Guide for coaches, therapists and managers

Using Personality Assessments with Clients: A Guide for Coaches, Therapists and Managers

A good assessment can save two or three sessions of discovery and give a client words for patterns they have felt for years. It can also lock a client into a label or push a coach toward diagnosis. The difference is mostly in which instrument you pick and how you debrief it.

This guide covers which measures fit which client goals, a three-session plan, debrief questions for each trait, the ethical lines, and how to run Depth Profile’s free Big Five, attachment and RIASEC assessments with clients.

Updated October 12, 2026 · 9 min read · Depth Profile

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Take it yourself first, so you know what your clients will see.

Instruments: Big Five (IPIP-style), attachment (ECR-R based), RIASEC interests
Client time: About 12 to 25 minutes at home, before the first session
Cost to client: Free scores; optional $19 AI-written report
Not for: Diagnosis, hiring or promotion decisions

Why use an assessment with clients

Used well, an assessment does four things for a coaching or therapy relationship:

It gives you and the client a shared vocabulary in the first hour.
It puts something neutral on the table. Discussing “a high Neuroticism score” is easier for many clients than discussing “your anxiety.”
It surfaces patterns the client has not linked together, such as perfectionism at work and avoidance at home.
It creates a baseline you can return to in six or twelve months.

The risks are just as specific. Clients can treat a result as permission (“I’m an introvert, so I can’t network”). A polished printout can feel more accurate than it is; Bertram Forer showed in 1949 that people rate generic descriptions as highly personal. And the language of traits can drift into the language of diagnosis.

Which measure fits which goal

Client goal	Start with	Look closely at
Career transition	RIASEC interests plus the Big Five	Holland code, Openness, Conscientiousness, career anchors
Leadership development	Big Five, alongside 360 feedback	Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism
Relationship or couples work	Attachment style plus the Big Five	Attachment anxiety and avoidance, Neuroticism, Agreeableness
Stress and overload	Big Five	Neuroticism, Conscientiousness; refer out if clinical
A goal the client keeps not starting	Why You’re Stuck exercise plus the Big Five	Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, competing commitments
Team working agreements (managers)	Big Five, voluntary and shared by choice	Extraversion and Agreeableness differences

For the reasoning behind preferring trait measures to type measures, see Big Five vs MBTI. The individual tests are described in detail on the Big Five, attachment style and RIASEC career pages.

A three-session plan

Before session 1: pre-work

Send the client the free Personality Core (about 12 minutes) plus the add-on that fits their goal. Ask them to write down two results that surprised them and one that felt wrong. Those three notes are your agenda.

Session 1: check accuracy

Go through the scores and ask, trait by trait, “Where does this fit, and where doesn’t it?” Ask for a recent example each time. Treat scores between about 40 and 60 as situational. End with one or two patterns the client agrees are real, in their own words.

Session 2: connect patterns to the goal

Link the agreed patterns to what the client came for. Combinations are usually more useful than single traits: high Conscientiousness with high Neuroticism often looks like perfectionism; high Agreeableness with low Conscientiousness looks like overcommitment. Name what each pattern costs and what it protects, and pick one to work on.

Session 3: design an experiment

Turn the chosen pattern into a two-week behavioral experiment. Write it as an if-then plan (“If my manager asks for something on Friday afternoon, then I ask for the deadline before saying yes”). Peter Gollwitzer and Paschal Sheeran’s 2006 meta-analysis of 94 independent tests found such implementation intentions had a medium-to-large effect on goal attainment. Agree what evidence of progress looks like.

Later: retest

Retake the assessment after six to twelve months. Traits move slowly, so read changes of a few points as noise and look at the experiments’ results for evidence of change.

Debrief questions by trait

Measure	Questions that open it up
Openness	“Where at work do you get to try new approaches, and where are you held to routine?” “When did a new idea last excite you enough to act on it?”
Conscientiousness	“What gets finished in your life without effort, and what never does?” “When do your standards help you, and when do they slow you down?”
Extraversion	“After a full day of meetings, what do you need?” “Which conversations do you avoid starting?”
Agreeableness	“When did you last disagree out loud with someone senior? What happened?” “Whose priorities fill your calendar?”
Neuroticism	“What is the first sign you are under too much pressure?” “What do you worry about that rarely happens?”
Attachment	“When someone you rely on goes quiet, what story do you tell yourself?” “When things get tense, do you move toward people or away?”
RIASEC	“Which tasks would you do even if they were not your job?” “Which parts of your week drain you even when they go well?”

