In her post, The Positivity Trap: How Upbeat Coaches Can Kill Client Results, Krista Scott-Dixon writes that leaning too far into positive feedback can get in the way of a client’s work. Since I agree with her premise, I thought I’d pass along her post.
http://www.precisionnutrition.com/positivity-trap
Scott-Dixon is writing this for personal trainers at gyms, but her advice holds for anyone who coaches others – that obviously includes card-carrying executive coaches as well as managers, project leaders, consultants, you name it. It’s all about energy, and too much empty praise can actually diminish our energy.
After offering solid rationale for her point-of-view, she offers practical tips, and then in the What to Do Next section she begins with, “If you own a cheesy motivational poster and you regularly share it with clients, do this instead: Burn it.
Warning. The post ends with a call-to-action to get involved in their training. While I am a big fan of their approach, I am not including this link as an endorsement.