In 1999 another interview was conducted with 75 executives in Fortune 100 companies who were participating in executive coaching. The results of their qualitative study showed evidence of positive affective reactions, self-reported learning, and self-reported change in behavior as a result of the coaching they had received. More specifically, some of the learning had to do with developing new attitudes or perspectives, such as increased self-confidence, self-awareness, and sensitivity to others. (Feldman & Lankau, 2005)
In 2003 Wasylyshyn conducted a survey of 87 executives and asked them to cite indications that their coaching experiences were successful. Forty five percent cited that they were more effective leaders (e.g. increased optimism, better confidence and motivational ability). (Feldman & Lankau, 2005)
In 2009, 45 undergraduate students with ADHD and/or LD participated in a study of their experiences with coaching. To get a more in-depth understanding of these student’s perspectives on how coaching helped them, seven of them participated in two interviews. These students reported that, unlike traditional campus services, coaching focused on supporting their emerging autonomy, which helped them develop and maintain their executive function skills and promoted their self-efficacy and confidence about future success. A second benefit they reported was enhanced self-awareness. The coaching helped them gain greater insight into their intrinsic and extrinsic barriers to achieving their goals as well as increasing their confidence about being able to overcome these challenges. Over time, they began to coach themselves and their anxiety decreased, allowing more effective problem solving and increasing their self-confidence in their ability to set goals, create a plan for achieving them, and follow through on them successfully. (Parker & Boutelle, 2009)
How Can Coaches Support Their Client’s in Improving Self-Confidence?
One place coaches can start supporting client’s in improving their self-confidence is by building their self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s capabilities to achieve something specific. In order to do this, coaches can explore with their clients how effective they believe they are in handling and performing specific tasks. One of the leading researchers into self-efficacy is Albert Bandura. His theory of self-efficacy explains the relationship between a person’s belief in their abilities and how well they actually performed a task. When people have high self-efficacy in an area, they think, feel, and behave in a way that adds to their success and sense of personal satisfaction. In general, high self-efficacy affects a person’s motivation, choices, toughness, and determination. Therefore, self-confidence can be improved by way of self-efficacy. In doing so, a client may be able to identify areas where they need to improve and then determine action steps to do so. (Mindtools.com, 2012)
A second area to work on in order to build self-confidence is to help the client become more aware of their thoughts, feelings, and what they are paying attention to. This awareness brings a greater ability to manage those thoughts and feelings. The client may begin to recognize the difference between destructive thought patterns and constructive analysis. Coaches may ask their clients about the truth in their thoughts and what they can learn from them. (Whitworth, Kimsey-House, & Sandahl,1998) Coaches can also encourage their clients to become fully engaged with their feelings, even those they don’t like.
When clients are able to accept life – including the parts that are hard to be with – it gives them more versatility and self-confidence. (Whitworth, Kimsey-House, & Sandahl,1998, pg. 147)
In his book, Anatomy of the Soul Dr. Thompson describes how paying attention to what we are paying attention to can actually change our brains.
It is one thing to pay attention to something. It is quite another to pay attention to what we are paying attention to, especially the activity of the mind itself. It requires a deeper activation of the mind to select and attend to those things that we are not practiced at attending to, especially the very activity of the mind itself. For the way we attend to elements of our experience wires our brains in certain patterns – and the way we attend to others’ minds (particularly our children’s) influences the wiring of their brains as well. (Thompson, 2010, pg. 53)
According to Dr. Hankin, in her book Complete Confidence, there are three skills that you need to train your brain to master in order to develop and permanently maintain a calm, mature, self-respecting, confident relationship with yourself. The first one is comfort, which is the skill to quickly soothe yourself when negative feelings flood the brain and body. The second is trust, which is the skill to manage conflict calmly and directly in order to maintain and protect your self-respect. And the third is accountability, the skill to make good decisions that the person believes are right and the commitment to follow through on them. (Hankin, 2008) As coaches support their clients in gaining these skills they will be building their confidence in their ability to handle life.
Finally, confidence is gained as people accomplish things that are aligned with their values and beliefs.
When we lack confidence we are indecisive and uncertain. We doubt ourselves. Making decisions makes us confident. It is making a choice. We don’t need to make decision making difficult as there is no wrong or right, there are no absolutes. We learn from everything we do. In making a decision think about what is best for you at that moment. You will gain great insights from your intuition. Make the decision and move forward. Every step you take in moving forward will give great confidence. (Confidence, ICA module Level 1)
As coaches assist clients in coming up with goals that are aligned with their values, hold them accountable to the action steps they establish to reach those goals, and acknowledge them as they make progress toward their goals, they will be significantly improving their self-confidence.
Conclusion
Confident people are full of energy and they believe that anything is within their capability because they do not strive for the ridiculous or insurmountable. (Hankin, 2008, pg. 172)
Coaches can be a wonderful part in building their client’s self-confidence. When clients are truly self-confident they can take full advantage of the coaching process because they will have the energy, trust, and determination to move forward toward achieving their goals and their life purpose.