Clarify the values your coaching practice stands for, with a structured worksheet coaches use to define principles that guide messaging and decisions.
Your practice values shape every decision you make, from who you take on as a client to how you price your work. This worksheet is a way to make those values explicit.
A coach notices that she takes on clients who don't fit her best work, discounts her rate in ways she can't always explain, and says yes to requests that leave her feeling overextended. She attributes this to 'people-pleasing' but hasn't examined what operational values clarification would change.
Name the mechanism before starting the worksheet. 'Inconsistent decisions usually mean the values behind the decisions are implicit rather than explicit. When you don't have a written standard for which clients to take on, each decision gets made fresh - and fresh decisions are vulnerable to the pressure in the room. The worksheet makes the standard explicit so the decision is made in advance.' Have her start with the non-negotiable values section and name specifically why each is non-negotiable - the 'why' is often more operationally useful than the value name itself.
Watch whether her business values list contains aspiration rather than description - values she would like her practice to embody rather than ones that currently guide her decisions. Ask for each value: 'In the last month, when did this value show up in a decision you made?' If she can't name a specific instance, the value is currently aspirational. Both categories belong in the worksheet, but they are different types of entries.
After completing the Mission-Values Link section, ask her to identify the decision from the past three months that she is most uncertain was the right one. Then: 'Which value - if you had weighted it more heavily - would have pointed you to a different choice?' That exercise closes the gap between the worksheet as a document and the worksheet as a decision tool she will actually use.
If the coach identifies a tension between a personal value she holds strongly and the client profile her practice is currently attracting, don't paper over the gap. Severity: low to moderate. A values-client mismatch is often at the root of the inconsistency she is noticing. Name it: 'What would your client roster look like if it fully reflected this value? How does that compare to where you are now?'
A coach with a growing practice has decided to bring on a subcontractor for overflow clients. She has a candidate in mind but hasn't thought through what standards she is hiring against. Her instinct is that the candidate 'feels right' but she can't articulate what that means.
Use the worksheet to generate the hiring criteria before the decision is made. 'Hiring against instinct is fine when it is supported by explicit criteria. The team values section asks you to name not just the values but the behaviors that would signal misalignment - and those behavioral signals are the ones you can actually observe in a hiring process.' Have her complete the business values section first, then work backward into the team values section as a translation of those into observable behaviors.
Watch whether the team values she identifies are primarily about skills and competencies rather than values. Skills and values are both important in hiring but they are different things. 'Strong coaching presence' is a skill description. 'Doesn't talk about clients in ways that compromise their dignity' is a values-aligned behavior description. The worksheet is built for the latter. If she writes only skill-based criteria, ask what values those skills serve.
After completing the team values section, ask: 'If this candidate fully embodied all five of these values but had a skill gap in one area of coaching, would you still hire them?' The answer tells you how she actually weights values versus competency - and that calibration affects how she will manage and evaluate the subcontractor once they're in.
If the coach is making the hiring decision this week and hasn't yet thought through values alignment at all, completing the entire worksheet before the hire is the right move. Severity: moderate. Subcontractors who work with her clients create reputational exposure. A hire made on instinct that later creates a client-facing problem is significantly harder to recover from than taking two more weeks to clarify the hiring standard.
A coach working with a web designer has been asked to describe her practice values for an About page. She has written 'integrity, growth, and authenticity' - standard language that she knows doesn't actually differentiate her or describe how she works. The designer has pushed back and asked for something more specific.
Use the web copy gap as an entry point for the deeper work. 'The problem you are experiencing with the About page is a documentation problem, not a writing problem. When you don't know what your practice stands for at an operational level, any language you use will feel generic - because it is. Complete the worksheet first, then the About page language will follow from your answers rather than having to be invented.' Have her start with the business values section and test each value against a real client decision.
Watch whether she works through the worksheet quickly to get to the writing she wants to do. The purpose of completing it before writing is that the writing should be constrained by and grounded in specific decisions and behaviors, not produced as a parallel exercise. If she rushes through the 'how each value shows up in practice' column, the resulting copy will still be generic. Slow that section down.
After completing the worksheet, ask her to pick the one value that she believes most differentiates her practice from other coaches she respects. 'What do you do specifically because of this value that another good coach might not do?' That answer - the specific behavior that flows from the specific value - is the raw material for an About page that doesn't sound like every other coach's.
If the coach's values list at the end of the worksheet still sounds interchangeable with any professional service provider ('integrity, excellence, client focus'), the issue is probably not values but niche. Severity: low. Coaches who haven't yet made specific decisions about their client type and method often have values that are too general to differentiate. The values clarification work may need to follow, not precede, a niche decision.
A coach is scattered across too many priorities and needs a structured way to identify their highest-leverage focus areas
Coach BusinessA coach wants to map their business journey from start to now to identify pivotal decisions, turning points, and future direction
Coach BusinessA coach who is busy but not building toward anything clearly defined
