How coaching can help you move forward with confidence

I invite you to think back to a time when you had help to achieve something in work, in your home life or with a creative project. You may have been feeling stuck with a relationship issue, perhaps your career was not going in the right direction, or a lack of confidence was holding you back from achieving your potential. How did having a skilled helper progress you further and make things happen more than if you were on your own? 

We have so much more potential than we give ourselves credit for, and with a coach, you can go that extra bit further to get where you want to go. This article will help you explore how coaching can provide practical strategies to support change. 

You might know you have the skills and ability to make change happen, but it might feel overwhelming. You know the barriers that are currently in your path, but can't see past them. There are too many conflicting agendas, and you feel like you are falling down a rabbit hole, out of control. It might be that your career is feeling a little stagnant, motivation and confidence are lower than you would like, and relationships seem confusing.

We are capable of helping ourselves to find solutions and strategies to move forward. In fact, we do this every day. We get up and get our stuff done; we make things happen all the time.  

Six coaching approaches that support confidence

Whether you are looking to progress in your career, manage a recent diagnosis, find positivity realistically, address conflict in relationships, or increase self-belief, here are some helpful steps to help increase your confidence and make things happen.

Tune into what is really going on 

As we reflect on learning in any given situation, we can use the Triple Loop Learning Model to drill down into our underlying assumptions, values and motivations.  

As in the Triple Loop Learning Model, we can ask ourselves:

• Loop 1: "Are we doing things right?"
• Loop 2: "Are we doing the right things?"
•  Loop 3: "How do we decide what's right?"

These are really helpful questions to ask ourselves. These then lead into generating ideas and ways of moving forward that may not previously been considered. Loop 3 is particularly helpful in considering a change of perspectives.

Generate new perspectives

Questioning our perspectives is an effective way to generate new ideas and strategies in life. It can be helpful to work with a coach to consider different perspectives on how you are seeing things, as they can provide an impartial viewpoint. A coach can also bring in other ways of looking at a given situation.

There may be 'blind spots'that you had not considered. Working with someone else can help highlight things you might miss on your own. Understanding the other person's frame of reference, which might come as a surprise, as it is totally different to how you saw it, can help you with clarity and focus. 

Get creative

If we generate as many possibilities as we can and suspend judgment to reflect on new perspectives, we produce options that will make the most difference in our lives. Working with another person can help to generate twice as many ideas to take forward. In devising new strategies, it can help with feeling more in control and having a new direction. 

Strategies that work

What do you have in place that is already working? A strength-based approach means that you tap into existing strengths, skills and knowledge. Coaching can help map this out, helping you get more from it rather than starting from scratch.

Factor in support

Don't forget to enlist your cheerleaders. Who can help you make things happen? Who has your back? Who also wants to see you succeed? This might be in providing feedback on your skills and abilities, taking tasks off your plate, singing your praises to others, providing helpful introductions to networking, and making you feel good. Support can be a key factor in increasing those all-important confidence levels.

Appreciate achievement

Finally, take time for your reflective practice to write it down, feed it into your favourite app, or voice record it. Be really appreciative of yourself, so as you take a step in one direction, reflect on what strategy or mindset has made it happen and then take the next step – keep being compassionate to yourself.