Climbing the Mountain: Self Evaluation Tips that Lead to Higher Performance

Coaching Evaluation Strategies

Creating a thriving coaching practice requires diving into what we call the Ascend Framework, also known as the 7 As. Each A represents a strand that wraps around and interplays with the other strands to make a strong rope that can lift anyone into a thriving coaching practice. The stronger each strand is, the stronger your coaching practice.  

Consider each of the 7As as self-evaluation tips: 

• Ability: Your capacity to serve clients powerfully in cultivating their agency and character.
• Accessibility: Your proximity to the types of people you desire to serve powerfully. 
• Authority: Whether others perceive you as being able to serve them powerfully.
• Attitude: The practice of staying in a resourceful place with a bias towards action. 
• Action: Making bold commitments and taking proactive steps to create your ideal practice. 
• Accidents: Seeing randomness as a gift, creating from it and leveraging it to your advantage.
• Assistance: Asking for help and developing support teams (assistants, mentors, colleagues, etc.) 

Let’s explore each of these seven coaching evaluation strategies in greater detail.

The Dominant Strands

The dominant strands provide the DNA that directs your professional coaching path. But unlike your physical body, this DNA can be improved upon, modified, and made stronger through your willingness to engage in an in-depth coaching evaluation practice.

Ability Dominant Strand

The ability dominant strand provides a solid foundation to cultivate talents. Follow these self-evaluation tips for ensuring you’re doing all you can.

• Can you serve someone powerfully in a meta-performing way that makes clients say, “you changed my life,” and drives them to refer you to other ideal clients? 
• Can you manage a pipeline? 
• Do your intake calls make someone want to sacrifice the resources you charge to create your ideal income with your ideal clients? 
• Have you mastered the meta performance loop and can lead anyone through it in a way that produces and expands results for your clients? 
• Can you think beyond ideal clients to include cultures, communities, and sandboxes? 
• Can you successfully promote other coaches and create sandboxes that create work for yourself and others? 
• Can you write persuasively and with excellence in a way that makes others want to hire you? 
• Can you speak publicly for whatever length of time in a way that inspires, challenges, and motivates people to want to hire you? 
• Can you coach multiple people at a time for long durations of time in ways that leave them creating and expanding results over time? 

In your coaching evaluation of this strand, what strengths have you identified? What opportunities are presenting themselves?

Accessibility Dominant Strand

The accessibility dominant strand helps you visualize your desired future and the steps you need to take to achieve those outcomes. Reflect on these self-evaluation tips and consider your answers. 

• What is the average annual salary of the closest 100 people in your life? 
• What kind of cars do they drive?  
• What types of houses do they have? 
• What industries are they in? 
• What networking/business groups are you involved with? 
• How much time do you spend around people who are ideal clients or close to ideal clients? 
• Who do you vacation with? 
• Do you get invited to or attend events with people who are ideal clients or who know ideal clients? 
• Do you create videos, podcasts, blog articles, or other resources designed for your ideal clients and share them through channels that your ideal clients value? 

As you undertake your coaching evaluation of this strand, how do you rate your thinking? Are today’s actions aligned with future goals?

Authority Dominant Strand

The authority dominant strand helps you to take account of your professional presence. Critically review these self-evaluation tips and take note of where additional effort is required.

• When people Google you, what information appears? 
• Does your website sell what you do with excellence and is exciting to your ideal clients? 
• Do you have endorsements/testimonials in writing or video that are persuasive to ideal clients? 
• Is your social media compelling and enticing to your ideal clients? Is there anything that would make an ideal client say, “this person doesn’t get me,” or “I wouldn’t hire this person,” or “this person can’t hang at my level”?
• When 100 people closest to you describe you, is it precisely how you would want them to represent you to an ideal client? (i.e., what keywords do they use, and are they the exact words that would prompt a potential client to want to talk with you?) 
• Do you dress, behave, live, and have a video background for virtual meetings that’s attractive to your ideal client? 

What information did your coaching evaluation of this strand reveal? What are some actionable items you can take right away?

The Supplement Strands

Like a nutritional supplement that keeps us in optimal physical health, the supplement strands reinforces our abilities to perform at high levels.

Attitude Supplement Strand

Cultivating the attitude supplement strand helps foster resilience and an active presence in your life. Review these self-evaluation tips to see how strong you are in this area.

• Are you clear on your gaps and taking full responsibility for solving them in an ethical way that simultaneously helps others? 
• Are you excited about closing your gaps or feeling shame? 
• Are you willing to risk and sacrifice to close your gaps, more than you think it will take? 
• What are you ready to sacrifice? 

When you perform a coaching evaluation of this strand, what do you see? Are you completely committed to maintaining a positive, active attitude?

Action Supplement Strand 

Supporting the action supplement strand helps with optimizing your schedule to prioritize areas needing attention. Review these self-evaluation tips to ensure you’re maximizing your time.

• Does your weekly calendar have scheduled time to close any of the gaps? 
• What actions are you currently avoiding? 
• What have you tried recently that didn’t work? Do you have any good failures? 
• If someone looked at your calendar, could they tell what gaps you were trying to close? 
• What are the gaps, and what commitments/actions do you need to make to close them? 

After performing your coaching evaluation of this strand, what information have you uncovered? Are you giving yourself enough time to accomplish your goals?

The Complementary Strands

These final two areas complement the five previous strands, and your relationship with them can impact your ability to attain high-performance goals. Review these self-evaluation tips to gain insight into these critical areas.

Accidents

• Do you see randomness as a gift, creating from it and leveraging it in your life and practice?

Assistance

• Do you ask for help and create teams of support (assistants, mentors, or colleagues)? 

When you perform a coaching evaluation of this strand, what do you discover? Is your mindset and relationship with others aiding or detracting from high performance?

Coaching Evaluation Outcomes and Next Steps

Periodically assessing your relationship to the 7As can bring you closer to creating a thriving coaching practice. When you embrace these self-evaluation tips with a curious, open mind, you’ll be ready to flourish!

The Meta Performance™ Process strengthens your ability to explore individual capabilities and future goals and formulation action steps to achieve each vision. If you’re ready to make a dedicated commitment to continuous growth and exploration for yourself and your clients, contact us.