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Executive summary
The reflective report hereby describes how my experience and learning has developed based on
the coaching module and underlines in specific what positive psychology principles I have
blended into my coaching practice. This is an overview of my coaching approach which has been
developed based on my three holy grail principles of empowerment, self-actualization, and well-
being. It focuses on strengths and on the one hand and a client-centred strategy on the other. By
using Gibbs' method that he introduced in 1988 to analyse my performance from two coaching
sessions, I get a chance to pick out my good sides and to identify the aspects that need to be
improved. The main takeaways are giving strong attention, a good use of open-minded questions,
and a positive attitude that help seek solutions. In conclusion, to develop a good set of coaching
tools, I propose to design a greater strategy that entails possessive supervisions, ongoing skills
development and always being proactive in seeking new coaching opportunities. This report
finally displays my competence of successfully integrating theoretical understanding and putting
it into practice with my aim to be a positive psychology coach that will not stop his or her own
professional progress.

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Table of Contents
Executive summary.........................................................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Reflection on Coaching Sessions.....................................................................................................4
Description...................................................................................................................................4
Feelings........................................................................................................................................5
Evaluation....................................................................................................................................5
Analysis........................................................................................................................................6
Reflection on Supervision Session and SMART Goals..................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References........................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
I equip people individually and promote employees' holistic wellness, using an approach that is
partnership-centred and that draws on each client’s individual strengths. I base my methodology
on my core beliefs about developing, empowering, and overall health.

By giving strong coaching tips, my clients get to discover and match what they already are with
opportunities that will help them reach their dreams and add paramount purpose and gratification
to their careers. I heartily believe that individuals can gain the desired energy being positive and
the energy they will get will help them to face difficulties and try hard for the attainment of their
goals. This standard agrees to positive psychology logic, asserting that functioning in its best is a
key point rather than merely restoring it in case of the breakdown (Seligman &
Csikszentmihalyi, 2000).

From my general beliefs as a coach standing up for the relationship with the client as a
partnership built on mutual trust, open communication, and a respect, hereby, I value. The goal is
to facilitate a client-focused environment that the clients would perceive as secure and non-
judgmental in which every image, behaviour, and act of every client will be explored. In addition
to this, in my opinion, coaching, on the highest quality level, emerges if the coach develops core
competence – expertise – with assessment of the client, his or her situation, and the variety of
important factors that influence a specific experience. Therefore, I attach significance to actively
listening, open-ended questioning, and toward a real eagerness, to understand the uniqueness of
customers’ experiences and views.

Through a review of my coaching abilities and skills, it is established which things I do well and
the competencies that I need to build on. The development of credible and reliable relationships
between me and my clientele is greatly endorsed by my excellent human relations, sympathetic
nature, and fast acquaintance-forming skills. In addition, along with my growing skilfulness with
values clarification and solution-focused interviewing, acquiring knowledge about character
strengths, I can now develop and implement more powerful coaching sessions. Yet, at the same
time, I also realized that indeed, there is always scope for a better improvement in aspects like
effective emotional management skilfully, providing frank feedback rightly, and creating healthy
professional boundaries adequately.

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The chief learning objectives which are clearly related to me—viz. my ability to examine
positive psychology research critically, in the context of coaching for workplace well-being
(LO3), my development of skills and capacity in coaching (LO5), and my achievement in
reflecting and continuing my work development (LO6)— will be implemented in this reflective
report. Paired with the exploration of the relevant theories and research, I will make the case that,
due to my growing competency as a Positive Psychology coach, I am committed to the
continuous improvements in my field.

Reflection on Coaching Sessions

I will provide a thorough review of two coaching sessions I had with my client, Sarah, a mid-
level manager dealing with issues related to work-induced stress and a waning sense of
motivation, using Gibbs' (1988) reflective technique.

Description
We met on March 15th, 2023, and our call lasted for exactly one hour. Initially, Sarah and I
together have worked on the establishment of our coaching relationship boundaries. This list of
things included how to keep information confidential, how often we'd meet, and the particular
functions each team member would perform. In our one-on-one sessions, we were enthusiastic in
collaboration to pinpoint the main areas of coaching, which include how to cope with the work
overload and how to get healthier of Sarah in general.

In the beginning few, Sarah made a more accurate and detailed description of her current
challenges. She pointed out that she was tired of dealing with multiple responsibilities of her
work that additionally affect the way she performs both on the job and private ground. As a
result, she was also stressed about the fact that many times she could not handle her work and
ultimately the routine started to fall short of her expectations. I listened earnestly, from time to
time inquiring for more detail, which is a follow-up tool that helps me to have a clearer
understanding of the situation she is facing.

I assessed Sarah on the VIA Inventory of qualities (VIA-IS) to gauge her character traits during
the session (Niemiec, 2013). By the same token, without any doubt, she realized by this method
that her main features are resourcefulness, steadfastness and fair-mindedness. Furthermore, we
helped her to apply these skills to her daily life challenges. So, for example, Sarah realized that
her talent of creativity may assist her be more effective in her work by the means of devising

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ways of overcoming problems and her emerging determination may pave her way to maintaining
a self-care routine.

