Building confident leaders

Confidence grows with repeated, supported action. This article expands on that idea and describes five practical, evidence-informed exercises coaches can use with emerging leaders to build presence, decision-making clarity, and the capacity to take stretched (but safe) risks.

How to think about confidence in coaching

• Confidence is not charisma; it's a perception built from competence, preparation, and demonstrated experience.
• Coaching that grows confidence focuses on small wins, exposure to slightly challenging situations, and structured reflection.

Five practical exercises

1. The Mini-Presentation (2–5 minutes)

   • Purpose: build presence and clarity under mild pressure.
   • Setup: Ask the leader to prepare a 2–5 minute update on a current project or decision. Time it and give 1–2 lines of feedback focused on clarity and posture.
   • Follow-up: Repeat weekly with progressively harder audiences (peer group, cross-team).

2. Decision Journal

   • Purpose: make decision-making visible and learn from outcomes.
   • Setup: For important decisions, the leader writes a short entry with the decision, anticipated risks, and expected indicators of success. Revisit after the decision to record outcomes and lessons.

3. Strengths Spotlight

   • Purpose: anchor confidence in real strengths rather than wishful thinking.
   • Setup: In a session, identify 2–3 observable strengths. Create a short plan for how the leader will use those strengths in the coming week and collect evidence.

4. Safe Stretch Experiment

   • Purpose: practice taking small, recoverable risks.
   • Setup: Pick a specific stretch action (e.g., lead a meeting segment, speak at a cross-team demo). Define the downside and a mitigation plan.
   • Success definition: one or two observable outcomes (attendance, follow-up asks, feedback) and the leader's subjective comfort rating.

5. Feedback Loop Sprint

   • Purpose: normalize receiving and using feedback to iterate quickly.
   • Setup: For a two-week sprint, the leader requests short, specific feedback from 3–5 peers after each relevant interaction.

Example session flow (45 minutes)

1. Check-in (5 min): quick mood and wins.
2. Review previous experiment evidence (10 min).
3. Practice or role-play (15 min): e.g., mini-presentation or feedback ask.
4. Plan a 1-week experiment (10 min): define actions, evidence, and support.
5. Close (5 min): one sentence commitment and an accountability step.

Templates coaches can copy

• Mini-presentation feedback card:

  • Topic:
  • Clear takeaway (did the audience get it?): yes/no
  • One actionable improvement:

• Decision journal entry:

  • Decision:
  • Why now:
  • Key risks:
  • Indicators to watch:
  • Result (after):
  • Lesson learned:

Common mistakes and fixes

• Focusing on outcomes only: always include behaviors and evidence.
• Avoiding discomfort: break stretch actions into reversible steps with mitigation.
• Waiting for "perfect" preparation: small tests teach faster than perfect planning.

Quick checklist for the leader

• Practice a 2–5 minute micro-presentation each week.
• Keep a decision journal for important calls and decisions.
• Run one safe stretch experiment every 2–4 weeks.

Published: 2025-09-11