Coaching
Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.
Golda Meir
Coaching is different for everyone. For some people it’s about using a series of tools to plan a different approach to their regular one and learning new ways of tackling problems; for others it’s about boosting confidence and self belief; others simply want to clarify their challenges and engage in some good old-fashioned detailed action planning.
Why do our coaches use a Positive Psychology approach with clients?
It’s our belief that simply helping a client to solve their problems or get what they want, falls short of coaching’s true power to transform their life from striving to thriving.
When we’re working with a coaching client using a Positive Psychology approach, everything we do as a coach is based on facilitating the discovery and embellishment, exploration, and use of their strengths and resources. Ultimately, this is in the service of helping them achieve their goals and realise their dreams. Positive Psychology coaching is a strength-based practice that’s based on the view that the identification and utilisation of a client’s strengths will allow them to regain power over their lives. Typically, this involves devoting attention to what is already working, positive exceptions to problems, and coping strategies that the client is already using. We find that this type of attention allows clients to become aware of their own power and autonomy; in turn, this realisation can positively affect the investment of clients and their willingness to take action.
It’s important to note that Positive Psychology coaching doesn’t ignore weaknesses or problems – this is a common misconception of strengths-based approaches. Working in collaboration with our clients, we acknowledge the importance of addressing weaknesses by seeking to understand and manage areas of deficiency. We place emphasis on developing trust with the individual being coached so that they can be sure that we’re working on the real underlying issue and not just ‘papering over the cracks’.
Key aspects of Positive Psychology coaching
There are some underlying principles that inform our work with coaching clients; these are based on key aspects of Positive Psychology and include the following:
- Positive Psychology coaching is goal-orientated and sees the environment as rich in resources
- The Positive Psychology coaching relationship is hope-inducing
- In Positive Psychology coaching, the provision of meaningful choices is central and clients have the authority to choose
- Positive Psychology practice assumes that we best serve our coaching clients by collaborating with them
- Positive Psychology coaching assumes that while difficulties, ordeals and struggle may be tough to endure they may also be sources of healthy challenge and opportunity.
Training for coaches in your organisation
There are many coaches providing some incredible coaching in the UK right now and we’ve had the pleasure of training a number of them. We can also train you and your team to provide coaching in-house; being a coach is an important skill set that stays with you regardless of what role you progress to. Download our Incendo Directory of Core Learning Programmes which includes our programmes designed for coaches and mentors.
We also have experience in setting up corporate coaching and mentoring schemes from scratch, as well as refreshing existing schemes that are being under-utilised. This means that we could help boost the effectiveness of your organisation’s coaching or mentoring scheme in a number of ways, such as:
- Creating and implementing a coach or mentor selection process;
- Designing approaches to coach-client matching for you;
- Developing coaching and mentoring policies, processes and resources to help meet your strategic goals;
- Providing ongoing development for your in-house coaches and mentors.
