Optimal Energy® – the book

There are not that many topics that have consistent application in all types of coaching. Optimising energy available to clients to fulfil their tasks is one of them. I would say that this topic is nowadays more often on the table than any of us as coaches would wish it to be. Why? Because this topic is as elusive as energy itself. However, Viv Chitty has taken this big challenge and put it at the centre of her exploration. She does this methodically and intelligently, unravelling complex concepts and offering practical ideas in a way that is clear and immediately applicable for our complex practice. A very important read for coaches and coaching supervisors.

Professor Tatiana Bachkirova, Professor of Coaching Psychology, Oxford Brookes University

You know that thing that to grow asparagus, you had to start 3 years ago? Well, Viv Chitty has done more years than that of research on energy, including an award-winning Masters degree. The result is we have this very serious, hugely important, and deeply research-based book, made available to us right when we need it, when the enduring pandemic has exhausted the world. It’s written for executive coaches, and will be required reading for that profession, but it should be core reading for medics, students, and anyone in business. Or health. Or the pro bono sector. Or government – particularly government.

Catherine Devitt, CEO, Meyler Campbell, Executive Coach, former Director of People and Development at Breakthrough Breastcancer Care and Director of HR HBOS Canada

Viv Chitty asserts that having optimal energy is essential for high performance and she is right. Many aspects of energy are thoroughly addressed here: physiological, emotional and cognitive including stress – all fundamentally important in life and in business.

Bringing appropriate attention to our energy levels has never been more necessary and Coaching for Optimal Energy: A Guide for Executive Coaches could not be more timely. I am delighted that the result of such important research is now available to coaches and their clients.

Edna Murdoch, Founder/Director of the Coaching Supervision Academy

This ground-breaking book is engaging from start to finish. Viv has produced a treasure trove of the many interrelated facets of energy; the physical, psychological, emotional, and cognitive. She combines evidence both from published research and lived experience. Her model of energy is the result of a deep dive into the literature on each of the facets and is combined with the results from interviews with her research partners, experienced executive coaches to develop her own unique model of energy. Examples of their work are threaded through each chapter to illustrate their approach to energy management.

She describes three overall categories of energy, optimal, sub-optimal and inappropriately high. These distinctions will resonate with readers who at times have met each of these levels in coaching sessions and who may not always have had the necessary knowledge to work successfully with them. Readers will find clearly presented facts on each of the facets and detailed diagrams of the related parts of the conceptual model. The chapters that follow take the reader into how to work with each aspect of the categories of energy in situ.

As I read each chapter I sensed Viv beside me, guiding me to think widely and deeply about energy, and to continue to develop awareness of my own and others’ levels. So that we can work effectively, and especially if you are new to this topic keep this book by you as a wise companion and guide.

Fiona Adamson, Executive Coach, Coach Supervisor, Co-Founder of the Coaching Supervision Academy, Author, retired academic and independent researcher