I am often contacted by professional women who are concerned that they may have hit the ‘glass ceiling’. They feel stuck, and so seek out coaching as a way to break down the barriers to achieving the career success they want. Many are worried that their male colleagues are overtaking them when it comes to promotions and career advancement. Some feel they are not on a level playing field, often due to family commitments, and the outdated perceptions which unfortunately still prevail - that child care is mostly a woman’s responsibility. 

A lack of confidence is often a major factor for many female clients. They report feelings of ‘imposter syndrome’ and worry that they are not really worthy of a promotion. When it comes to women in senior roles, there are three key factors identified in the Lord Davies Report that are holding women back. These are;

• The “natural” differences in confidence between men and women

• Women deselect themselves from personal development, and when it’s available they often take a step back and allow others to take advantage 

• They are less comfortable networking and have less access to it  (partly due to the fact that networking traditionally happens at those times when they are looking after the home and family)

• Women are the home-builders and still tend to do the majority of parenting.

Lord Davies is working with the Government to help address these issues, and has set a target for 2020 - to ensure the boards of the FTSE 350 companies are at least 33% female. The good news is there are more women on the boards of these companies than ever before, and a previous target of 25% female board members on FTSE 100 companies, set in 2011, has now been achieved. But there is still much more to be done, and I believe coaching to build confidence has a significant role to play. 

Self-efficacy

One of the most influential psychologists of our time, Alfred Bandura, developed the theory of ‘Self-efficacy’. In his own words, he describes self efficacy as “The belief in one’s ability to influence events that affect one’s life, and control the way these events are experienced.” 

We all have our own level of self-efficacy which influences our confidence and motivation to take control of our own destiny. Bandura believes we all have the ability to strengthen our self-efficacy, regardless of our environment or previous life experiences. 

There are four pillars to Bandura’s self-efficacy theory, each of which can be explored through coaching. 

Mastery experiences: This is the level of perseverance and effort we put in to succeeding. If we have high confidence levels, we will put more effort in, while those with lower confidence and a lack of self belief will give up too easily. 

Vicarious experiences: This is all about the importance of role modelling. Unfortunately the lack of women in senior positions is a catch-22 phenomenon, which highlights why Lord Davies’s work is so important. The current lack of women at board level means females have nobody to emulate. With few role models, women are more likely to feel they can’t reach the top, while men see other successful males and think ‘if he can do it, so can I’. 

Verbal persuasion: This element refers to the encouragement a person receives, from line managers, colleagues, coaches and other influential stakeholders, as lots of encouragement increases our efforts to succeed. As women tend to network less than men, they are possibly less likely to receive as much regular verbal encouragement.

Emotional and physiological state: How we are feeling has a significant impact on our self-perception. It is therefore important to be self-aware, and to ask ourselves regularly are we coping, striving or merely surviving? Often the lion’s share of the household tasks such as childcare and chores still falls on women. With more additional pressures outside work, some women feel they are only just able to keep their head above water as it is, and therefore feel they are in no position to take on more responsibility. As a result they deselect themselves from opportunities for career advancement.

I find examining each element of Bandura’s Self-efficacy model really helps in identifying the reasons behind a female client’s career challenges. A further self-efficacy model that also helps is James Maddux’s Imaginal Experiences. This is the theory that the more able you are to visualise your goal in detail, the more likely you are to attain it. I will therefore often work with a client to help them develop total clarity of where they want to be, and how they will know when they get there. What does the goal look and feel like? What behaviours and language will be used? Building a crystal clear picture of a goal can often be the key to helping clients achieve them.