psychology short article
98 The Coaching Psychologist, Vol. 14, No. 2, December 2018
Techniques and Approaches section
Mindfulness in applied psychology: Building resilience in coaching Anthony Schwartz
The recent proliferation of applications of mindfulness in different fields of psychology, including its use in coaching psychology, has been noted and questions have been raised regarding transfer of concepts and issues of competence. As a psychologist who has been using mindfulness-based input over the past two decades, it seems an opportune time to continue a practice-based discussion on the use of mindfulness in the area of coaching psychology. In particular, to consider ways in which mindfulness inputs facilitate the development of resilience in managing issues arising in working life. This has wide relevance for applied psychologists in the area of executive coaching. Keywords: coaching psychology, resilience, mindfulness.
The growth of mindfulness
A S AN APPLIED PSYCHOLOGIST of 30 years experience, my work involves the crossover of and integration of
interventions in the fields of coaching, clin- ical, health and occupational psychology. Over the past 20 years I have integrated mindfulness practice into this. I would like to highlight and promote the applied use of mindfulness in this area for use with the working population, whilst recognising valid concerns about professional training and competence being central to its use.
Applications in the field of occupational health psychology Occupational health psychology is a specialty within the science and practice of psychology encompassing research dimen- sions, academic orientation and real-world applications. It employs a broad and systemic conceptualisation of health including motiva- tional, behavioural, cognitive and emotional aspects; recognising both emotional well- being and mental health. It examines worker health at four interrelated levels of anal- ysis: the individual, the work environment, the organisational environment, and the external environment (Diaz-Cabrera et al., 2010). Its focus is to develop, maintain and
promote the health of employees (Quick & Tetrick, 2003).
Coaching, consultancy, training and organisational interventions in occupational health psychology have much to offer organ- isations, both in terms of enhancing perfor- mance as well as preventing and addressing work related problems at a variety of levels to increase productivity and effectiveness. While much has been written about the theoretical underpinning of both coaching psychology and occupational health psychology (Wren, 2016), there has been less attention to prac- tice and the evolving role of the practitioner, with even less about the application of mind- fulness (Chaskalson, 2012). A notable excep- tion is the work of Passmore (2017).
Coaching psychology and consultancy in occupational health psychology There is a growing network of practitioners working across occupational health settings; in health care, education (i.e. universities) and the private sector in the UK. They come from a variety of backgrounds including coaching, clinical, health, occupational and counselling psychology. They have developed a range of services to promote individual and organisational health either from within the organisations or as external
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consultants. Their work is informed by a number of psychological frameworks; most notably, systemic, human relations, cogni- tive-behavioural, psychodynamic and human factors models and approaches.
What all of these practitioners have in common is a commitment to address issues that impact at the individual, team and organisational levels. Input has been shaped by a focus on translating what is happening at a micro-level in organisa- tions (staff distress, communication prob- lems, conflict and relationship breakdown, bullying and harassment) into interventions (including executive coaching, consultancy and training) at the macro (organisational) level. A key and often implicit part of the role of the occupational health psychologist is to help the organisation and its stakeholders marry the experience of the organisation at these two levels in order to help senior managers develop creative and cost effective ways to minimising problems and improve functioning and performance.
The need for developing wellbeing and resilience at work As an applied practitioner linking psycholog- ical health and performance, the relevance to me of developing psychological flexibility and resilience is important. Resilience can be seen as our ability or capacity to adapt and to withstand stress and continue success- fully in times of adversity – a key skill for the turbulent world of work.
McDonald (2014), in discussing work- place wellbeing, describes resilience as ‘the ability to recover from adversity, to keep calm in the face of difficulty and to solve problems. It is the ability to manage your own emotions and remain aware of the emotions of others. It doesn’t mean you don’t experience difficulty or distress, but it does involve the ability to live with those emotions’. McDonald links this with Accept- ance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and the ideas of psychological flexibility, incor- porating a value-based approach, stating ‘It means doing what you know is important, despite it being something that makes you uncomfortable.
It is self awareness and knowing your own values, strengths and weaknesses. It’s being able to reflect on situations and take a balanced view’.
Whilst there is no clear consensus about the meaning of the term resilience, I would suggest that we also consider an applied psychology definition used by the Amer- ican Psychological Association which is: the process of adapting well in the face of adver- sity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress… it means ‘bouncing back’ from difficult experiences. The suggestion is furthermore that resilience is not a trait, but something that can be learnt and devel- oped. This begs the question about indi- viduals’ ability to harness resources to sustain wellbeing, rather than it being a capacity or an attribute. The implication for human change and development is made by Pooley and Cohen (2010, p.34), who describe resil- ience as ‘the potential to exhibit resourcefulness by using available internal and external recourses in response to different contextual and developmental challenges’.
The concept of resilience developed by Kobasa (1979) with work on hardiness and by Antonovsky (1979) with work on salutogen- esis provides a pivot on which to consider applications. More recently, key aspects of human adaptive capacity or resilience have been built upon from within a cognitive- behavioural framework (Padesky, 2009). These consider six dimensions (cognitive, physical, emotional, social-relational, envi- ronmental, spiritual and the moral) as ‘pillars’ upon which to build capacity to recover from adversity. These dimensions impact on an individual’s ability to address problems and to develop optimism, based on the degree to which an individual is aware of, can access, use and develop these dimen- sions.
