Positive Psychology for Coaches: how to use the science of well-being to help your clients flourish.

1. Posi%ve
Psychology
for
Coaches
How
to
use
the
science
of
well-­‐being
to
help
your
clients
flourish
Kurt
D.
Shuster,
MAPP
(kurt@noomii.com)

2. About
Me

4. Start
With
a
Bang
To
watch
the
video,
go
to
YouTube
and
search
for
“Chris%an
the
lion”

5. Q:
What
do
you
want
to
get
out
of
this
talk?

6. What
is
Posi%ve
Psychology?
Defini%on:
Posi%ve
Psychology
is
the
scien%fic
study
of
human
flourishing
a.
k.
a.
“The
Science
of
Happiness”

7. Why
science?
Approx.
150
exercises
But
which
ones
work?
…and
how
would
we
know?

9. Human
flourishing
in
a
nutshell:
For
someone
to
flourish,
it
is
not
enough
to
fix
what’s
wrong.
You
also
need
to
focus
on
what’s
right.

10. Two
Strategies
Avoid
this
area!
Aim
here!

11. The
Bowling
Study

12. Results
“Avoid
what
you
did
“Think
about
what
wrong”
you
did
right”
Follow-­‐up
game:
11
point
difference

13. Elliot
&
McGregor
(2001)
Study
Avoidance Goals Approach Goals
• I
will
not
be
late
for • I
will
be
on
%me
for
class
class
• I
want
to
stop • I
want
to
finish
my
procras%na%ng
assignments
on
• I
want
to
stop
being
%me
so
shy
• I
want
to
be
more
asser%ve

14. Approach
Oriented
Students
• Higher
test
scores
with
less
exam
stress
• More
class
engagement
• Fewer
visits
to
the
student
health
center

15. “We
already
knew
that”
Knowing
the
mechanism
mabers!

16. Coaching
Takeaways
All
Coaches:
Ac%vity:
get
your
clients
to
re-­‐
write
all
their
avoidance
goals
as
approach
goals
Corporate
Coaches:
Ask
“what
does
your
organiza%on
do
well?”
rather
than
“what’s
your
biggest
problem?”
Personal
Coaches:
Ask
“what
went
well
since
our
last
coaching
session?”
rather
than
“what
problems
came
up?”

17. Posi%ve
Emo%ons

18. Exercise:
Posi%ve
Emo%ons
Unhappy
memory
– Where
are
you?
– What
happened?
– How
do
you
feel?
Happy
memory
– Where
are
you?
– What
happened?
– How
do
you
feel?

19. Exercise:
Posi%ve
Emo%ons
What
did
you
no%ce
about
the
two
memories?
What
was
the
same?
What
was
different?

20. Posi%ve
emo%ons:
the
“old”
story
Deliberate
effort
Posi%ve
outcome
Posi%ve
emo%on
Posi%ve
emo%ons
result
from
things
we
do:
“epiphenomenal”

21. Broaden
and
Build
Theory
Crea%vity
Increased
Op%mism
Posi%ve
Resilience
Psychological
emo%ons
Resources
Virtuous
spiral
Increased
Increased
outcomes
efforts

22. A
virtuous
spiral…
but
ONLY
above
the
3:1
Ra%o

23. Across
Domains
Business
Individuals
Couples
Teams

24. What
Good
are
Posi%ve
Emo%ons?
Barb
Frederickson
“Broaden
and
Build”
theory
Nega%ve
emo%ons
restrict
op%ons,
Posi%ve
emo%ons
promote
growth,
e.g.
“fight
or
flight”
crea%vity,
and
explora%on

25. Coaching
Takeaways
Start
sessions
by
pu6ng
clients
in
a
posi8ve
mood
–
it’s
easy!
• Gra%tude
exercise
• Tell
a
joke
• Posi%ve
visualiza%on
• Watch
a
funny
video
• Savoring
exercise
• Use
your
imagina%on!
• Get
your
clients
to
increase
their
posi8vity
ra8os!
www.posi8vityra8o.com

