What does it mean to give feedback to your clients in a coaching session? It's about telling them the truth.
Are your clients able to move toward the goal smoothly? If not, how far are they from their target, or their intended path? A coach's feedback is an important road sign for the clients to move toward their goal.
In essence, the coach's intention is to help the client achieve their goal. If we look at it from this perspective, getting feedback from clients on how the sessions were effective is perhaps an important way for the coaches to interact with the clients.
The Coaching Research Institute studied how coaches seeking feedback from clients was related to the "coach's interactions" and "coaching effectiveness". In this study, we learned that by seeking feedback themselves, coaches were more effective in helping the clients achieve their own goals.
We asked 854 clients to complete a survey regarding the coaching they received from their coaches. We then divided them into two groups and compared their scores in the categories of "coach's interaction with clients" and "coaching effectiveness".
Group A : Clients who felt coaches asked for more feedback from them.
Group B : Clients who felt coaches asked for less feedback from them.
Table 1 shows the comparison of Group A and Group B in the "coach's interaction" category.
| Coach's interaction with clients | Average score | Gap [ A-B ] |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group A (n=412) |
Group B (n=442) |
|||
| Support for goal achievement | The coach regularly made time to coach me. | 6.2 | 5.3 | 0.9 |
| Acknowledgement | The coach acknowledged the actions I took toward achieving my goals. | 6.2 | 5.3 | 0.9 |
| Questions | The coach asked me questions that were thought-provoking. | 6.3 | 5.4 | 0.9 |
| The coach asked questions that helped me gain new perspectives. | 6.1 | 5.2 | 0.8 | |
Group A: The clients' evaluation on "the coach asks me for feedback regarding his/her coaching" was higher than the average.
Group B: The clients' evaluation on "the coach asks me for feedback regarding his/her coaching" was lower than the average.
n=854
7-point scoring scale (1.Completely disagree~ 7.Completely agree)
Coaching Research Institute, 2016
Group A, clients who had coaches that asked for more feedback, were rated higher compared to Group B in items such as "support for goal achievement", "acknowledgement", and "questions". This means that these types of interactions from the coach were considered useful for the clients. More importantly, the data showed coaches getting feedback from their clients can also further enhance the interaction with them.
Table 2 shows the comparison of Group A and Group B in the "coaching effectiveness" category.
| Coaching Effectiveness | Average score | Gap [ A-B ] |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group A (n=412) |
Group B (n=442) |
|||
| Clearer goals | My goals and direction became clearer as a result of coaching. | 6.0 | 5.3 | 0.7 |
| Proactive actions | I took actions proactively as a result of coaching. | 5.9 | 5.2 | 0.7 |
| New awareness | I discovered new awareness as a result of coaching. | 6.1 | 5.3 | 0.8 |
| Positive influence in work | Coaching has been a positive influence in my work. | 6.0 | 5.3 | 0.7 |
Group A: The clients' evaluation on "the coach asks me for feedback regarding his/her coaching" was higher than the average.
Group B: The clients' evaluation on "the coach asks me for feedback regarding his/her coaching" was lower than the average.
n=854
7-point scoring scale (1.Completely disagree~ 7.Completely agree)
Coaching Research Institute, 2016
Clients from Group A felt the effects from coaching more than those from Group B, particularly in items such as "clearer goals", "proactive actions", "new awareness" and "positive influence in work". From this data, we can conclude that clients whose coaches asked for feedback more often felt that the coaching was effective in terms of goal achievement.
For a more effective coaching experience, remember to think of how you interact with your clients and ask them regularly for feedback.
Research overview
No. of samples : 854 clients who received coaching
Period : April 2015 - January 2016
Survey method : Online survey after coaching was completed
Survey tool : D-meter (categories include "coach's interaction with clients" and "coaching effectiveness", 7-point scoring scale)
