Using the card during the coaching session

 

During the coaching process, we use the Scale quite often. Most regularly it appears when the client is identifying their goals at the very initial phase. Here the coach is guiding the client to point out the coaching objective and try to measure in a 1 to 10 range, how close is the desired outcome at the moment.

 

The model:

To grasp a subjective measurement, we are using a Scale. The coach card can be easily used throughout the coaching session to express improvement and progress, and also to define trust and belief.

Identifying the desired goal, the client comes up with a general objective related to the subject. Moving along the SMART model, the coach helps to specify that goal by asking adequate questions.

Using the Scale, the development expert is there to support the client to determine what the two end points of the scale - 1 and 10 - mean to them. How they describe a person who is mastering the skill they are trying to develop and how do they see the lowest number on the Scale.
After that, the client has to mark the point on the Scale where they think they are at the moment judging their own skills. The coach then guides them to decide, what level on the Scale should serve as the desired outcome, also from the starting point, how long would it take to reach the next level.

 

Source: Paul Z Jackson and Mark McKergow, The Solutions Focus: Making Coaching and Change SIMPLE, Nicholas Brealey Publishing, second edition (2006)