When coaches measure The Coachability Index, it enhances the credibility of coaching profession.

 

Also, coaching requires the commitment of all the people involved and measuring The Coachability Index is a starting point worth investing in.

 

And last “coaching for getting coached” could be new area for coaches to focus.

R.R. Krishna has about 30 years of work experience, in Human Resources spanning different industries. He is a PCC, – ICF, RPCC – RCS, CMC – BCI/ICC and a CPC from Fowler International Academy and Executive Masters in Neuro Leadership with 15 years of coaching experience and also member of International Association of Coaching, Asia Pacific alliance of coaches and Association of Coaching. Find more about Krishna at www.rrkrishna.com.