Need cards in coaching

Pictures and picture cards are regularly used in coachings to visualize the clients’ thoughts, emotions, and/or goals. Thus, the question arises whether picture cards can also help detect the clients’ underlying basic needs. To investigate this research question, we developed need cards based on the three basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness (with regard to the Self-Determination Theory). In a survey asking 332 coaches, we explored the coaches’ use of picture cards and the fit of the self-developed need cards to a scale based on the three basic psychological needs. The results show that picture cards are frequently used in coaching—mainly to visualize and anchor goals and emotions. The results further reveal that the developed need cards fit to the respective need. Further research with clients as participants is planned.