Before this course: Confidence Under Pressure: performance moments (course 9.13.3), which came after Building Confidence: practice and exposure (course 9.13.2) and Confidence & Self-Talk (course 9.13). You already know self-efficacy and its four sources, helpful self-talk, confidence ladders, predict-and-check experiments, pre-performance routines, if-then plans, pressure training and debriefs. This course is about helping other people do the same, safely. A line marked "Tip" is practical advice, not a research finding.
01
Before this course, and what a confidence coach is (and is not)
In simple words
When you learned to ride a bike, someone may have run beside you holding the seat. They did not ride for you, and they let go a little at a time. A confidence coach does the same: they walk beside a person while that person does the brave thing.
Key facts
- The International Coaching Federation (ICF), a professional coaching body, defines coaching in its Code of Ethics as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximise their personal and professional potential. The current Code took effect on 1 April 2025.
- Key word: partnering. The client picks the goal and does the brave steps. The coach asks, listens, helps plan and helps the client review.
- A confidence coach is not a therapist or doctor. A coach does not diagnose (for example "you have social anxiety"), does not treat illness, and does not advise about medicine.
| Role | Main job | Who decides the goal? |
|---|---|---|
| Confidence coach | Helps a person plan, practise and review confidence steps | The client |
| Teacher or trainer | Teaches a skill to a class | Mostly the teacher or course |
| Mentor | Shares their own experience | Shared |
| Therapist, psychologist or doctor | Assesses and treats health problems (licensed) | Agreed in treatment |
- What the coaching research says: a 2023 meta-analysis of workplace coaching (Cannon-Bowers and colleagues) included 11 papers. Coaching had a medium positive average effect (Hedges' g about 0.44). The effect on skills and behaviour was g = 0.72 (5 studies) and on attitudes and feelings g = 0.41 (8 studies); these two did not differ significantly. The number of sessions and hours of coaching did not significantly change the effect.
- Replication: the authors say their result agrees with earlier coaching meta-analyses, so the positive direction has been found more than once.
- Limits: only 11 papers; the authors say most studies lacked enough detail to draw clear conclusions; some sub-results rest on one or two studies; this was workplace coaching, not confidence coaching for teens or newcomers.
- Reading effect sizes: g and d of about 0.2 are small, 0.5 medium, 0.8 large. They describe group averages, not a promise for one person.
Step by step
- Write "Before this course: Confidence Under Pressure (9.13.3)" at the top of a new page in a coaching folder.
- Write the ICF idea of coaching in your own words, using the word "partnering".
- Write three things you will do as a coach (for example ask, listen, help plan steps).
- Write three things you will never do (for example diagnose, push someone past their chosen step, promise results).
- Copy the coaching research numbers in your own words and circle the main limit.
- Check: you can explain in one breath how a coach differs from a therapist, and name one limit of coaching research.
Watch on YouTube
Videos by other creators on YouTube, for reference. They are not made by or affiliated with The Future Market.
LESSON 01Before this course, and what a confidence coach is (and is not)
Read the video script
[Host] "You have built your own confidence. Now a friend asks: can you help me?"
[Text on screen: Coaching = partnering] "A professional coaching body describes coaching as partnering. The client chooses the goal and takes the steps."
[Screen: coach and therapist side by side, a line between them] "A coach is not a therapist. Knowing where your role ends is part of being good at it."
[Text on screen: Medium average effect, 11 papers] "A 2023 meta-analysis found a medium positive effect of workplace coaching, but many studies lacked detail."
[Host] "Be useful, be honest, and stay in your lane."
Try it now
Write your "I will / I will never" list as a confidence coach and keep it in your coaching folder.
ClaudeStuck? Copy a ready-made prompt for Claude
Copy this, open Claude, paste it, and Claude will walk you through the lesson step by step.
For a grown-up: Claude is for adults (18+). Copy this, paste it into Claude, and use the answer to explain the lesson to your child.
