Strengths Coaching: A potential-guided approach to coaching psychology

By P. Alex Linley, Susan J. Harrington. International Coaching Psychology Review, 2006

165 citations recorded by the source corpus.

As unlikely as it might seem, strengths have been a much neglected topic in psychology until relatively recently. In this article, we provide an historical context for the study of psychological strengths before going on to consider three approaches to understanding strengths. We locate a psychological understanding of strengths in the context of an assumption about human nature that is characterised by a constructive developmental tendency within people, showing how this assumption is consistent with theory and research about psychological strengths, and how it is consistent with the theoretical approach of coaching psychology. We then begin to examine what strengths coaching might look like in practice, together with considering some caveats and future research directions for the strengths coaching approach.

Subfields: Applied Psychology, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/feae7c3d04c214516173ff0f498e93ebcea1f3a5

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Citations in the corpus

Strength Use in the Workplace: A Literature Review (2020, background): “6 Discussion The results of this systematic review tend to corroborate the fundamental claim that strengths use and development are closely linked to work performance and well-being (Buckingham and Clifton 2001; Linley and Harrington 2006; Peterson and Seligman 2004; Roberts et al. 2005b).”
My strengths count!: Effects of a strengths-based psychological climate on positive affect and job performance (2015, background): “Linley and Harrington (2006b) furthermore proclaimed that using strengths causes people to feel good about themselves and raises their energy level.”
Strengths Use as a Predictor of Well-Being and Health-Related Quality of Life (2011, background): “…to the VIA conceptualization of character strengths, it is theorized that strengths use is energizing and authentic (Clifton and Anderson 2002; Linley and Harrington 2006), and that ‘‘when we use our strengths, we feel good about ourselves, we are better able to achieve things, and we are…”
Using signature strengths in pursuit of goals: Effects on goal progress, need satisfaction, and well-being, and implications for coaching psychologists (2010, background): “…to be associated with both subjective and psychological well-being, even when controlling for the effects of self-efficacy and self-esteem (Govindji & Linley, 2007), and strengths coaching has been suggested as one applied link between strengths and coaching psychology (Linley & Harrington, 2006).”
Strengths coaching with leaders (2009, background): “This shift in emphasis and assumption has led many practitioners of positive psychology and coaching psychology to operate in ways different to traditional approaches to leadership and organisational capability development (see, for example, Biswas-Diener & Dean, 2007; Linley & Harrington, 2006).”
Towards a positive university (2011, background): “Linley and Harrington (2006) suggest that knowing and using strengths can have a positive effect on teamwork and team outcomes.”
A self-determination perspective of strengths use at work: Examining its determinant and performance implications (2016, unknown): “We contend that because individuals feel good about themselves when using their strengths (Linley & Harrington, 2006), they become intrinsically motivated to do so (Linley, Nielsen, Wood, Gillett, & Biswas-Diener, 2010).”