IX Coach

Coaching approaches

PERMA-based wellbeing coaching

PERMA-based wellbeing coaching uses the five elements in Martin Seligman's PERMA model (positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning and accomplishment) as the map for a coaching conversation. You and the coach look at how strong each element feels, which one you want to strengthen, and what small action might move it. The research behind this is on positive psychology interventions in general. Meta-analyses report benefits for wellbeing, and a later re-analysis argues that the effects are much smaller once small-sample bias is taken into account. None of the sources checked for this page is a controlled outcome study of PERMA-based coaching as a distinct form.

What it is

A PERMA-based session treats wellbeing as more than the absence of distress. The conversation is organised around five elements that Seligman proposed: positive emotion, engagement, positive relationships, meaning, and accomplishment. You and the coach look at which elements are strong, which are thin, and which one you would most like to change.

The method is a framework for conversation rather than a fixed programme. The coach uses the model to choose questions and small experiments, and to track change over weeks. Because the model treats wellbeing as several separate parts, progress can show up in one element even while the others stay the same.

Where it comes from

The PERMA model comes from Martin Seligman's work in positive psychology. Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's 2000 article introduced positive psychology as a field of study (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000), and Seligman later set out the five elements of PERMA as building blocks of wellbeing (Seligman, 2018).

Using the model in coaching is a later application of that framework. The sources checked for this page do not include a separate founding study of PERMA-based coaching.

The principles underneath

Five elements, not one score

Wellbeing is treated as several separate parts, so a low rating in one area does not define the whole picture. Whether the five parts can be measured separately is not settled by the sources checked for this page.

Start from what already works

The conversation begins with the elements that already feel strong and asks how they might support a weaker one.

Absorption and meaning as real goals

Engagement and meaning are treated as legitimate targets to work toward, not only as feelings to fix.

Small actions for relationships and accomplishment

Connection and achievement are approached through concrete actions, such as one conversation or one finished task in a week.

Measure to notice change

A short self-rating across the five elements gives a starting point and a way to see movement over time. A brief published measure built on the model is the PERMA-Profiler (Butler & Kern, 2016).

How a session runs

  1. Start by saying what you want from the conversation and what has been good recently.
  2. Rate each of the five elements on a simple scale, and say briefly what lies behind each rating.
  3. Choose the element you most want to change, and describe what it would look like in an ordinary week.
  4. Look for times when that element was already present, even briefly, and what made those times possible.
  5. Agree one small action for the coming week that draws on an element that is already working.
  6. At the next session, review the action and the ratings together, and decide whether to keep, change or drop the experiment.

When it tends to fit

  • Your life is not clearly going wrong, but you feel stuck and cannot name what is missing.
  • One area, such as work, takes most of your energy, and the others quietly fade.
  • You have a sense of what matters to you but no clear way to turn it into weekly actions.

What the research shows

Evidence: Some peer-reviewed studies

Peer-reviewed meta-analyses report benefits from positive psychology interventions in general. A meta-analysis of 51 such interventions, with 4,266 participants, found that they enhanced wellbeing and reduced depressive symptoms (Sin & Lyubomirsky, 2009). A meta-analysis of randomised controlled studies of positive psychology interventions has also been published (Bolier et al., 2013). White, Uttl and Holder (2019) re-analysed the studies in those meta-analyses. Taking small-sample bias into account, they found the effect on wellbeing was small but significant (about r = .10), and the effect on depression was variable and generally not significant. Seligman, Steen, Park and Peterson (2005) addressed how such interventions can be empirically validated. The PERMA framework itself is set out in Seligman (2018), and a brief multidimensional measure of flourishing built on it was reported by Butler and Kern (2016). This page did not find a controlled outcome study of PERMA-based coaching as a distinct form.

Where the evidence is thin: The studies are of positive psychology interventions in general, which vary widely in content and length, and the re-analysis finds smaller effects than the original meta-analyses. None of them, as far as this page can see, tested PERMA-based coaching as its own form. The tier S is a rating of the peer-reviewed research on the parent approach; it is not evidence for this coaching form.

Sources

  1. Seligman, M. E. P. (2018). PERMA and the building blocks of well-being. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 13(4), 333–335.
  2. Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction. American Psychologist, 55(1), 5–14.
  3. Seligman, M. E. P., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60(5), 410–421.
  4. Sin, N. L., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2009). Enhancing well-being and alleviating depressive symptoms with positive psychology interventions: A practice-friendly meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 65(5), 467–487.
  5. Bolier, L., Haverman, M., Westerhof, G. J., Riper, H., Smit, F., & Bohlmeijer, E. (2013). Positive psychology interventions: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled studies. BMC Public Health, 13, 119.
  6. Butler, J., & Kern, M. L. (2016). The PERMA-Profiler: A brief multidimensional measure of flourishing. International Journal of Wellbeing, 6(3), 1–48.
  7. White, C. A., Uttl, B., & Holder, M. D. (2019). Meta-analyses of positive psychology interventions: The effects are much smaller than previously reported. PLOS ONE, 14(5), e0216588.

Where it stops

PERMA coaching is aimed at everyday wellbeing. It is not designed to treat depression, anxiety or trauma. If low mood or hopelessness has lasted for weeks, a doctor or a qualified therapist is the right first contact.

A wellbeing model can make a hard situation sound like a set of scores. When money trouble, a relationship breakdown or grief is driving things, the five elements do not replace practical help or someone who knows your situation.

Practices for this approach

Practice this with IX Coach

Try this practice