Increasing Self Efficacy

Humans are multifaceted, and understanding your clients and patients will help you coach them more effectively. An important aspect to know when dealing with individuals is their level of self-efficacy. But why is it important and how can it help clients in their daily lives?

Self-efficacy is the “conviction that one can successfully execute the behavior required to produce the outcomes” (1). In other words, it is the belief in your ability to accomplish a desired task. As you can imagine, our beliefs in our abilities affect all aspects of our lives. People with a higher level of self-efficacy will pursue activities and embrace challenges they believe they can handle while those with a lower level will avoid or shy away from activities they perceive as difficult.

When Moses was called to liberate the children of Israel, he revealed his level of self-efficacy on Mt. Horeb. In just one conversation with God, Moses went from being a shepherd who kept his father-in-law’s flock (2) to a self-doubting reluctant leader (3). He perceived his inability to lead Israel from Egypt, but also he doubted God’s ability to use him.

We may encounter similar clients like Moses. Clients shrink from new challenges because they have little to no faith in their abilities. We may also see clients with the opposite tendency: individuals who have inflated faith in their abilities but are ill-equipped for the project they want to undertake. No matter our client’s mindset, we should understand who they are and how we can help them increase their self-efficacy and their trust in God.

In Bandura’s self-efficacy theory, he mentioned four ways self-efficacy is developed. They are “performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion and physiological states” (1). To summarize each:

• Performance accomplishments are experiences gained from past successes.
• Vicarious experiences are when clients observe others accomplish tasks. This builds hope in the clients’ abilities.
• Verbal persuasion is words and affirmations that encourage clients to embrace a challenge.
• Physiological states (or emotional arousal) are how clients feel about performing a task or goal.

Out of these four, performance accomplishments are the most influential in strengthening self-efficacy (1). When we help our clients remember their previous accomplishments and how The Lord led them in the past, they gain empowerment for present and future tasks.

All abilities come from The Lord God. Discovering your clients’ levels of self-efficacy will better help you walk alongside them in their journeys and help them navigate new projects and challenges that come their way.