Jonathan Haidt’s, “The Happiness Hypothesis,“ presents a helpful metaphor for coaching: the elephant and the rider. The elephant symbolizes our emotional, intuitive self—the instinctive reactions that show up when a lesson flops, a student refuses to engage, or a new initiative feels overwhelming. The rider represents our rational, planning, problem-solving self that sets goals, analyzes progress, and decides what we should do next.
Coaching for happiness does not mean avoiding challenges or protecting teachers from discomfort. Rather, it means helping teachers interpret challenges as meaningful, discomfort as temporary, and progress as real.
Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or visit BarkleyPD.com to find new episodes!
Podcast Transcript:
[00:00:00.000] – Steve [Intro]
Welcome to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast. As instructional coaches and school leaders, you are tasked with guiding continuous teacher growth to create student success. This podcast looks to support you with strategies from experienced guests, as well as my own insights that I’ve gathered over the years. I’m thrilled to have you with us. Thanks for tuning in.
[00:00:29.280] – Steve
Coaching for Happiness: Aligning the Elephant and the Rider. As I read Jonathan Haidt’s book, “The Happiness Hypothesis,” I 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. His metaphor is the elephant and the rider. The elephant symbolizes our emotional, intuitive self with the instinctive reactions that show up whenever a lesson flops or a student refuses to engage or a new initiative feels overwhelming. When stress surfaces in teaching, it’s often the elephant reacting first. Teachers may say these things either to themselves or possibly out loud to a coach: “I should have known this wouldn’t work. I can’t handle one more change. Nothing doing makes a difference. If I change, it means that what I was doing previously was wrong. Here we go again. This will disappear in two years. I can’t absorb one more change. This isn’t realistic.” When a problem or a challenge emerges, the rider responds differently. The rider represents our rational, planning, problem-solving self that may set goals, analyze progress, and consider decisions about what we should do next.
[00:02:46.000] – Steve
Our rider voice might sound like this: “What evidence shows that students are improving? I can adjust this approach next time. Other teachers have made this shift successfully, so I should be able to. What patterns am I noticing? What expectations may need reteaching? I’m wondering what relationship building move could shift this. Is there a colleague here that I might learn from?” Instructional coaching often focuses on the rider – strategies, data, classroom practices. But coaching has to be about helping teachers with the elephant, the emotional terrain of teaching. The elephant is stronger. If emotion and logic pull in different directions, emotion almost always wins. In schools, that threat often comes from vulnerability. It could be from trying new practices, taking a risk in front of our students, or opening our classroom doors for coaching and collaboration. Coaches help riders and elephants move together, acknowledging stress while reframing it as a sign of growth, not a sign of 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 interpret stress is essential to building the confidence and the joy that keep great teachers thriving.
[00:05:03.000] – Steve
Consider how supporting teachers that way connects to student learning. Haidt offers a formula for happiness. The formula is H=S+C+V. That translates happiness equals S – set point, plus C – conditions, plus V -voluntary activities. Let’s explore S, C, and V. The S, set point. We each have a natural baseline level of happiness that’s influenced by our genetics and our 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 can nudge that baseline upward over time. Consider how coaching conversations create opportunities for a coachee to reflect on their initial interpretation of an event. A common coaching moment that I’ve experienced occurs when a teacher expresses frustration. It may sound like this: “None of the students are engaging in the learning plan that I’ve put together.” That’s the elephant speaking. As I question for more clarity, it often emerges that several students were actually strongly engaged, and a few other students students were partially engaged in the learning behaviors that the teacher wanted. As the coaching conversation continues, the problem is defined as a smaller number of students who were really unengaged.
[00:07:15.580] – Steve
Now the writer can consider plans for progress. Here’s a quote from Haidt: “Events in the world affect us only through our interpretations of them. So if we control our interpretations, we can control our world.” That means it’s powerful for coaches to assist teachers in working through the emotions and their interpretations. The C in heights equation is for conditions. Conditions are environmental and organizational factors that influence our daily experiences. Things like our workload, expectations, collegial relationships, and it could be support from leadership. These are areas where coaches and school leadership can have direct impact. In his book, “Triage your School: A Physician’s Guide to Preventing Burnout,” Dr. Chris Jensen describes some of the driving forces of burnout, the volume of work, loss of control, feelings of isolation, the inability to escape work, and the fear of disappointing others. If we improve conditions, what can happen in the classroom, both for teachers and students? Improving conditions coachings can reduce stress and isolation. From the earliest days of my work with coaching, including peer coaching, I’ve described the valuable impact of teachers receiving feedback and recognition for their commitment to their students, as well as opportunities for celebrating student learning success.
[00:09:28.000] – Steve
Coaches can influence conditions not only through individual conversations, but by helping teams to normalize risk-taking, reflection, and recognition of effort as well as outcomes. Instructional coaches and school leaders should continually work to build teamwork – teamwork that generates collective teacher efficacy. Teachers working as teams can impact conditions. That’s part of what Jensen describes as triaging schools. The V in Haidt’s formula is for voluntary activities. Voluntary activities are chosen actions that people engage in to create or increase purpose and joy. Chosen actions – that’s a key. Voluntary actions strengthen when three things are present. First, the elephant feels safe. Second, the rider sees purpose. And third, the direction aligns with the teacher’s identity. Haidt reminds us that voluntary action isn’t simply a matter of deciding to change. “The rider can set goals, but the elephant must feel safe enough to move.” Coaching that increases autonomy helps the elephant relax. Coaching that builds competence helps the elephant gain confidence. Coaching that strengthens relatedness helps the elephant feel safe. Teachers who are engaging in voluntary actions might be observed trying a new instructional strategy, collaborating with a colleague, reflecting on student progress, and setting personal learning goals. I found this statement from Haidt really insightful concerning teacher goals and coaching.
[00:11:51.600] – Steve
“Pleasure comes more from making progress towards goals than from achieving them. What happens for students when teachers choose growth rather than comply with it? When teachers feel less isolated and more supported, they are more willing to take instructional risk. When happiness increases, willingness to experiment grows. All this leads to instructional growth on the teacher’s part, and that impacts student learning. In schools, this means instructional coaching isn’t just about building better plans. It’s about aligning emotion, identity, and purpose with those plans. Coaches fuel happiness when they support teachers in selecting and pursuing meaningful professional growth that generates evidence of student success. When teachers choose their focus, effort feels purposeful rather than imposed, and this contributes to both happiness and persistence. Agency transforms from compliance to 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 towards 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.”
[00:14:14.440] – Steve
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. As you enter your next coaching conversation, ask yourself, am I speaking only to the writer or am I helping the elephant feel safe enough to move? When both move together, teachers grow. And when teachers grow, students benefit. Thanks for listening. I wish you great happiness in your work as a coach. You can always reach out to me at barkleyd.com with your thoughts or questions.
[00:15:28.320] – Steve [Outro]
Thanks for listening, folks. To hear what you’re pondering. You can find me on Twitter or LinkedIn at Steve Barkley, or send me your questions and find my videos and blogs at barkleypd.com.