Developing resilience to help manage complexity, challenge and commitment at work is central to the role of psychological practitioners working in organisations. This has always been applicable when consid- ering stress at work or managing change, and it has become even more critical under
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economic constraints posed by the global recession, with a knock-on impact at the coalface caused by cost-cutting and changes in employment conditions. The real-world context is important: mindfulness of itself cannot be said to increase resilience. Rather, mindfulness impacts on emotional regula- tion and in-the-moment awareness, alongside situational factors and individual qualities.
The role of mindfulness in developing resilience The ability to stand back and reflect before engaging is one of a wide range of possible actions, considered within the frame of mind- fulness training (Kabat-Zinn, 1990). Mindful- ness is currently viewed as falling under the umbrella of cognitive and behavioural thera- pies (Baer, 2003; Hayes & Smith, 2005). Whilst generally seen as based in Eastern spiritual traditions, the concept of mindfulness also has a resonance within the Judeo-Christian tradi- tion (Bushlack, 2014; Larkin, 2007; Rosen- berg-Gottlieb, 2012) and other transcendent practices. Spirituality in health care is increas- ingly seen as an important, often ignored, dimension (McSherry, 2007). Outside of these spiritual traditions, within a western medical and occupational psychology setting, perhaps it may not be considered irreverent to position it as a practical and dynamic ‘mental scaffold’, a way of ‘holding’ a meta-position or taking an external perspective.
Being a relatively new area of practice, it is important to bring this field out into the open a little more and encourage further practical and research-based activities. At this time of organisational pressure, mindfulness is one of the personal approaches which can be taught in order to enhance wellbeing at work and develop psychological flexibility (Flaxman, 2011). Links can be made with the literature on stress and coping as well as with change management (van den Heuvel et al., 2010). Practically, there are areas of cross-over in terms of cognitive-behavioural interventions, the development of psychological flexibility (e.g. ACT) and advancing health and produc- tivity at work (Bond et al., 2010).
Developing resilience skills involves learning and engaging in a process of change, growth and development, incor- porating effective problem-solving and increasing psychological flexibility. There is a strong link developing between psycho- logical flexibility, mindfulness and compas- sion, particularly in ACT (Flaxman & Bond, 2010a, 2010b, 2010c; McCracken, 2005). There is a focus on thinking about and using a wide range of options to deal with problems (e.g. working creatively, adaptively and flexibility). This means being willing to use diverse but overlapping approaches. Whilst it is understandable that mindfulness is becoming increasingly relevant in occu- pational and organisational psychology, its underpinning remains a point of polemic, sitting uneasily between Eastern and Western practice (Weick & Putnam, 2006).
The application of mindfulness at work History of mindfulness Mindfulness as an experiential practice has been in existence for thousands of years in a variety of forms. Jon Kabat-Zinn at the Univer- sity of Massachusetts Medical Centre, Centre for Mindfulness began to develop its use in the late 1970s in the area of chronic pain management. Together with colleagues in the United Kingdom and Canada (Teasdale et al., 2000) it was further adapted for use with particular clinical populations, and is now considered to be one of the so-called ‘third wave’ cognitive-behavioural therapies. There are two main strands: Mindfulness- based stress reduction and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. It is part of the field of inte- grative medicine within behavioural medicine and general health care and is offered in an accessible form relevant to the difficulties faced by patients suffering from a variety of physical and psychological illnesses (Burch & Penman, 2013). Mindfulness training is not tailored to any particular diagnosis.
Unlike traditional CBT, there is little on changing belief about the content of thoughts. Mindfulness training in MBCT encourages people to be more aware, moment-by-moment,
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of physical sensations, and of thoughts and feelings as mental events. Through this ‘in-the- moment’ experiencing, there develops an ability to ‘step back’, ‘detach’ and establish a ‘de-centred’ relationship to thoughts and feelings. A person learns to see thoughts and feelings simply as aspects of experience which move through our conscious awareness. These are not seen as an immutable ‘reality’ at any one moment in time or given a particular label. For example, I notice I am feeling agitated or feeling sadness at the moment, rather than ‘I am anxious’ or ‘I am depressed’.
Adapting mindfulness to developing resilience at work The use of mindfulness with ‘ordinary people in challenging circumstances’ is of particular interest for me. It can be offered to employees and managers at all levels, ranging from contact centre staff, train drivers, nurses, teachers to surgeons, and also to directors and chief executives of large organisations. Work has focused on dealing with issues such as training and development to manage stress at work, coaching and mentoring members of staff, to managing sickness absence, team development, dealing with conflict at work. (Schwartz, 2008). Specific mindfulness-based input has been developed to help staff in safety-critical areas increase awareness and focus, such as the work under- taken with train drivers (Schwartz, 2006) and bus drivers (CIRAS, 2018).
