Coach tools based on Florence Lamy & Michel Moral
Essential Methods for Individual, Team, and Organizational Growth
Coaching has experienced a remarkable expansion in France since the early 1980s. Today, more than 150 books have been published on the subject, offering models, techniques, and practical guidance for both new and experienced coaches.
This guide highlights some of the most powerful tools for coaching, showing how they can be used in individual sessions, team development, and organizational transformation.
Why Coaching Tools Matter
The effectiveness of coaching is not only determined by the tools themselves. Research shows that:
Coaching tools represent about 10% of the impact on outcomes.
The quality of the relationship between coach and client accounts for around 25%.
The largest component of change comes from the client themselves—their readiness, commitment, and openness.
Thus, tools should be seen as catalysts. When well-chosen and well-used, they accelerate awareness, strengthen motivation, and structure progress.
Main Approaches and Tools in Coaching
1. Coaching by Psychological Orientation
Psychoanalytic coaching: main tool is interpretation, designed to create deep awareness.
Cognitive coaching: relies on explicitation, helping clients reframe limiting beliefs and relearn adaptive behaviors. To know more
Humanistic coaching: focuses on emotional triggers to unlock personal potential.
Systemic coaching: emphasizes reflection, reframing, and metacommunication within the systems where the client evolves.
2. Category-Based Tools (Personality & Psychometrics)
These tools classify individuals into categories or profiles, often used in personal development and organizational contexts:
DSM-IV: helps identify difficult personality traits or psychiatric issues.
MBTI: classifies people into 16 personality types based on preferences (introversion/extraversion, sensing/intuition, thinking/feeling, judging/perceiving). To know more
Eysenck’s EPI/EPQ-R, 16 PF, Big Five: assess core personality traits.
Transactional Analysis (TA): explores Parent-Adult-Child dynamics. To know more
Enneagram: a powerful tool for understanding psychodynamics, tolerance, and complexity. Our favorit tool
Process Communication (PCM): derived from TA, identifies communication breakdowns caused by stress. To know more
DSQ (Defense Style Questionnaire): reveals unconscious defense mechanisms.
3. Dimension-Based Tools (Diagrams and Profiles)
These tools focus on axes of behavior and cognition:
DISC: maps dominance, influence, steadiness, and compliance.
HBDI (Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument): explores analytical vs. creative thinking, and reptilian vs. limbic vs. cortical brain functions.
Personna (Carl Jung theory): measures needs such as recognition, belonging, competence, and security.
Tracom: evaluates assertiveness, expressiveness, and adaptability.
4. Management & Leadership Tools
The role of a manager is to ensure things are done. The role of a leader is to create the conditions where things can be done.
Over time, leadership approaches have evolved:
1940s: personality-based models.
1950s–60s: behavioral and situational models.
1980s: collective approaches (Kaizen, continuous improvement).
1990s: emotional intelligence.
2000s: relational and social intelligence.
Coaches use tools to assess a client’s natural leadership style, the demands of the situation, and the gap between the two. Common tools include:
360° feedback
Emotional Intelligence assessments
Social Intelligence measures
5. Analogical & Symbolic Tools
Symbolic approaches bypass rational defenses and stimulate creativity:
Photolangage (use of photos to trigger reflection)
Cards and metaphors
Objects or cubes for representation
6. Tools for Change
Designed to structure transformation processes, these include:
Dilts’ Logical Levels: from environment to behavior, beliefs, identity, and meaning.
Compass of the Future: visualizing and designing desired futures.
Systemic schemas: mapping interactions and interdependencies.
Eisenhower Matrix: prioritizing urgent vs. important tasks.
Equi-coaching: experiential learning with horses to mirror behavior and leadership.
7. Team Coaching Tools
For improving group dynamics and cooperation:
SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats).
Blue-Red game (prisoner’s dilemma).
Team operating mode diagnostics.
8. Organizational Coaching Tools
At the systemic level, these tools stimulate collective intelligence and cultural change:
Metaplan: visual facilitation for group problem-solving.
World Café: collaborative dialogue method.
OST (Open Space Technology): large-group self-organization to explore key challenges.
Conclusion
Coaching tools are not magic solutions. They are frameworks, maps, and catalysts that support growth. What truly transforms individuals and organizations is the relationship, the commitment of the coachee, and the art of the coach in selecting the right approach at the right moment.
Whether you are an individual seeking clarity, a team building stronger cooperation, or an organization navigating change, these tools—when applied with care—offer powerful pathways for transformation.
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