Part IV: Using the Results

Giving Feedback

Identify Your Role

During the feedback preparation process it is important for you to consider your client’s profile in the context of other information you have about him or her (e.g., other assessment results, interviews, performance reviews). Combining this information can help you generate relevant and meaningful questions for the feedback session, ensuring the client receives an optimal experience.
You can adopt any one of a number of styles for delivering feedback. This choice will reflect your comfort with the assessment, knowledge of the client, the assessment’s results, and the goals and objectives of the feedback process. The EQ-i 2.0 and EQ 360 2.0 are compatible with a variety of coaching styles. The following examples are listed as possibilities for providing feedback and have been shown to be effective. For a more detailed explanation and for implementation strategies, please refer to Coaching Fundamentals.

  1. The EQ-i 2.0 Model Approach. Perhaps the most straightforward approach to feedback, the EQ-i 2.0 Model Approach, follows the hierarchical model of the EQ-i 2.0 with discussions of the Total Score, followed by each composite scale, and then each of the subscales. Generally this approach is effective and, for the novice user, provides a simple and cohesive structure for feedback.
  2. Client-Centered Approach: An effective alternative to the EQ-i 2.0 Model Approach is to focus on the client’s strengths. The client-centered approach is particularly effective in situations where unexpectedly low scores are reported. Emphasizing strengths can take the sting out of lower scores while helping to keep the client open to new ideas and possibilities. Establishing early successes may help create a level of comfort that promotes openness and allows the feedback process to progress to the areas with the greatest opportunity for the client’s development.
  3. Narrative Approach. The Narrative Approach, while highly effective, requires an astute understanding of the EQ-i 2.0 and of the implications of the interconnectedness among subscales. It often helps to begin by asking the client to provide two or three relevant examples describing recent successes or difficulties, and to explain how those situations were handled. The role of the coach during this type of feedback is to draw explicit connections between the results of the EQ-i 2.0 and the EQ 360 Additional Informationexperiences of the client. This approach can often feel unstructured; the onus rests on the consultant to connect each example back to the client’s results. Some, especially those high in Impulse Control and low in Flexibility, may not appreciate the organic nature of this approach.