ABSTRACT
This chapter considers how the coach can help the coachee develop a flexible mindset and focuses on the central plank of a flexible mindset – attitudinal flexibility. For the coachee to develop and maintain a flexible attitude, they need to learn to keep their preference flexible. A flexible attitude comprises two components, namely: a preference component and an anti-rigid component. Most of the time, the coachee will see that it is their flexible attitude that will best help them to achieve their goals and objectives, and it is the anti-rigid component of this attitude that allows the coachee to act on their preference in the healthiest way possible. Without coachees acting in ways that are consistent with their flexible attitudes and doing so while facing adversity, these attitudes will not take root and will just be held theoretically, without influencing behaviour, thinking and emotion. The development of attitudinal flexibility depends on repeated action in the face of adversity.