Ethics and scope

Consent first. Explain what the assessment measures, that it is optional, and who will see the results.
The client owns the results. They keep them in their own browser or account and share what they choose, usually as a PDF export. Never ask for a login.
Hypotheses, not verdicts. Say “your scores suggest” and ask whether it fits. Avoid “you are a…”
No diagnosis. The Big Five describes normal-range personality. Therapists should use validated clinical measures for clinical questions. Coaches should refer out at signs of depression, trauma, substance problems or risk of harm; the International Coaching Federation’s Code of Ethics expects coaches to point clients to other professionals when that would serve them better.
Not for selection. Managers should use assessments only for voluntary development conversations, never for hiring, promotion or performance ratings. In the US, tests used in employment decisions must be job-related and consistent with business necessity, and in Karraker v. Rent-A-Center (2005) a federal appeals court treated a personality test (the MMPI) as a medical exam under the ADA. Get employment counsel before any selection use.

A note for managers

The most useful team exercise is short: each person shares one score they think teammates should know about and one working preference that follows from it (“I’m low in Extraversion, so I think better if I get the agenda the day before”). Sharing is voluntary, and nobody’s scores go into a file.

Running Depth Profile with clients

Send clients to the free Personality Core, and have them add Relationship DNA for relationship work or Career & Leadership for career work. The free results give five trait scores, attachment scores and a Holland code. For a client stuck on one specific goal, the free Why You’re Stuck exercise makes good pre-work for session one.

The optional $19 report maps neatly onto the session plan: its three blind spots, each with the score pattern behind it and a two-week experiment, feed session two; its growth plan with three experiments gives you a first draft for session three; and its stress profile helps with overload clients. It also includes paste-ready instructions so the client can bring their profile into ChatGPT or Claude between sessions.

For practitioners who want to give clients the full report, the Coach Pack bundles five report credits for $99, shared through one invite link. See the Coach Pack page for how it works. Couples counselors can also use the couples guide as a handout, and clients coming from 16Personalities may find the 16Personalities alternatives page a useful bridge.

Take it before your clients do

Twelve minutes for the free Big Five core. Seeing your own results first is the best preparation for debriefing someone else’s.

Take the free assessment See the Coach Pack

Free assessments, no account needed. The full AI-written report is a one-time $19.

Frequently asked questions

Can coaches use personality tests with clients?

Yes, and many do. A well-validated assessment gives you and the client a shared vocabulary and saves discovery time. Use it for development conversations, debrief results as hypotheses the client confirms or rejects, and refer out when you see signs of a clinical problem.

Which personality assessment is best for coaching?

For general development work, a Big Five measure, because it has the strongest research base and includes emotional stability. Add an interest inventory such as RIASEC for career transitions and an attachment measure for relationship work. Pick the instrument that matches the client’s goal.

Can therapists use the Big Five in therapy?

As an adjunct, yes. The Big Five describes normal-range personality and is useful for case formulation and client self-understanding. It is not a diagnostic instrument, so clinical concerns still call for validated clinical measures and your usual assessment process.

Can managers use personality tests with their team?

For voluntary development conversations, such as agreeing how the team communicates, yes. Do not use results for hiring, promotion or performance ratings. In the US, tests used in employment decisions must be job-related, and some personality tests have been treated as medical exams under the ADA, so talk to employment counsel first.

Do I need a certification to use these assessments?

Not for Depth Profile’s assessments, which clients take on their own. Some commercial instruments, including the official MBTI, require practitioner certification to purchase and administer.

How do clients share their results with me?

Clients keep their results in their own browser or account and choose what to share, usually by exporting the report as a PDF or walking you through it in session. Ask before requesting it, and never ask for a client’s login.

From the blog: Best personality tests for teams · DISC personality test: free communication style assessment · DISC personality test

Further reading: Personality tests for teams · How the AI coach works · Why generic personality tests fail