I recently read Jonathan Haidt’s, “The Happiness Hypothesis” and pondered several times how elements from his work apply to coaching teachers. When might increased teacher happiness lead to increased student learning? What role can coaching play in that connection? Haidt presents a metaphor that can be helpful in a coaching approach: the elephant and the rider. Working together, the rider represents our rational, planning, problem-solving self that sets goals, analyzes progress, and decides what we should do next. The elephant symbolizes our emotional, intuitive self with the instinctive reactions that show up when a lesson flops, a student refuses to engage, or a new initiative feels overwhelming.
When stress surfaces in teaching, it’s often the elephant reacting first:
- “I must not be good at this.”
- “This will never work.”
- “I can’t handle one more change.”
Meanwhile, the rider tries to reason through the moment:
- “Is there evidence that students are improving.”
- “I can adjust the approach tomorrow.”
- “Other teachers have made this shift successfully.”
Instructional coaching often focuses on the rider: strategies, data, and classroom practices. But coaching is also about helping teachers with the elephant: the emotional terrain of teaching. The elephant is stronger. If emotion and logic pull in different directions, emotion usually wins. In schools, that “threat” often comes from vulnerability: trying new practices, taking risks in front of students, or opening classroom doors for coaching and collaboration.
Coaches help riders and elephants move together, acknowledging stress while reframing it as a sign of growth, not failure. When teachers see the discomfort of modifying practice as evidence that learning is happening for them, the emotional load can shift. Progress becomes empowering rather than exhausting. Supporting teachers to reinterpret stress is essential to building the confidence and joy that keep great teachers thriving.
Haidt offers this formula for Happiness: Happiness = Set Point + Conditions + Voluntary Activities (H=S+C+V)
Set Point (S)- We each have a natural “baseline” level of happiness influenced by genetics and temperament. Teachers bring this baseline with them into their professional lives. Coaches can’t change someone’s wiring—but they can help teachers regulate emotional responses and build confidence that nudges that baseline upward over time. Consider how coaching conversations create opportunities for coachees to reflect on initial interpretations of events. A common coaching moment occurs when a teacher expresses concern that none of the students are engaging in the learning plan she is implementing. As the coaching conversation continues, her description identifies areas of success with some students, and the problem involves a smaller number of students that a plan can be built to address.
“Events in the world affect us only through our interpretations of them, so if we control our interpretations, we can control our world.”
(Haidt)
Conditions (C)- Conditions are environmental and organizational factors that can influence daily experiences such as workload, expectations, collegial relationships, and support from leadership. These are areas where coaching and school leadership can have direct impact. Improving conditions reduces stress and isolation, both key drivers of burnout. From the earliest days of my work with coaching, including peer coaching, I have described the valuable impact of teachers receiving feedback/recognition for their commitment to students as well as celebrating student learning success. Coaches can influence conditions not only through individual conversations, but by helping teams normalize risk-taking, reflection, and recognition of effort as well as outcomes.
Voluntary Activities (V)- These are the chosen actions people engage in that create purpose and joy:
- Trying a new instructional strategy
- Collaborating with a colleague
- Reflecting on student progress
- Setting personal learning goals
Pleasure comes more from making progress toward goals than from achieving them.
(Haidt)
Coaches fuel happiness when they support teachers in selecting and pursuing meaningful professional growth that connects to evidence of student success. When teachers choose their focus, effort feels purposeful rather than imposed. This contributes to both happiness and persistence. Agency transforms effort from compliance into commitment.
Coaching for happiness does not mean avoiding challenges or protecting teachers from discomfort. It means helping teachers interpret challenge as meaningful, discomfort as temporary, and progress as real. When coaches attend to conditions and support teachers’ voluntary efforts toward growth, happiness becomes less about feeling good and more about feeling capable, supported, and hopeful. In that space, teachers persist and students benefit from educators who believe their work is making a difference.
Haidt’s formula reinforces a powerful idea: teacher happiness grows where support, autonomy, and progress intersect. When coaches shape healthier conditions and engage teachers in learning that visibly impacts student success, happiness becomes part of the culture rather than an individual pursuit.
