2.6: Engaging Client Agreement
The final step of the career conversation is to engage in client agreement. When closing off a meeting with a client, it is crucial to summarize the key things you’ve done in the session. You must identify the core areas you’ve discussed and the types of content or feelings that have emerged during your time together. Begin by reinforcing the strengths you heard them share. Then, clarify the steps to move forward and make an effective change. And finally, ask again: “Are you good to go with this?”
There are several ways I like to check in to ensure that the individual is motivated to move forward. One of my favourite approaches is asking the client: “How will your life be different if our work together is successful?” The client will be able to identify the key things they changed in their life, which typically leads to them smiling, sitting upright, looking engaged and feeling optimistic about the career change process.
Another way to check in with the clients is to ask them a scaling question, where clients are asked to rate their capabilities and feelings.
Here are some steps to help you learn how to use scaling questions:
Question: How motivated are you to make this change on a scale of 1 to 10, one being not at all and 10 being 100%?
The client’s response will be a number. In my experience, this number usually comes out somewhere between 6 and 9.
Follow up the client’s response with the next question:
Question: Why didn’t you score it lower?
This prompt leads to an interesting dynamic in which the client can explain why they can do what they think they need to do. In other words, it helps the CDP to understand the degree to which they are motivated and committed to moving forward and making an effective career change. Scaling questions originate in qualitative research and solution-focused counselling (Strong, Pyle & Sutherland, 2009).
