How To Elicit Executive Clients’ Strengths And Value Propositions
Expert Panel®
Forbes Councils Member
Forbes Coaches Council
Dec 13, 2024,08:15am EST
As a coach, your ability to help executive clients uncover their core strengths and unique value propositions is crucial to their success—and yours. This work requires insight, subtlety and a deep understanding of how to facilitate self-discovery.
Below, 19 Forbes Coaches Council members share effective methods for drawing these critical insights out of clients in ways that feel organic and empowering. By fostering trust, asking the right questions and listening deeply, a talented coach can help a client gain clarity into exactly what they bring to the table as a leader.
1. Compare Personal Habits And Professional Behaviors
As an executive coach, I guide clients to compare their personal habits with their professional behaviors. This reflection reveals core strengths and gaps, helping them align their authentic values with their leadership style. It’s about uncovering their unique value through self-awareness and consistency. - Victoria Vitchenco, Victoria Vitchenco
2. Listen To Your Client’s Self-Reflection First
Before I begin to ask questions or offer assessments, I like to listen. At this point in their careers, these people already have some sense of themselves, their strengths and value propositions. What I listen for is where they may be over- or under-relying on them and/or where they might need to update their application in today’s VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world. We go deep from there. - Laura Vanderberg, Newton Services
3. Understand Your Client’s Superpowers
I have an interesting perspective in that I come from the recruitment aspect. It’s my job to understand people’s superpowers, what they excel in and what drives them, and then align them to companies in which they will flourish. It’s important to understand both our client’s needs, gaps and strengths and those of the individuals we place to allow them both to shine and complement one another’s paths. - Susan Bortone, Noble Talent Group
4. Analyze Previous Successes To Guide Future Ones
I ask my clients about a peak experience they had in their lives—what they were doing, who they were with (if anyone) and what impact they had—as well as a series of questions to uncover who they’re being when they’re connected to their highest selves. With those answers in mind, we work as partners to decipher what makes them come alive and how they want to relate to others or express themselves. - Rosie Guagliardo, InnerBrilliance Coaching
5. Promote Personality Audits With Trusted Colleagues
I ask clients to conduct a personality audit by asking three or more trusted, candid colleagues, “How did you feel about me when we first met? What do you feel now?” and, “What three words describe me?” The responses can be surprising and insightful. With such intel, we can address issues that make us unrelatable—and learn what hidden, natural and compelling strengths we display among people we trust. - Michele Moreno, Strategic Talks
6. Distill Clients’ Strengths Through Targeted Questioning
To uncover executive clients’ core strengths and unique values, I delve into their backgrounds, key challenges and accomplishments while focusing on qualities like resilience, vision and people-centered leadership. Through targeted, introspective questioning, we distill their strengths to align with specific needs. This approach highlights what they do, why it matters and what sets them apart. - Shaz Shafiq, Transform Learning Academy Limited
7. Analyze Recent Assessments And 360-Degree Feedback
In my coaching practice, I often ask clients to share assessments and 360-degree feedback they’ve received in the past two years. By synthesizing this data and formulating reflective questions based on the emerging patterns, I can help them further refine and explore key areas of strength and unique value. - Chelese Perry, The Chelese Perry Group
8. Ask The ‘Five Whys’ To Dig Deeper
I like to ask my clients about what drives them, and then I dig deeper using the “five whys.” The answers are not always obvious to my clients, so getting them to reflect and think more deeply is how I can really uncover the finer details. - Brianna Jackson, Sonas
9. Ask Clients To View Their Career As A Narrative
I guide clients through self-discovery beyond surface achievements, using strategic questions to reflect on pivotal career moments—challenges, meaningful achievements and impactful feedback they’ve received. I ask them to view their career as a narrative that an outsider would find compelling. This often brings out unrecognized strengths and a unique value they hadn’t realized set them apart. - Lorie Pointer, Lorie Pointer Coaching
10. Listen To Reflections To Find Clients’ Value Proposition
