Four Faces

The Four Faces of Coaching is a practical self-assessment and conversation guide. It helps you recognize where you are confident and effective as a coach and where you may want to stretch, across a full range of coaching actions and strengths. 

• Leaders & Managers: Self-assess coaching tendencies and plan focused development.
• Facilitators & Coaches: Use the framework to structure feedback and development plans.
• Program / Project Teams: Include the questionnaire in journeys and workshops; debrief patterns.

• Expert (Wisdom): Provides clarity and breaks down complexity; sets high standards; shares knowledge and shows how to do things thoroughly.
• Challenger (Courage): Calls out blind spots, gives tough feedback, stretches thinking, and motivates improvement. 
• Counselor / Explorer (Respect): Listens deeply, helps people surface what’s really going on, and supports them to generate their own solutions. (Some BTS materials refer to this Face as “Explorer”.) 
• Supporter (Care): Builds confidence, notices potential, praises progress, empowers and trusts others to take on challenges. 

How to complete: For each statement, tick one box: Very Strong, Strong, Could Develop, or Must Develop. 

Scoring (updated): Assign 3 points to Very Strong, 2 to Strong, 1 to Could Develop, and 0 to Must Develop. Sum points for each Face, then rank the Faces from 1 (most dominant) to 4 (least natural).

Example indicators by Face:

• Expert: respected role model; explains clearly; briefs tasks thoroughly. 
• Challenger: addresses poor performance quickly; gives constructive negative feedback; helps people see bigger possibilities.
• Counselor/Explorer: people seek you for difficult issues; you’re comfortable with emotion; you help others find their own solutions.
• Supporter: builds confidence; praises readily; empowers and trusts others; finds stretching tasks for growth. 

1. Identify your dominant Face: Which Face do you favor most often?
2. Choose a development Face: Select one to strengthen that would positively impact your current coaching. 
3. Plan practice: Pair real conversations with the relevant prompt set (below) to build range across Faces. 

Use these prompts to intentionally shift your stance in-the-moment:

• Challenger (Courage): What are you avoiding or reluctant to face? What assumption might you be making? If you had to challenge the status quo, where would you start? What’s the cost of not addressing this now? 
• Counselor / Explorer (Respect): What feels unresolved or unspoken? If you set aside your usual lens, what new angle appears? What else could be true? What deeper opportunity might be here? 
• Expert (Wisdom): What do you most need clarity on? Would a framework help? What would success look like step-by-step? Where are the knowledge gaps? 
• Supporter (Care): What are you proud of in how you’re handling this? What strengths can you leverage? What small step would feel like progress today? How can I best champion you right now?

• Balance your stance: Over-reliance on one Face can limit growth—practice flexing to what the coachee and context need.
• Score is a signal, not a label: Use totals to guide development; validate with reflection and feedback. 
• Psychological safety: When using Challenger prompts, maintain care and respect to keep the conversation productive.