When the session ended, Sarah and I joined forces to design a practical strategy that detailed the
path she intended to apply those techniques in the next few days. We also involved a coaching
session to determine her progress and with changing the plan if any alterations were needed.

Feelings
I felt a sense of curiosity mixed with empathy at the first meeting. I could empathize with Sarah
workload when she struggled with stress and fatigue as I experienced the same situation in my
professional life. Nevertheless, I was still very motivated to find out more about the reasons for
Sarah's uniqueness and the methods that could work to her benefit.

I was more and more attached to Sarah’s accomplishments as time went by. By fully and
wholeheartedly participating in the character strengths examination, she inspired me so
much. There was a sense of optimism as we came together and created a strategic plan of
action. And although I had serious doubts that she was capable of discharging her duties due to
the intensity of the plights Sarah was facing, I kept telling myself that she was a strong woman,
and she would be fine.

It became evident that Sarah was passing through various feelings like irritation, tiredness, and
hopelessness when she was in the midst of a fight. Nevertheless, along with the problems we
talked through glimpses of hope and determination were also revealed. Her eagerness to admit
her shortcomings and openly discuss her challenges with me demonstrated that she was gaining
more confidence and soon took me as her coach for support.

Evaluation
Trying to summarize, I assumed that the first meeting was as great and effective as I had
expected it. Sarah was an active part of it, ensured we could support her to think clearly about
herself and then use the tools and techniques of positive psychology at this stage. The
collaborative construction of an action plan was a mean that facilitated Sarah getting a clear plan
of action that she was supposed to implement in the forthcoming weeks.

I do agree, of course, that there were good things I could have done in better way. In the case of
my approach, it would have happened that I missed a chance to find out about the things that

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mattered to Sarah, which might have brought some clarity about her problems and maybe
lowered her level of stress and discouragement. Additionally, I might have permitted Sarah
additional efforts to comprehend what the potholes and other obstacles could be while devising
backup plans to handle them.

The third meeting was at the end of the third week. She was again in attendance and delivered a
report on the initial stages of her plan implementation. She found herself seldom having time to
assess the situation on her own since she used to give tasks to a group of people. Also, she did
daily meditation to work out the way she handles stress-related situations. However, she did
share her feelings of burn out from the busy routines and the difficulties in similarity of her self-
care routines.

Most of the session I was fully focused on trying to provide Sarah with helpful ways to reduce
her emotional pain and the situations that led to it. Taken for instance was the fact that we
debated on the significance of which accountability targets and awards are to be included to
drive her forward. This was referencing Locke and Latham's (2002) article on goal setting and
self-control. Furthermore, this was built on the foundations of the desirable goal theory (Steel
and Konstantinou, 2010). In addition, I told Sarah to look up in order several different time-
management methods, for instance the Pomodoro technique, to find out which method is most
effective for her.
Although Sarah was gloomy and less alert in the beginning, she started participating actively and
spoke more confidently at the end of the second session as she knew that she could overcome
whatever circumstances she could face. She departed with fresh plans of action which were taken
up by her and she also agreed to schedule us on more regular meet ups to help keep her projects
moving smoothly.

Analysis
The practice, which includes positive psychology coaching, should be efficacy-improved on
some vital points by the knowledge of these two coaching sessions. In the first place, it is visible
that the strategy of using strengths must be a side focus. I did so by assisting Sarah to go through
her inherent attributes and use them at the same time which made her change the way she feels
about herself from being inadequate to being a possibility carrier. Here we are keeping the lines
of positive psychology in focus which warrant that a person features the strengths instead of
his/her problems (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000).
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On the other hand, I, too, understand that there is a bigger need for putting more values, beliefs,
and underlying reasons of the client into the coaching process subconsciously or
consciously. Crabb (2011) claims that a person values and goals cannot be differentiated into
personal and professional values, but they are perceived as one directly (Crabb, 2011). When I
recognized the existence of several fundamental variables and failed to spend more time on
them, there is a high chance that Sarah couldn’t have succeeded in implementing her strategy.

Besides, the problems that Sarah had to go through whenever she was adhering to her self-care
routine remind us that behavioural modification techniques should be incorporated into the
coaching process. The research on formation of habits and self-control proves that development
of new behaviour that would be sustainable needs precise planning, specific cues, and regular
support (Locke & Latham, 2002; Wood & Neal, 2016). Through the next sessions, I plan to
actively involve Sarah in the process of articulating focused, situation specific strategies that will
help her effectively integrate her new routine and habits.

Specifically, these coaching sessions have been a powerful source of knowledge and learning for
me as a commencing coach of positive psychology. Having carefully looked at my work,
concentrated on my weak points and used relevant theory and research, I am sure that I can
continue giving my customers even more effective and substantial coaching sessions.

Reflection on Supervision Session and SMART Goals

The discussions that I had in the supervision session helped me to reflect upon my method of
coaching and pointed to the parts which still need development. The session allowed me to
indulge Sarah in elaborate talks about my contribution into the work. The positive psychology
coach, who had plenty of experience in the field, gave me combining the two.

