Using strength-based coaching for growth and success

What are strengths?

Coaches can use a strengths-based approach to support clients in flourishing and raising their awareness of where they can increase impact.  There are also many definitions of strengths, but what brings them together is a sense of activities or qualities that are both energising and something we are good at.

What’s even more powerful is that there is a lot of evidence and scientific research into strengths and their benefits. A study found that those who were aware of their strengths were nine times more likely to be flourishing versus those who were not (Hone et al., 2015).  

Supporting our clients towards positive outcomes is powerful, so it begs the question of how we can harness our strengths for ourselves and our clients.

How can we use them as coaches?  

This question has long permeated my mind since qualifying as a coach.   I was introduced to the strengths model of the world from Positive Psychology, which was brought to us by Martin Seligman and Christopher Peterson.  

While researching this further, I found the strengths model of the world particularly interesting. This model suggests looking at people’s character, skills, talents, and strengths, while the deficit model focuses on weaknesses.  

To bring this to life, we can understand it through a questioning approach. The strengths model asks, ‘What is possible when I am at my best?’, whilst the deficit model might ask, ‘What do you need to correct or improve to solve the problem at hand?’

Many of my clients have tried the strength model question. The client can answer the question for themselves and also ask it to people whom they respect and trust. It’s a great way to get feedback on strengths and also see any patterns around strengths that others see in our clients that they may not be aware of themselves.

Start with strengths identification using a strengths interview

The first obvious place to start is identifying strengths for ourselves and our clients. The client’s language and own definitions are key, and so the word strengths might seem like jargon.  

It can be great to have conversations initially with clients to bring forth strengths in their own language, and this can be done with what’s called a strengths interview.

A strengths interview is a series of questions you can run through with clients, friends and family too, to generate a conversation where strengths are brought to the surface.  

In a coach-client relationship, the coach has a set of questions to ask and is invited to listen and not interrupt while the client answers them.

Here are some example questions that you may want to use if conducting a Strengths Identification Interview:-

• What do you enjoy doing the most?
• What brings out the best in you?
• What are you proud of?
• Tell me about a time when you think you were at your best.
• What makes you feel you are being your authentic self?
• If anything was possible, what would you do?

There are many more potential variations, but this gives a flavour of the questions asked. They are less overt than simply asking someone what their strengths are.    The next step is for the Coach to ask the Client, “When you were speaking just now, what strengths (or an identified client term) did you see in yourself?”

The Coach would then follow up by asking permission to share observations of strengths they can see.

Strengths assessment as a tool

The interview is a great place to start.  However, if you want to take it further, then the next step in this journey would be trying a formal strengths assessment.  

Strength assessments are tools designed to help individuals identify their core strengths, virtues, and abilities. Many are available, and some of the most popular with many data points include the VIA survey, Gallup StrengthsFinder, and Cappfinity Strengths Profile.  

Strength assessments define sets of strengths that we see naturally occurring in people across time.

Strengths coaching

So, how can we introduce this approach in the coaching conversation? We can use strengths in all aspects of our coaching, particularly in the questions we ask.

One of the core pillars of coaching is self-awareness. From the discovery stage, we can begin to ask questions that help our clients understand themselves at their best. We can also use the strengths interview questions during the intake session or in an intake questionnaire, for example.

It’s also possible to reflect strengths-based questions at each stage of GROW.  

• G: Strength Focused Questions

In the GOAL setting part of GROW, one might explore what the goal looks like when they are at their best or most energised. Or “If you were at your best, how would you approach this goal/challenge/outcome?”

• R: Strength Focused Questions

Reality helps clients consider their existing capabilities, resources, and past successes and invites questions like, "Tell me about a time when you did X and received positive feedback." Or “What strengths have helped you navigate similar situations in the past?”  

• O: Strength Focused Questions

In Options, we might invite our clients to consider the strengths they have highlighted and what options would be possible with these in mind.   “What strengths could you lean into that would give you other ideas to move forward?” or “If you had unlimited confidence in your strengths, what would you try?”

• W: Strength Focused Questions

Similarly, for Way Forward, we can invite clients to understand what action or commitment-making could look like with their recognised strengths.  “How can you build on your strengths to commit to an action plan? Or “Who in your network recognises your strengths and can support you?”

These questions encourage self-awareness, confidence, and a strengths-focused mindset, helping clients move forward with optimism and resourcefulness.

Ultimately, adding a strengths focus to your coaching toolkit is an opportunity to increase resourcefulness for your clients and yourself. The possibilities are endless.  

So, my challenge to you, whether you are a seasoned coach, a coach in training, or someone thinking about coaching as a career, is: “What’s possible for you as a coach when you’re at your best?””

If you missed Tashan's Coaching Conversations discussion on with our Head of Training, Sharon Lawton, you can watch the replay on The Coaching Academy's YouTube Channel here.

About Tashan

Tashan Nicholas is a Coaching Academy Graduate and an associate certified coach (ACC) with the International Coaching Federation.  He is a Leadership Coach, an adept facilitator, speaker and an award-winning marketer.  In 2021, recognising the need to empower others from underserved backgrounds, Tashan founded RELYTE, a talent development company that harnesses evidence-based techniques and coaching to support organisations and community leaders in developing talent in a way that stimulates both high performance and well-being.