Best Coaching Assessments for Motivation and Strengths
What Coaching Assessments Are Best for Understanding Motivation and Strengths for Christian Clients?
Quick Takeaway:
The best coaching assessments for understanding motivation and strengths among Christian clients are CliftonStrengths, DISC, MBTI, VIA Character Strengths, Enneagram, and Motivation Code. Each reveals different layers of personality, behavior, and God-given design—helping clients live with greater purpose, alignment, and freedom.
Below, each assessment is explained through a simple question-and-answer format to help you choose the right one for your journey.
What Is the CliftonStrengths Assessment and Why Is It Valuable?
Summary: CliftonStrengths identifies your top natural talents so you can develop them into strengths.
Details:
Formerly known as StrengthsFinder, this tool highlights 34 themes that describe how you naturally think, feel, and behave. It helps clients focus on what’s right with them rather than what’s wrong.
In Christian coaching, this aligns with the biblical call to steward your gifts (1 Peter 4:10). Recognizing your God-given strengths can help you serve others more effectively and find deep satisfaction in your work and relationships.
How Does the DISC Assessment Help Reveal Motivation?
Summary: DISC helps you understand behavior styles and what drives your interactions with others.
Details:
The DISC Assessment groups behavior into four areas: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. It’s especially helpful for understanding how you communicate, lead, and respond to stress.
For Christian clients, DISC can improve relationships in families, ministries, and workplaces by showing how different personalities reflect unique parts of God’s image.
What Insights Does the MBTI Provide?
Summary: MBTI helps explain how you perceive the world and make decisions based on personality preferences.
Details:
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) explores four key dimensions—how you gain energy, gather information, make decisions, and approach life.
In a faith context, MBTI encourages empathy and patience with others, helping you understand that God uses diverse personalities to fulfill His purposes within the body of Christ (Romans 12:4–6).
How Does the VIA Character Strengths Assessment Support Spiritual Growth?
Summary: VIA helps identify your core virtues and character strengths that promote well-being and spiritual maturity.
Details:
The Values in Action (VIA) assessment measures 24 strengths such as love, gratitude, kindness, and perseverance—virtues that mirror biblical character traits.
For Christian clients, it bridges faith and psychology, reinforcing how cultivating virtues aligns with living a Christlike life and fostering emotional resilience.
Why Is the Enneagram So Popular Among Christian Coaches?
Summary: The Enneagram helps uncover the deeper motivations, fears, and desires that shape your behavior.
Details:
Unlike other assessments that focus on personality or behavior, the Enneagram explores the inner motives driving outward actions. Its nine types reveal how people seek love, belonging, and safety in different ways.
Used wisely, the Enneagram can illuminate where false beliefs or coping patterns may hinder intimacy with God—inviting transformation through truth and grace.
What Makes the Motivation Code (MCode) Unique?
Summary: MCode focuses specifically on what energizes you—your internal “why.”
Details:
The Motivation Code identifies your top motivational themes, revealing what brings fulfillment and engagement in your daily life.
In Christian coaching, it clarifies calling and purpose—showing how God has wired you for particular kinds of work, service, and contribution. When your actions align with your motivations, joy and fruitfulness follow.
How Do I Choose the Right Assessment for My Coaching Goals?
Summary: The right tool depends on what you want to discover—talent, behavior, values, motivation, or calling.
Details:
Here’s a quick guide:
For talents: CliftonStrengths
For communication and teamwork: DISC
For decision-making and perspective: MBTI
For character development: VIA
For spiritual and emotional growth: Enneagram
For purpose and drive: Motivation Code
Used together in a coaching relationship, these assessments form a holistic picture of who you are—mind, heart, and spirit—and how to live out your design with clarity and confidence.
Can These Tools Be Integrated with Faith?
Summary: Yes. Each tool can be used within a biblical framework that honors God’s design.
Details:
When paired with Scripture, prayer, and reflection, these assessments go beyond self-awareness—they become tools for spiritual formation. The goal isn’t just to “know yourself,” but to align your strengths and motivations with God’s calling and live as a faithful steward of His gifts.
Next Step: Discover Your God-Given Design
At Balanced Coaching, I integrate assessments like CliftonStrengths, Motivation Code, and the Enneagram within a Christ-centered framework. Together, we uncover your strengths, motivations, and purpose—helping you live fully into who God created you to be.
Schedule a free discovery session to begin your journey.
Author:
Dr. Justin Tilghman, Christian Life and Mindset Coach
Dr. Tilghman helps individuals and leaders live lives of freedom and flourishing through his practice, Balanced Coaching. His faith-centered approach combines neuroscience, emotional maturity, and biblical wisdom to inspire growth and empower change.
