Cathy Liska 
While assessments are validated tools intended to provide a depth of insight, inventories are a tool that can be created or tailored specifically for coaching clients for awareness, planning, and prioritizing. Inventories are a listing and/or ranking tool to identify skills, values, priorities, or balance. In a coach training program, for example, often an opening coaching session teaches an exploration of interests in different areas of a client’s life. This is, at its core, an inventory.
In more advanced coaching certification programs coaches are provided with, learn about, and create various inventories. Sometimes the focus is foundational challenges around time and money, other times the intention is to identify values or prioritize areas of focus. Inventories can be helpful for writing a personal or business mission statement or for creating a personal skill development plan.
As a coach, having several basic tools makes sense. Start with your area of focus working with clients, your coaching niche. If your niche is related to career coaching the inventory may be related to work activities a client enjoys doing. If your focus is transitioning to a new location the inventory may be as simple as a checklist of resources. If you coach executives the inventory may be based on skills. Business coaches can create inventories tied to prioritizing budgeting, growth, stability, scalability, or sale ability.
Coaches can develop a set of core tools, familiarize themselves with others, and co-create tools with their clients to serve the purposes of the individual. Inventories can be easily created and used to prioritize focus or to create awareness.
What inventory tools do you want in your tool kit?