Mindfulness practice which focuses on ‘moment-by-moment’ experiencing allows for a mental or physical ‘pause’ or process of ‘stepping back’ in order to choose what to do. ‘Stepping back’ or mentally making space permits dis-engagement or detach- ment, establishing a ‘de-centred’ relation- ship to thoughts and feelings. The possibility then exists to be a neutral observer, taking a deliberate stance of ‘noticing’, allowing issues to ‘pass by’ in our ‘field of conscious- ness’ without frenzied attempts at control or active management. In other words, instead of focusing on the ‘content’ of our ‘field of consciousness’ (i.e. mental processes,
thoughts and feelings about the ‘problem’) as we may do according to traditional CBT models, we focus on the ‘context’ in which the experiences occur and generate psycho- logical flexibility (i.e. noticing, rather than trying to ‘control’ the problem, and ‘letting go’ rather than struggling to overcome).
As opposed to ‘thought stopping’, there is an emphasis on noticing and an acceptance of the thought without becoming preoccu- pied, engrossed or even engaged in it. The therapeutic approach ACT can be seen as complementary to mindfulness but will not be focused on here (Baer, 2010; Hayes et al., 2004). In practice, when encountering our customary ‘mental or psychological blocks’, we may try to fight, control or avoid them. Sometimes it is difficult to talk or think the way out of problems based on talking and thinking (e.g. conflict, ‘the recession’, impact of directives from ‘Government’). This is when simply standing back and noticing, practicing non-engagement and ‘letting-go’ within the mindfulness frame-of- reference comes into its own.
Flaxman (2009) recommends that we learn to become ‘…less entangled with the content of our “psychological stuff”, our mental baggage of thoughts, feelings and beliefs’. Research also shows the impact of mindfulness at work (Flaxman & Bond, 2007, 2010a, 2010b, 2010c). This work in the United Kingdom highlights the manner in which mindfulness as part of a package of stress management training (e.g. stress inocu- lation intervention over two half-day sessions) was found to reduce psychological distress across a three-month assessment period. It was reported that there was an increase in psychological flexibility rather than from a change in dysfunctional cognitive content.
Application and learning in the coaching psychology setting In order to engage individuals to work with the mindfulness approach, and to learn to build resilience, it is usually important to encourage a process of ‘standing back’ or reflection for a moment to consider the personal or work situa-
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tion. Passmore (2017b) highlights the practical use of a specific technique to encourage the coachee to stop, be still, take a few conscious breaths and notice what they are doing or feeling. Once they have done this and taken a ‘step back’, they are in a better position to observe their options before actively engaging with their priorities.
It is possible to explore the individu- al’s development of mindfulness practice by considering the concept of self-efficacy and recognising what it is that helps people to change. Bandura (1995) contends that research on the process of change has added to our understanding of essential ingredi- ents of effective interventions, which may be applied to health promotional activities or, for that matter, resilience-building applica- tions. He suggests four major components as (1) informational, designed to increase awareness and knowledge, (2) development of self-regulatory skills, where informed concerns are translated into effective habits, (3) building a robust sense of efficacy, through providing participants with repeated opportunities for guided practice in applying the skills they have been taught, and (4) enlisting and creating social supports for desired personal changes.
Making links between the individual and the environment is important, since there needs to be social or organisational as well as individual commitment to the process and practice of mindfulness (e.g. on-going regular practice). Crane et al. (2011) empha- sise regular practice as being essential for those engaged both in learning and in teaching mindfulness.
We need to bear in mind that, whilst mind- fulness should offer individuals an opportu- nity to ‘step back’ and be more aware (which may result in making more discerning deci- sions), it is not another stress-reduction tech- nique. When unacceptable situations arise within occupational or other contexts, mind- fulness skills can help the person become more aware of the need for change in the environment rather than assuming the need to adapt to that which is untenable.
Conclusion Increased interest and a variety of applica- tions of mindfulness is widely recognised by psychology practitioners. Its popularity has been fuelled by publications, government guidelines which recommend its use, media attention and widespread dissemination in workshops and teaching, both structured and of an ad hoc nature. Concerns have been raised regarding the speed at which it is being assimilated by Western psycholo- gists and public healthcare disciplines, about its academic base (Shonin, 2015) and the integrity of teaching mindfulness (Crane et al., 2011; 2012).
Whilst it is possible to examine resilience- building from within a cognitive and behav- ioural framework, this paper proposes that this makes it overly simplistic: both systemic and inter-personal dimensions, as well as conscious and unconscious motivations, affect thought, motivation and behaviour. Clinical, health, counselling and organisa- tional psychology recognise the impact of the spiritual dimensions in health care and the effect of handling highly charged emotions on the shadow side of organisations (Frost & Robinson, 2003). The role of the applied psychologist in using mindfulness to enhance resilience remains worthy of greater exami- nation. In promoting mindfulness here, we need to bear in mind both the scope for advancement as well as the need for inte- grated, ethical and competent engagement at individual, team and organisational levels.
This article is presented as a challenge to practitioners in the field of coaching psychology to debate and present innova- tive interventions founded on practice-based evidence to promote professional work in this developing area.
Correspondence Dr Anthony Schwartz Email: a.schwartz@staffs.ac.uk
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