I focus on listening and questioning. I want to hear from my clients the stories and the accomplishments they have experienced and achieved, and then their reflections on the abilities and skills they used to do that—and, as a complement, the appropriate assessment. Then, we work together to verbalize and visualize what their value proposition is and who the perfect recipient of their abilities would be. - Christine Alvarez, Your Next Next
11. Do Scenario-Based Exercises To Align Strengths And Aspirations
I help clients uncover core strengths by guiding reflective self-assessments, gathering external feedback and analyzing their leadership in action. We align their strengths with their aspirations through scenario-based exercises, creating a clear value proposition. By envisioning their legacy and crafting action plans, they gain clarity, confidence and the ability to lead with impact. - Mick Hunt, Mick Unplugged
12. Help Clients Recognize Their ‘Zone Of Genius’
Counterintuitively, the things that make us mad are often a bright arrow pointing to our areas of strength. Executives bothered by incompetence or angry that others aren’t as capable in certain areas are often overlooking their own strengths. Recognizing that their attention to this “zone of genius” is about their own skill—not what others lack—creates a mindset shift toward owning one’s strengths. - Jessica Hartung, Treelight Leadership
13. Ask Clients To Imagine Things Said At Their Retirement
Here’s an exercise I created with Dr. Jim Loehr that I use every time to unlock value and meaning: Insist your client pretend that it’s their retirement party. Their spouse, child, neighbor and client will be taking the mic. What do they aspire for each of them to say? In their response, you will find your answers. Help them build habits to make their personal constitution come alive. - Dr. John L. Evans, Jr., Evans&Evans Consulting
14. Talk About Times Clients Have Been At Their Very Best
I help a lot of my executive clients follow their bliss and talk about the times when they’ve been at their very best. It’s crucial to identify and talk about moments when executive leaders absolutely enjoyed doing their work, felt exhilarated, had positive, memorable experiences and were most engaged in their craft. These often give you useful clues about a leader’s core strengths and values. - Vinesh Sukumaran, Vinesh Sukumaran Consulting
15. Encourage Clients To Move Outside Their Comfort Zone
Most executives have a “killer app” that helped them get to the top—and now is the time to stop relying on that. It’s often an overused strength. A CEO who climbed the career ladder in sales needs to stop being the CRO and start doing the things that only the CEO can and must do—think strategy and vision work. If it feels out of their comfort zone, they’re probably doing the right things. - Bill Koch, Bill Koch Leadership Coaching
16. Ask Clients To Reflect On How Others Perceive Them
To quickly gauge core strengths and values, I ask my executive clients, “If I met your colleagues at the pub and asked them to describe you in three words, what would they say? And what three words would you want them to use six months from now?” This inquiry sparks a deeper discussion about personal values and spotlights the leadership qualities they want to develop during the coaching program. - Gabriella Goddard, Brainsparker Ltd
17. Foster Trust And Candor; Reflect On Existential Questions
It starts with self-awareness, and I like to focus on fostering a coaching environment of trust and candor, encouraging clients to reflect deeply on existential questions like, “What impact and influence do you want to be known for?” and others that best reflect their core. Feedback enriches this process, and by aligning patterns with outcomes, congruency between aspirations and action is achieved. - Dr. Flo Falayi, Korn Ferry
18. Dig Into ‘So What?’ And Reverse Engineer Top Strengths
Beyond assessments and interviews, I do a desired leadership brand exercise. By digging into the “so what?” of each descriptor and what it looks like in action, they notice the business value that they deliver and how. Second, we reverse engineer their top strengths to draw out their unique approach to consistently delivering great results. All of this helps them proactively teach others. - Neena Newberry, Newberry Solutions
19. Use CliftonStrengths To Articulate Core Talents
I use the statistically valid CliftonStrengths assessment to help clients uncover and articulate their core talents. They gain confidence and self-awareness by recognizing their unique strengths profile—such as Relating, Influencing, Executing or Thinking. This clarity empowers them to craft authentic stories that communicate their “why” and align with roles where they can maximize their impact. - Gina Riley, Gina Riley Consulting
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