I'm learning "Confidence Coach: support others" on The Future Market. Lesson 1: "Before this course, and what a confidence coach is (and is not)". What the lesson teaches: - The International Coaching Federation (ICF), a professional coaching body, defines coaching in its Code of Ethics as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximise their personal and professional potential. The current Code took effect on 1 April 2025. - Key word: partnering. The client picks the goal and does the brave steps. The coach asks, listens, helps plan and helps the client review. - A confidence coach is not a therapist or doctor. A coach does not diagnose (for example "you have social anxiety"), does not treat illness, and does not advise about medicine. - Role - Main job - Who decides the goal? - Confidence coach - Helps a person plan, practise and review confidence steps - The client - Teacher or trainer - Teaches a skill to a class - Mostly the teacher or course - Mentor - Shares their own experience - Shared The exercise I'm working on: Write your "I will / I will never" list as a confidence coach and keep it in your coaching folder. I'm stuck. Please: 1. Explain the main idea in plain, simple words with one everyday example. 2. Walk me through the exercise one small step at a time. Ask me what I've done so far before giving the next step. 3. Don't just give me the final answer. Help me do it myself, and check my work when I share it.
I'm a parent helping my child (about 8 years old) with a lesson called "Before this course, and what a confidence coach is (and is not)" from the course "Confidence Coach: support others". Here's what the lesson says: When you learned to ride a bike, someone may have run beside you holding the seat. They did not ride for you, and they let go a little at a time. A confidence coach does the same: they walk beside a person while that person does the brave thing. The activity: Write your "I will / I will never" list as a confidence coach and keep it in your coaching folder. Please explain this so an 8-year-old understands: short sentences, a fun everyday example, and no hard words. Then give me 3 simple questions I can ask my child to check they understood, and a way to do the activity together, one tiny step at a time.
Sources
- ICF Code of Ethics (in effect from 1 April 2025): coachingfederation.org/ethics/code-of-ethics
- Cannon-Bowers, Bowers, Carlson, Doherty, Evans & Hall (2023), "Workplace coaching: a meta-analysis and recommendations for advancing the science of coaching," Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1204166: doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1204166
- Full text (Europe PMC): europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC10597717
My notes
Saved on this device
02
Build someone else's self-efficacy
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03
Feedback that builds confidence
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04
Praise: what replicated and what did not
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05
Teach self-talk, routines and if-then plans
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06
Lead a confidence group, and talk about impostor feelings
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07
Ethics, privacy and knowing when to refer
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++
Final project
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Quiz
What is the key word in the ICF's definition of coaching?
Partnering: the client chooses the goal and takes the steps, and the coach helps them think, plan and review.
What did the 2023 workplace coaching meta-analysis find, and what was its main limit?
A medium positive average effect (g about 0.44), but only 11 papers and many lacked detail.
Which source of self-efficacy is widely seen as the strongest?
Mastery experiences: the person's own successes.
Who should choose the next step on a client's confidence ladder?
The client.
What did the 2020 feedback meta-analysis say mattered most?
The information content: specific, useful feedback worked best.
What did Li and Bates (2019) find when they closely repeated the 1998 praise study?
No effect of praise type on motivation, so the original finding did not replicate well.
What did the inflated-praise research find for children with low self-esteem?
Inflated praise reduced challenge seeking (they avoided hard tasks).
What kind of praise can a coach safely use?
Honest, specific and modest praise about what the person did.
Which kind of self-talk worked better for precise tasks?
Instructional self-talk, such as "eyes on the target".
What ground rule protects members in a confidence group?
Sharing is always optional; anyone can say "pass".
When should a coach refer someone to a doctor or licensed professional?
For example, when fear lasts months and gets in the way of school, work or friends, or low mood lasts two weeks or more.
What should you do if someone is in danger right now?
Call the local emergency number or crisis line; numbers differ by country.
EX
Final exam
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CE
Certificate
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