topic: [[Coaching]] created: 2024-01-07 *A positive-focused approach to wellbeing through coaching.* This reminds me of [[positive deviance]], and avoiding the negativity bias through [[appreciation balances our negative tilt]]. It's kind of like [[Appreciative Inquiry]], and using [[balancing statistics]] - in this case, about 3:1 is recommended. Not all positive, not all negative. It may be that in the end you approach things from a [[Safety I and Safety II]] lens, safety II using [[equivalence]] to show how "normal" actions can participate in the creation of various outcomes. PPC is a coaching methodology: “PPC is a constructive coaching tradition that combines the very essence of coaching with a robust theoretical and empirical base. As coaches begin to apply the approach they may find that the dichotomy between positive and negative is somewhat misleading; it is rare for coaches to focus exclusively on either positive or negative issues. We call for a balanced approach to PPC that moves away from ideological biases on either side, an approach that combines positive psychological science with coaching intuition to positively transform the lives of coaching clients.” (Boniwell et al., p. 167) ##### why does it matter? PPC matters because: “is positive psychology not making the same mistake by allowing the pendulum to swing in the opposite direction? An informed PPC practitioner can draw on work in post-traumatic growth and resilience (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004) as well as meaning and benefit-finding (Baumeister & Vohs, 2002), but this may not be enough to equilibrate the aforementioned pendulum to a position along the positive–negative spectrum that is optimal for a given client.” (Boniwell et al., p. 166) ##### What would the opposite argument be? PPC can be poorly applied in situations where people struggle (reasonably) to be positive. This can unintentionally make people feel broken. This can “reflect an unspoken cultural mandate, which holds that unhappiness is intolerable and should therefore be abolished.” (Boniwell et al., p. 167) tags: #note/idea | #on/coaching | #on/positive ##### Sources: Cox, E., Bachkirova, T., & Clutterbuck, D. (Eds.). (2023). _The complete handbook of coaching_ (4th ed.). SAGE Publications. Chapter 11. Boniwell, I., Kauffman, C., & Silberman, J. _The Positive Psychology Approach to Coaching_