Similarities Between Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology

According to the Center, “Positive psychology is the systematic study of human strength, resilience and qualities that empower individuals and group of people to succeed” (Positive Psychology Center, 2014). Positive psychology’s founders learned through study that people usually place more emphasis on what goes wrong in their lives; they focus on their failures. For instance, divorce, financial obligations, or losing a job. It is imperative to comprehend the characteristics of undesirable experiences in an individual’s life. As an alternative to focusing on failure, focus can be placed on the positive situations in life and understand those are the occasions worth living for. Positive psychology emphasizes strengths and weaknesses, magnifying the positive aspects of life, and healing the effects of negative experiences. Positive psychology focuses on a person’s strengths and the hope of something larger then oneself to lead individuals to a more meaningful

Coaching is all about helping athletes achieve their dreams. It should be done positively and smartly and with passion. The positive coach and role model, following a well defined coaching philosophy will be a key ingredient in

My personal ability to maintain “a well-being” while engaged in coaching is to continue to remind myself why I am doing this job and why it is important. Like the passion and the love, I have for the sports and the goals that I set for my athletes that I will be coaching in the future. I will also do a monthly check in with myself and what I can do to better my coaching technique and skills. I will also do a survey with my athletes this will help me to see on areas I need to work on and improve.

As a kids sports coach I agree to commit myself to the principles of positive coaching. I will strive to be coach who wants to win and to help my players learn “life lessons” and positive character traits through the sport of cricket.

Positive Psychology is defined as “…the scientific study of human flourishing, and an applied approach to optimal functioning. It has also been defined as the study of the strengths and virtues that enable individuals, communities and organizations to thrive” (Gable & Haidt, 2005, Sheldon & King, 2001, as cited by Positive Psychology Institute). According to Martin Seligman, one of Positive Psychology’s pioneers, positive psychology consists of three major components- “pleasure and gratification”, “strength and virtue”, & “meaning and purpose”. He believes that the road to “lasting fulfillment” is a journey in which an individual must pass through each component in chronological order. (Seligman)

“Positive psychology is a relatively new branch of psychology that shifts the focus from what is clinically wrong, to the promotion of wellbeing and the creation of a satisfying life filled with meaning, pleasure, engagement, positive relationships and accomplishment.” (Black Dog Institute, 2012). That means, to change the way individuals think and act. From this moment on, Positive Psychology will help someone on creating and keeping mental health.

Outstanding coaches get their athletes to believe in themselves - They motivate their players to do more than they think they can. They get their students to contemplate all of the possibilities that stretch the limits of their beliefs. In order to do this you have to build the player up and not tear them down. Valuable coaches try to build self-esteem up rather than knocking it down. Self-esteem building cannot be done falsely, nor is it used to be a device to attract attention to one’s self. A coach doesn’t praise a humdrum effort, but will to the one that has given their all, even when they did not get first place. The coaches are to inspire their athletes to believe in themselves by continually putting them in situations which challenge

At this stage of my doctoral studies in Industrial and Organizational Psychology (IOP) the career opportunities, I am exploring focuses on executive coaching and consulting. My partiality to these roles is as a result of my passion for understanding leader’s capabilities, the demand in the marketplace, and my training and experience in leadership coaching. As an executive coaching, my goal is to work with organizational, community, and civic leaders to bring more awareness to the role of personal and cultural values in their decision making and leadership

In conclusion, the Good Life is within reach for me and anyone who hopes for it. Positive psychology provides the blueprint on actions and cognitive thinking which will lead me to happiness and balance. The goals I have established through the course and by focusing on: my signature strengths, knowing my motivational method, establishing goals, achieving flow, being healthy, continued cognitive and emotional growth, wisdom, and spirituality, I will meet “my” Good

The research study Signaling a New Trend in Executive Coaching Outcome Research (de Haan & Duckworth, 2012) detailed the importance of ongoing coaching and/or mentoring to the success of a business’ leaders. The study begins by briefly over viewing the various aspects of successful business coaching by asking questions such as “does our coaching work?”, “what aspects of coaching work?” and “what intervention would work best here and now, with this client at this moment?” (de Haan & Duckworth, 2012, p. 6). Next the study began to break down breakdown the idea of measurement of coaching, but found that “all coaching outcome studies are weak by the standards of psychology and general medicine” (de Haan & Duckworth, 2012, p. 8). Even with no clear and robust studies available the research began to detail other like -minded studies in order to draw conclusions about executive coaching and its overall effects on business through statistical evaluation.

Becoming an effective leader is about more than gaining experience and developing appropriate skills. It is also a developmental journey to increasingly complex world views which create new options for effective leadership. We look at the different stages through which leaders can pass as they travel on this journey of development and how these different stages evoke different coaching interventions. We relate this journey to our Renewal model. We also reflect on the implications of our model for coaching practice.

The change article by Grant (2014), has been chosen for its in-depth psychological analyses of a possible human resource (HR) issue; executive coaching. It parades an analysis of executive coaching in times of change that eventuates into an opinionated, yet empirical outcome. Some assumptions asserted in this article include; that change is not a level of intensity but a Boolean style aspect of HR (yes or no), small sample sizes are justifiable, and the value of providing a one-sided article persuades readers to support this side. With these assumptions in mind, Grant (2014) hypothesises that executives undergoing coaching, deliver on organisational goals more frequently. This is supported by a research case study

Positive psychology, which has emerged recently, is the scientific study of human thriving. Psychology traditionally focuses on dysfunction—on people with mental illness or other psychological problems and how to treat them. Positive psychology, by contrast, is a relatively new field that examines how ordinary people can become happier and more fulfilled. In his 1998 APA presidential address, Seligman, the founder of positive psychology, argued that psychology had become too focused on curing mental illness according to a disease model, and that, for all intents and purposes, it had become a “victimology” (Seligman, 1998). What was needed, he averred, was a new “science of human strengths,” a positive psychology (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000).

We often think of psychology with a negative connotation. A reason for this is that for many years, psychologists focused more on the negative side of psychology. This part of psychology deals with peoples’ symptoms, wounds, disorders, and trauma (Morgan & Nemec, 2013). This changed in 2000 when psychologist Martin Seligman founded the science of positive psychology (Schueller & Parks, 2014). Although certain aspects of positive psychology were studied long before the branch was established, they were much less of a focus when compared to its negative counterparts (Morgan &Nemec, 2013). Positive psychology strives to understand “the positive side of human functioning, expanding research on positive behaviors, cognitions, emotions, and character traits (Schueller & Parks, 2014)

Hope is an important aspect of positive psychology that assists individuals to live positively by accepting tough life experiences through the expectation of a better outcome. Hope is considered to be a positive motivational state, which encourages individuals to develop methods that motivate themselves to achieve their coveted goals (Snyder, 2000).