As a coach, empowering the people that are involved in your session(s) is high priority, particularly when you are looking to build or sustain their participation. Above and beyond this, empowered people can develop higher levels of resilience as a result of having greater levels of autonomy and more.
Self-determination theory is a popular way of understanding motivation in a coaching context. This theory suggests that intrinsic and self-determined motivation are likely to arise when an individual’s three basic psychological needs are met:
- Autonomy (choices available that link to their values, more than being given options).
- Competence (feeling that they can positively contribute to the environment or task).
- Relatedness (finding connection to and being understood by others).
Read more about this theory in Self-Determination Theory: A Person-Centred Approach.