Ignite Positive Change with Coaching
Posted on April 22, 2013 by Rosanne Kerr, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.
This article describes how Positive Psychology provides helpful tools for coaches and their clients.
It was important for me when I was looking at the different training opportunities to become a coach, to find one that was founded on Positive Psychology. Why was this so important to me? I have found in my career that when I implement a strength based approach to working with people, and as a way to solve problems, I am a more effective leader. It is also important for me as a practitioner (trainer, consultant and coach) to use research-based practices, and Positive Psychology provides that solid research base.
Carol Kauffman writes in the book titled, Evidence Based Coaching Handbook, that Positive Psychology is the science at the heart of coaching. She shares that through the years, “traditional psychology has focused on ways to help make ill people better by finding … empirically supported methods to help fix things that are wrong with them. The mission of Positive Psychology is to develop theories of optimal functioning and to find empirically supported ways to improve the lives of ordinary and extraordinary people. Dr. Martin Seligman, the former president of the American Psychological Association, and known as the father of Positive Psychology, developed a model of applied Positive Psychology called Authentic Happiness Coaching.”
Why is Positive Psychology such a good fit for coaching? It allows coaches to integrate some of the important lessons from Positive Psychology research into the work they do with their clients. For example they can introduce strategies to increase positive emotions, Flow1, and hope, as well as help clients identify and use their strengths, rather than focusing on their weaknesses. The greatest strength of positive psychology is that it is evidence-based, so clients know their coach is basing his or her practice on empirical research. Kaufmann writes that Positive Psychology research will provide the legs upon which the field of coaching can firmly stand.
Coaches can suggest interventions and actions to increase well-being that fit the client’s interest and lifestyle such as: expressing gratitude, cultivating optimism, avoiding over thinking and social comparisons, acts of kindness, nurturing social relationships, managing stress, learning to forgive, increasing Flow, savouring life’s joys, and taking care of your body and soul. However, the coach also needs to consider the fit of these interventions when learning about a particular client’s interests and lifestyle. Lyubomirsky suggests in her book The How of Happiness that consideration of fit is key, in order for the client to successfully use the strategies with intention.
The belief that people who come to coaching are creative, resourceful and whole fits well with the strength-based approach of Positive Psychology. Kaufmann, writes, “the heart of positive psychology lies in the practitioner’s choice to shift attention away from pathology and pain and direct it toward a clear-eyed concentration on strength, vision, and dreams.”
Robert Biswas-Diener, a leading researcher, author, and instructor on the integration of Positive Psychology and coaching writes: Positive Psychology is, essentially, about a paradigm shift. Even the most upbeat, optimistic (people) will sometimes bump into professional, social, or emotional walls. Coaches who integrate positive psychology into their coaching will lend clients a fresh perspective by framing questions (and discussion) in a way that assumes solutions are inevitable and that the client is capable of change.
Clients come to coaching for many different reasons: to develop particular skills, improve their relationships, have greater work-life balance or finish a big project. They create the agenda and goals for coaching; Positive Psychology provides a framework and some research-based tools for both the coach and coachee.
1 Flow is the … The researcher to coin the concept of flow is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. He says the metaphor of flow is one that many people have used to describe the sense of effortless action they feel in moments that stand out as the best in their lives (1997). When you are in flow, you are usually using strengths like creativity, perseverance, love of learning, or kindness. Maybe you were helping a friend move, testing out a new recipe, playing a favourite card game, learning something new, solving a problem at work, using your new camera, playing a sport, fixing or detailing your car, or working with others on a team.
References:
Biswas-Diener, R. (2010). Practicing positive psychology coaching: Assessment, activities and strategies for success. New Jersey, US: Wiley & Sons.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996) Finding Flow. New York, US: Basic Books.
Kaufmann, C. (2006), Positive Psychology: The Science at the Heart of
Coaching. In Strober, B & Grant, A. (Eds). Evidence based coaching handbook (pp. 219-253). New Jersey, US: Wiley & Sons.
Lyubomirsky, S. (2007). The how of happiness: A new approach to Getting the life you want. New York, US: Penguin Group.
Seligman, M. E. P. (2002). Authentic happiness: Using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment. New York, NY, US: Free Press.
Some Websites with Information about Positive Psychology and Coaching
Authentic Happiness
www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu
MentorCoaching Training Program
http://mentorcoach.com/
Positive Acorn
www.positiveacorn.com
