In this succinct post, our mental toughness partner Michelle Bakjac at Bakjac Consulting explores the research and relevance of coaching for mental toughness.
Mental Toughness is the ability to consistently perform toward the upper range of your talent and skill regardless of competitive circumstances.
Resilience, hardiness and Mental Toughness are all concepts that are high in our focus at present given the ever increasing stressors we face. It has been proposed that “Mental Toughness can have a buffering effect between stressful life events and illness” (Clough et al 2008.)
Mental Toughness is the ability to manage our thinking so that we can continue to perform at optimum levels despite challenging circumstances.
Coaching is now widely accessed in a broad range of organisations and by individuals to assist with both professional and personal development as well as career progression. Coaching can be utilised to assist:
- Feeling in control, professionally and personally
- Managing emotional responses to challenging situations
- Coping with significant organisational or personal change
- Finding ways of maintaining commitment to processes or change programmes
- Enhancing self-confidence at work or in social settings.
Research into the relationship between coaching and Mental Toughness is showing a correlation between coaching and the elements that constitute Mental Toughness: self-efficacy, cognitive hardiness, enhanced goal striving, higher expectations about outcomes and environmental mastery (Grant 2009).
Coaching has an important part to play in supporting people to develop appropriate levels of Mental Toughness. And if coaching’s primary function is about increasing awareness and a sense of personal responsibility then the potential role of psychometric measures also becomes evident.
The MTQ48 Mental Toughness Questionnaire can form an excellent basis for self-reflection and exploration relating to a person’s capacity to manage CHALLENGE assess their CONFIDENCE, review their COMMITMENT to stick to tasks and CONTROL their goals moving forward.
How could you benefit from Mental Toughness assessment and Coaching?
Contact Michelle Bakjac at Bakjac Consulting on 0412047590 or via email michelle@bakjacconsulting.com.au