positive psychology for coaches
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Positive Psychology for Coaches: how to use the science of well-being to help your clients flourish.TRANSCRIPT
Posi%ve Psychology for Coaches
How to use the science of well-‐being to help your clients flourish
Kurt D. Shuster, MAPP ([email protected])
About Me
Start With a Bang
To watch the video, go to YouTube and search for
“Chris%an the lion”
Q: What do you want to get out of
this talk?
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”
Why science? Approx. 150 exercises
But which ones work?
…and how would we know?
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.
Two Strategies
Avoid this area!
Aim here!
The Bowling Study
Results
Follow-‐up game: 11 point difference
“Think about what you did right”
“Avoid what you did wrong”
Elliot & McGregor (2001) Study
• I will be on %me for class
• I want to finish my assignments on %me
• I want to be more asser%ve
Approach Goals Avoidance Goals
• I will not be late for class
• I want to stop procras%na%ng
• I want to stop being so shy
Approach Oriented Students
• More class engagement
• Fewer visits to the student health center
• Higher test scores with less exam stress
“We already knew that”
Knowing the mechanism mabers!
Coaching Takeaways
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?”
All Coaches: Ac%vity: get your clients to re-‐write all their avoidance goals as approach goals
Posi%ve Emo%ons
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?
Exercise: Posi%ve Emo%ons
What did you no%ce about the two memories?
What was the same?
What was different?
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”
Increased Psychological Resources
Increased efforts
Increased outcomes
Posi%ve emo%ons
Broaden and Build Theory
Crea%vity Op%mism Resilience
Virtuous spiral
A virtuous spiral… but ONLY above the 3:1 Ra%o
Across Domains
Individuals Business Teams
Couples
What Good are Posi%ve Emo%ons?
Barb Frederickson “Broaden and Build” theory
Nega%ve emo%ons restrict op%ons,
e.g. “fight or flight”
Posi%ve emo%ons promote growth, crea%vity, and explora%on
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
Strengths
VIA Strengths: History
The “Un-‐DSM” DSM-‐IV
Why focus on strengths?
24 VIA Strengths • Crea%vity
• Curiosity
• Judgment & Open-‐Mindedness
• Love of Learning • Perspec%ve
• Bravery
• Perseverance
• Honesty
• Zest • Capacity to Love and Be Loved
• Kindness
• Social Intelligence
• Teamwork
• Fairness
• Leadership
• Forgiveness & Mercy • Modesty & Humility
• Prudence
• Self-‐Regula%on
• Apprecia%on of Beauty and Excellence
• Gra%tude • Hope & Op%mism
• Humor
• Religiousness & Spirituality
Exercise: Find you partner’s strengths!
What does the research say? Q: Which 5 are most associated with well-‐being?
Curiosity
Gra%tude
Zest
Capacity to love and be loved
Hope
What about work sa%sfac%on?
• Of 24 VIA strengths, only TWO are posi%vely correlated with workplace sa%sfac%on!
Zest
Hope
“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
Exercise: Use your strengths to make your weakness irrelevant
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
Posi%ve Rela%onships
Framingham Heart Study
• 4729 people in Framingham, Massachusebs • 1983 to 2003
Framingham Heart Study
In other words, happiness is contagious!
Pro-‐social Spending
Dunn et. al. 2008
It is beber to give than to receive!
(but only in person)
Coaching Takeaways
• Rela%onships maber! • Do it in person!
Cri%cism of Posi%ve Psychology
Aren’t you Denying the Nega%ve?
“It’s not a good time to be positive when you’re being chased by a bear!”
This Presenta%on
Savoring
Eleva%on
Posi%ve Health
Posi%ve Educa%on
Apprecia%ve Inquiry
More…
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! – [email protected]
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
To watch the video, go to YouTube and search for
“Everything is amazing”
End on a high note
Ques%ons?