What I learned the most from the experience is devoting yourself to the client all the way
through the coaching process including the externalization of their own values and internal
motivation. Meanwhile, I had skilfully applied patient-centred approaches; still, my mentor noted
that overlooking the reason for Sarah`s motifs and her well of meaning would have constituted a
missed opportunity for me to learn new things. As pointed by Crabb (2011), there is a need for
congruity between the client’s goals, strategies, and core values for coaching purposes. These,
mutually coherent elements support the long-term behavioural alterations as well as the overall
wellbeing of clients.

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Therefore, my boss not only taught me the importance of putting clients first, but he also advised
me to be proactive in helping those clients who have setbacks or challenges. Sarah and I might
have crafted a meticulous map of actions, but we failed to mention the ways to bypass the
blockages or to handle emergencies. As a way of making my clients more able to manoeuvre and
keep the motion in the given situation, I plan to include more advanced problem-solving skills
and scenario planning into our forthcoming sessions.

However, the session of supervision in the end provided me with an understanding of how
crucial my self-reflection and assessment are on my daily practice of coaching. If I want to
become more conscious and determine my strong and weak sides, my manager was inclined to
consider reflection methods such as diary writing and contacting someone who pays me close
attention. This is a reiteration of Cunliffe's (2004) calls for a practical approach to critical
reflexivity that requires regular coach examination of their own beliefs, biases, and decision
processes.

Upon scrutinizing the data gathered from the supervision session and considering my overall
knowledge and expertise from this module, I have devised the subsequent SMART objectives to
enhance my positive psychology coaching practice: Upon scrutinizing the data gathered from the
supervision session and taking into account my overall knowledge and expertise from this
module, I have devised the subsequent SMART objectives to enhance my positive psychology
coaching practice:

Specifics: I will dig into my clients' values, meaning-making processes, and driving forces to
bring my coaching sessions to another level.

Measurable: Tracking how many times I note these details in my session notes is my
responsibility, and 80% of sessions will be as least one target.

Achievable: In addition to the value-based discussions that I will undertake, I will employ the
positive psychology framework or approach, such as the Ikigai model (Segal, 2019).

Relevant: Lasting change and wellbeing can only be achieved if coaching supports clients' core
values (Crabb, 2011).

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Time-bound: I will finish this task within the next three months and find out its effectiveness at
the next supervision meeting.

Specific: To help clients prevent and deal with the difficulties ahead of time, I will enhance the
problem-solving and scenario-planning sides of my coaching sessions.

Measurable: I will always monitor the specific plans and backup solutions which I will create in
at least 75% of the coaching sessions.

Achievable: To offer guidelines for this project, I will use relevant models such as the GROW
model (Whitmore, 2017).

Relevant: Converting intentions into sustainable behavioural changes requires clients to build
resilience through having well-developed action plans and coping skills (Wood & Neal, 2016).

Time-bound: I will complete this task within the next two months and assess the outcome in my
next supervisory meeting.

I am confident that I can use these SMART goals in my everyday training and bring more
benefits to my clients.

Conclusion
The writing of this evaluation report is an amazing way to prepare the ground for self-
assessment and criticism of the positive psychology coaching method and to determine the
weakest points which are still worth working on. Besides that, I must say I have mastered a lot of
skills that I believe are more vital than MBA content which includes, the focus on strengths, the
understanding of clients' self-concepts and inner motivations, the emphasis on the utilization of
meticulous problem-solving and contingency planning and others. The tremendous impact of
reflection and permanent learning that implies noticeably improvement was obvious during the
supervision. I will rely on my SMART goals to help improve my coaching competences and to
promote the same approach for my future clients at the workplace in order to further their
sustainability of good health.

References
Cirillo, F. (2006). The Pomodoro Technique. The Pomodoro Technique.

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Crabb, S. (2011). The use of coaching principles to foster employee engagement. The Coaching
Psychologist, 7(1), 27-34.
Cunliffe, A. L. (2004). On becoming a critically reflexive practitioner. Journal of Management
Education, 28(4), 407-426.
Gibbs, G. (1988). Learning by Doing: A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods. Oxford:
Further Education Unit, Oxford Polytechnic.
Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and
task motivation: A 35-year odyssey. American Psychologist, 57(9), 705-717.
Niemiec, R. M. (2013). VIA Character Strengths: Research and Practice (The First 10 Years). In
Well-Being and Cultures (pp. 11-29). Springer, Dordrecht.
Segal, E. A. (2019). Social Welfare Policy and Social Programs: A Values Perspective. Cengage
Learning.
Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction.
American Psychologist, 55(1), 5-14.
Whitmore, J. (2017). Coaching for Performance: The Principles and Practice of Coaching and
Leadership. Nicholas Brealey Publishing.
Wood, W., & Neal, D. T. (2016). Healthy through habit: Interventions for initiating and
maintaining health behavior change. Behavioral Science & Policy, 2(1), 71-83.

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