26. Strengths

27. VIA
Strengths:
History
DSM-­‐IV
The
“Un-­‐DSM”

28. Why
focus
on
strengths?

29. 24
VIA
Strengths
• Crea%vity
• Teamwork
• Curiosity
• Fairness
• Judgment
&
Open-­‐Mindedness
• Leadership
• Love
of
Learning
• Forgiveness
&
Mercy
• Perspec%ve
• Modesty
&
Humility
• Bravery
• Prudence
• Perseverance
• Self-­‐Regula%on
• Honesty
• Apprecia%on
of
Beauty
and
• Zest
Excellence
• Capacity
to
Love
and
Be
Loved
• Gra%tude
• Kindness
• Hope
&
Op%mism
• Social
Intelligence
• Humor
• Religiousness
&
Spirituality

30. Exercise:
Find
you
partner’s
strengths!

31. What
does
the
research
say?
Q:
Which
5
are
most
associated
with
well-­‐being?
Gra%tude
Hope
Capacity
to
love
and
be
loved
Zest
Curiosity

32. What
about
work
sa%sfac%on?
• Of
24
VIA
strengths,
only
TWO
are
posi%vely
correlated
with
workplace
sa%sfac%on!
Hope
Zest

33. “But
my
clients
want
to
work
on
their
weaknesses!”
“The
task
of
leadership
is
to
Create
an
alignment
of
strengths,
Making
a
system’s
weaknesses
Irrelevant.”
-­‐Peter
Drucker

34. Exercise:
Use
your
strengths
to
make
your
weakness
irrelevant

35. Coaching
Takeaways
Coach
to
your
client’s
strengths!
• Ask
clients
to
do
the
VIA
survey:
www.viastrengths.org
• Prac%ce
using
signature
strengths
in
a
different
way
each
week
• Focus
on
the
“top
5”
for
well-­‐being
• Career
coaches:
focus
on
the
“top
2”
for
workplace
sa%sfac%on

36. Posi%ve
Rela%onships

37. Framingham
Heart
Study
• 4729
people
in
Framingham,
Massachusebs
• 1983
to
2003

38. Framingham
Heart
Study
In
other
words,
happiness
is
contagious!

39. Pro-­‐social
Spending
It
is
beber
to
give
than
to
receive!
(but
only
in
person)
Dunn
et.
al.
2008

40. Coaching
Takeaways
• Rela%onships
maber!
• Do
it
in
person!

41. Cri%cism
of
Posi%ve
Psychology

42. Aren’t
you
Denying
the
Nega%ve?
“It’s not a good time
to be positive when
you’re being chased
by a bear!”

43. This
Presenta%on
Savoring
Eleva%on
Posi%ve
Health
Posi%ve
Educa%on
Apprecia%ve
Inquiry
More…

44. Resources
• MAPP
program
at
U.
Penn
– hbp://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/mapp
• Posi%ve
Psychology
News
Daily
– hbp://pos-­‐psych.com
• Interna%onal
Posi%ve
Psychology
Associa%on
– hbp://www.ippanetwork.org
• Me!
– kurt@noomii.com

45. Recommended
Books
• Posi1vity
–
Barbara
Fredrickson
• The
How
Of
Happiness
-­‐
Sonja
Lyubomirsky
• Stumbling
on
Happiness
-­‐
Daniel
Gilbert
• Learned
Op1mism-­‐
Mar%n
E.
P.
Seligman
• Prac1cing
Posi1ve
Psychology
Coaching
–
Robert
Biswas-­‐Diener
• Flourish
-­‐
Mar%n
E.
P.
Seligman

46. End
on
a
high
note
To
watch
the
video,
go
to
YouTube
and
search
for
“Everything
is
amazing”

47. Ques%ons?