Association for Coaching UK Resilience Conference, London, UK, 14 July 2011

Article Type: Resources From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 11, Issue 1

Well-being and resilience for coaches and their clients were the themes tackled by the 2011 Association for Coaching UK Conference at the University of East London. Techniques for building and understanding resilience were in abundance, from psychometrics to mindfulness.

Eight steps to happiness

The entertaining opening keynote session from Sydney University’s Dr Anthony Grant featured key learnings from his reality TV show “Making Australia Happy,” where two groups were compared, one receiving encouragement and the other negative feedback. Results were measured in various ways including biological data. Unsurprisingly, the first group’s happiness ratio far outstripped that of the second. He presented eight scientifically validated steps to happiness:

• 1.

  eulogy (goals and values);

• 2.

  altruism;

• 3.

  mindfulness;

• 4.

  strengths and solutions;

• 5.

  gratitude;

• 6.

  forgiveness;

• 7.

  social networks; and

• 8.

  reflect, review and renew.

The value of coaching in building resilience

The morning was divided into two streams: “Coaching for health &well-being” and “Supervision/coach practice.” Professor Peter Hawkins produced the discouraging statistic that although 86 percent of coaches and 88 percent of organizations believe in regular supervision, only 44 percent of coaches and a dismal 23 percent of organizations actually partake in it.

Professor Stephen Palmer showed how cognitive behavioral coaching can help in achieving and maintaining health-related goals, and Dr Tim Anstiss traced modern coaching principles relevant to resilience back to ancient philosophies and religions, concluding that the way to manage difficult times is to “learn what is and isn’t under your control, be indifferent to externals, control your impressions, limit desire, accept fate, control passions, cultivate virtue/excellence and live in harmony with nature.”

Dr Christian van Nieuwerburgh’s session, “Reflective practice and ethical dilemmas,” encouraged participants to separate out their own ethical stance from those prescribed by outside sources.

Practical tools and techniques

The afternoon provided masterclasses from Professor David Lane on the value of CPD, and Michael Chaskalson on mindfulness, plus workshops featuring practical tools for developing resilience by Kate Burton; Jane Keep, who cited a CIPD report that over a third of employers reported stress related absence increases during 2010; Roy Childs with his Resilience Questionnaire; and Arielle Essex, who highlighted the value of insightful questions, such as how an illness might serve someone by enabling the person to avoid challenges or face past issues.

The conference closed with an amusing presentation on “Evoking resilience in times of uncertainty” from Dr Chris Johnstone, advocating the technique of turning adversity into a story, and imagining if this were a movie,how the script would play out. His quote, “ships are safer in port, but that’s not what ships are for,” brought home the fact that challenge is inherent in achieving a fulfilling life, and that resilience is a necessary part of that.

Carol WilsonManaging Director at Performance Coach Training Ltd and is on the Association for Coaching global advisory panel.