Originally Posted on The Coaching Tools Company as Unlocking Success: 5 Ways to Grow Your Confidence | by Dr. Sarah Evans MCC
| In her previous article, Build Your Confidence: Powerful Insights from Leaders, Dr. Sarah Evans shared key lessons from successful leaders and practical exercises to strengthen self-belief. This new piece builds on that foundation.
Confidence isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s a critical factor in leadership and success. Yet, even the most accomplished professionals sometimes question themselves: “Am I really ready for this?” The good news? Confidence isn’t fixed—it can be built and strengthened. In this guest article, Dr. Sarah Evans explores why confidence matters and shares five practical ways to develop it. Whether you’re coaching others or working on your own self-belief, these strategies will help you step forward with assurance. Let’s dive in! |
As coaches, not only can we grow and develop our own confidence; we can also support our coaching clients in doing the same.
I have a brilliant coaching client, a successful leader who is on a succession track to be promoted to a C-suite role. When sharing this news, I was surprised to hear her say that she needed to work on her confidence.
Confidence is a Critical Ingredient of Success
Some fascinating research conducted by the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) [1] indicates that confidence is a critical ingredient and consistent indicator of leaders’ success. And there is a significant correlation with other concepts such as self-efficacy, growth mindset, psychological capital, and expectations for success.
Without confidence, all other leadership skills, no matter how strong, cannot come together effectively. If you don’t believe in yourself, then why should anyone else?
What is Confidence?
Simply put, confidence is the answer to the question “can I do this?” This is an honest, humble, intrinsic, self-measurement. For my client, the question was “can I do a C-suite leadership role?” The response was “I think so, but I want to be able to say a resounding yes.” So, in we dug!
Take a moment to consider what your “this” might be and how you would respond.
Confidence is also the expectation that an individual or group can achieve some task, goal, or outcome.
Confident leaders ask themselves questions like:
- How am I doing compared to last time?
- How can I leverage my strengths and past experience to navigate the unknown?
- How can I/we hold a calm assurance and optimism that “I/We’ve got this” in this moment of fear, anxiety, or uncertainty?
Confidence is not narcissism, nor is it arrogance.
Confidence can be Grown and Developed
Like motivation, confidence ebbs and flows for all of us. It can be threatened at any time, by situations and circumstances that may be anticipated or arise without warning.
The good news is that there are practices and strategies that we can turn to – to both develop as well as effectively renew or restore our confidence.
During our coaching sessions, my client focused on the following.
5 Ways to Bolster Confidence:
- Use visualization to rehearse. We know from neuroscience that visualizing a body movement activates exactly the same areas of the brain as does the actual movement. Our body literally acts ‘as if’ (this is in no way the same as ‘fake it ‘til you make it!). So, visualize yourself doing your “this”.
Visualizing yourself doing something in the future can serve as a ‘rehearsal’ for the activity, reducing some of the stress you may be feeling and giving you a chance to imagine how you might overcome certain obstacles that could arise. Also, when you imagine your success, you’ll be more attuned to opportunities that can get you there.
- Amplify strengths—both your own and those around you. Research from Gallup[2] indicates that those who can hone in on and leverage their strengths are not only more confident, but also more engaged at work and more likely to achieve their goals.
- Do you know your strengths? (Feel free to ask those around you to share what strengths they observe in you.)
- How and where can you leverage these strengths more intentionally?
- Practice reframing—a technique that involves looking at a situation or thought from another perspective. How we think about challenges and our ability to navigate them dictates how we approach them? My colleague, Monique Valcour suggests that when we:
“See problems as puzzles, not roadblocks, we naturally become solution-oriented; Shift our focus from fear to preparation, we increase both confidence and effectiveness.”
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- If you are feeling stuck in the face of a challenge, how can you view this from a different perspective(s)?
“Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right.” ― Henry Ford
- Engage in positive self-talk. Self-talk is the inner narrative you hold about yourself – it’s your inner voice. What you tell yourself matters and influences how you see yourself and the world around you.
Regular positive self-talk can help you to feel more confident in achieving your goals as well as finding workarounds should challenges arise.
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- What can you tell yourself to inspire your best efforts?
- Focus on small wins—In other words, take a first step that feels manageable. Find a way to prepare for big challenges by succeeding at something small that gets the ball rolling in that direction, building momentum – and your confidence. For example, before you can write a book – write a sentence, then a paragraph, then a page, then a chapter, then…
Wrap-Up
Confidence matters for the betterment of each of us, leaders, groups, organizations, and our communities.
What one wise action might you take to strengthen your confidence? Share with us in the comments below.
References:
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If you enjoyed this article, you may also like:
- Build Your Confidence: Powerful Insights from Leaders (with Coaching Exercise) | by Dr Sarah Evans MCC
- Self-Confidence for Coaches: 3 Activities to Assess Confidence | by Lynda Monk MSW, RSW, CPCC
- Coaching Tools 101: Boost Confidence with this Easy, Fun “Role Model” Coaching Exercise!
