Coaching for Equity: Measuring What Matters

Key Takeaways

• Impact assessments help coaches and organizations move beyond satisfaction surveys to measure belonging, learning, behavior change, and lasting outcomes.
• Applying an equity lens to impact assessments helps reveal how different people experience coaching and identify opportunities to create more inclusive experiences.
• Effective impact assessments begin with thoughtful questions, participant trust, and a commitment to using feedback to drive substantive change.
• Small changes in how we measure impact can lead to more inclusive and effective coaching practices.

Coaching for Equity: Measuring What Matters

Your coaching program or event might receive excellent evaluations, but still leave people feeling like they don’t belong. That’s because positive and encouraging feedback only tells part of the story.

A participant can rate a coaching engagement or event highly and, at the same time, think their perspective wasn’t represented or that they are outsiders.

Traditional satisfaction surveys are a starting point for reflecting on what we deliver and how to adjust, but they often fall short of telling us who feels they are included or left out. Impact assessments take feedback a step further by helping us understand not only whether participants valued the experience, but who participated, how they experienced it, and what changed for them afterward.

Impact assessments also invite us to examine our own perspectives as coaches, program leaders, and organizations. The questions we ask — and how we interpret the answers — are influenced by our experiences, assumptions, and cultural lenses. Looking at assessment through an equity lens helps ensure we’re not simply confirming what we hope participants experienced, but that we’re also gaining a fuller understanding of how different people actually experienced the coaching relationship.

Applying Equity in Impact Assessments

Impact assessments help us understand whether our programs create an inclusive experience for everyone we serve. Looking through an equity lens goes beyond measuring satisfaction. Genuine evaluation asks whether participants felt a sense of belonging, whether diverse perspectives were represented, and whether coaching led to substantive change across a range of lived experiences. As an assistant professor at Clemson University and a coach myself, I think about how to move beyond someone saying, “This was great” to them really feeling that they belong and have gained insights that inspire change.

That shift is important for us to consider as individual coaches, ICF chapter leaders, and organizations with coaching cultures. 

You Don’t Need to Be a Data Scientist

Creating assessments can feel overwhelming. You may think: “I don’t have a research background,” or “I don’t want clients to feel like a data point.” But equitable assessment is about intentional curiosity and building a coaching relationship where clients feel fully seen.

Start simply by adding one or two questions to your intake forms using secure forms or survey tools.

Designing More Inclusive Surveys With the Kirkpatrick Model

For many of us, we think assessments begin and end with simple demographics and a simple question: “Did you like it?”

These “smile sheets” capture immediate reactions, but they’re only the first step in understanding whether our work is advancing equity and belonging. An equity lens also reminds us to interpret those responses thoughtfully, recognizing that different participants may experience the same program differently based on their identities, backgrounds, and contexts.

For deeper insights, we can draw on the Kirkpatrick Model, which offers a practical framework for examining coaching across multiple dimensions, including participants’ reactions, learning, behavior, and longer-term results. Applying these levels through an equity lens can help us understand how different participants experience each level and whether coaching creates comparable opportunities for learning, development, and growth across diverse clients. From this work, we can gain a better understanding of whether the coaching worked, who experienced meaningful growth, and where improvements may still be needed.

Level 1 – Reaction: This level evaluates how participants experienced the course, event, or coaching.

Use questions like:

• “How did you feel during this session?”
• “Did you feel included?”
• “Did you feel your perspective was reflected in our coaching conversations?”

Looking at responses across different participant experiences can reveal patterns that overall satisfaction scores alone may overlook.

Level 2 – Learning: At this level, you are seeking to understand what new insights, understanding, or shifts in perspective a participant experienced.

You may want to ask questions such as:

• “What new insight about yourself emerged through coaching?”
• “What assumption about equity, belonging, or leadership did this experience challenge?”

Level 3 – Behavior: Participants may leave inspired, but lasting impact occurs when they apply new insights in conversations, leadership decisions, team interactions, or daily habits.

Ask people what they are doing differently through questions like:

• “What have you done differently since our coaching, and what prompted that change?”

Level 4 – Results: At the highest level, you want to know about the greater impact on an organizational or business level.

Questions I like to ask are:

• “What changes have you observed in your work, team, or organization that you attribute, at least in part, to coaching?”
• “Have you noticed any changes in who feels able to contribute, lead, or advance on your team since this work began?”

For the strongest results, we need to ask at all four levels. This allows us to build a more complete picture of how our coaching, programs, and chapter events are impacting equity. As you review results, consider whose voices are represented in the feedback and whether different individuals or groups experienced similar outcomes. Equity-focused assessment is as much about thoughtful interpretation as it is about thoughtful question design.

5 Tips for Creating Impact Assessments With Equitable Questions

Designing impact assessments requires intentionality. The wording, structure, and context around your questions all influence whether people feel safe enough to answer honestly, and whether different identities and experiences are truly welcomed. These five tips can help you design stronger surveys.

1. Explain the why upfront. People are more likely to share candid feedback and demographic information when they understand why you’re asking and that the information collected will remain confidential. Add a short statement at the top of a form or section, such as:

“These questions are voluntary and confidential. We use this information to understand who we’re serving, how people are experiencing this space, and how we can make our programs and coaching more inclusive.”

2. Include questions that allow for self-identification and opt-out. Offer multiple options and free-text where appropriate to avoid forcing people into boxes that don’t fit. In multiple-choice questions, include options like “Prefer not to answer” and “Prefer to self-describe.”

For short answer questions, try: “What unique lived experiences, cultural perspectives, or personal circumstances do you feel are important for me to understand in order to best support you?”

3. Connect the questions to action. Equity-focused questions should lead to action. When people take the time to answer, they trust you to do something with their input.

Try building this into your assessment design by asking questions like: “What is one change we could make to help you feel a greater sense of belonging?” or  “What would make this coaching/chapter/program more accessible or inclusive for you?”

Periodically share, at an aggregate level, what you heard, describe what you’re changing based on the feedback, and express appreciation for the feedback that helped shape those decisions.

4. Be aware of global/legal nuances. Some countries restrict the collection of certain demographic data, especially for employees. Know local laws and tailor questions to what is legal, relevant, and necessary for your context.

5. Reflect on your own assumptions when interpreting results. Impact assessments don’t become equitable simply because we ask better questions. We also need to examine how our own experiences and perspectives shape the conclusions we draw. Reviewing feedback with curiosity rather than only seeking confirmation that a program succeeded can uncover opportunities for growth that might otherwise be missed. Before finalizing conclusions, ask: “Am I looking for what worked, and am I open to what didn’t?”

Start Small, Stay Curious, and Let Equity Guide Your Questions

Every impact assessment is an opportunity to learn something about the people we serve beyond whether they enjoyed the experience. Good questions help us understand whether people felt included, experienced a sense of belonging, grew in lasting ways, and left better prepared to achieve their goals. Those insights help us improve our coaching, strengthen our programs, and create spaces where more people can thrive. 

We don’t have to redesign every survey overnight. Start by asking a better question. Pay attention to what you learn, make one substantive change, and continue building from there. Over time, small improvements in how we measure impact can lead to significant improvements in how people experience coaching.