An academic paper released by the University of Nebraska written by Fred Luthans and Carolyn Youssef-Morgan in 2017 created a new perspective on Psychological Capital.
Much of that explained in the paper is not new to the coaching community, but there are some useful insights in their approach. The use of an acronym, “HERO” is helpful in simplifying what can be a complicated subject. The constituents of HERO were explained thus:
- “H” stood for HOPE: the positive motivational state.
- “E” for EFFICACY: the confidence an individual has in his/her capacity to complete a given task.
- “R” stood for RESILIENCE: the ability to rebound or bounce back after adversity.
- “O” for OPTIMISM: a style that accentuates the positive over the negative.
The paper admits there is more work to be done to add to these key constituents, but coaches will have experienced, used and understood these constituents on a daily basis.
The paper asserts that an individual’s psychological capital is made up from: nature-nurture (50%), circumstances such as age, income, appearance, residency (10%), leaving 40% of its makeup under our own control and which can be purposefully shaped. It goes on to support the idea that all four of the key constituents of Psychological Capital can be developed through careful and selective training and coaching – nothing new here ! It confirms that in the past psychological interventions were reserved for ‘fixing’ mental illness and dysfunctional behaviour, but that such interventions are now used readily for developing individuals enriching the 40% available to influence.
Another interesting aspect discussed by the authors was the “Copernican Effect”. Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance-era mathematician and astronomer, who formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than Earth at the centre of the universe. This paradigm shift away from the hitherto accepted layout of the planetary system was likened by the authors to the theory that rather than success leading to positivity, positivity is the antecedent to success. My assertion is that there is scope for both theories to have a place in enriching psychological capital.
This is an interesting paper, full of academic references, but one which I feel would be a good read for coaches and coach supervisors.
The full paper can be found at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1174&context=managementfacpub
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