Building Psychological Strength Before We Need It: The Role of Coaching

In coaching, we often explore psychological resources when clients are already facing a challenge. We might help someone rebuild confidence after a setback, identify alternative pathways when progress stalls, or develop resilience during a period of uncertainty.

But what if we paid just as much attention to developing these resources when things were going well?

Rather than waiting until confidence is shaken or resilience is tested, coaching offers an opportunity to strengthen the psychological resources people may need for challenges they haven't yet encountered.

This is where Psychological Capital, or PsyCap, has something particularly useful to offer.

From Responding to Problems to Building Resources

Developed within the field of positive organizational behavior, Psychological Capital brings together four psychological resources that influence how people approach goals, challenges, setbacks, and uncertainty: Hope, Efficacy, Resilience, and Optimism, collectively remembered through the acronym HERO (Luthans, Youssef & Avolio, 2007).

One feature that makes PsyCap particularly interesting from a coaching perspective is that these resources are considered to be open to development rather than fixed aspects of personality, with research showing that PsyCap can be strengthened through developmental interventions (Luthans et al., 2007, 2010).

PsyCap is not positive thinking, nor does it suggest that people should be able to psychologically resource their way through genuinely difficult circumstances, environments, or systemic problems. It gives us a way to consider the internal resources people can draw upon as they navigate what life and work bring their way.

In coaching, we regularly help clients access these resources when they are already facing difficulty. But coaching conversations also give us opportunities to strengthen them in advance.

We can help clients understand what supports their ability to recover before they face a major setback, develop alternative routes forward before Plan A falters, and build confidence in their capabilities before that confidence is put under pressure.

This shifts our focus from helping clients respond to immediate challenges towards also supporting their longer-term psychological development.

Building Your HERO Resources

The four PsyCap resources offer a useful framework for exploring what clients already have available to them and where there may be opportunities for further development.

Hope draws on Snyder's Hope Theory (2002) and involves both the motivation to pursue our goals (agency) and our ability to identify different ways of reaching them (pathways).

Where am I trying to get to? What routes are available? What else could I try if my preferred route becomes blocked?

Efficacy refers to our confidence in our ability to mobilize the effort and capabilities needed to succeed at a particular task. Drawing on Bandura's (1977) work on self-efficacy, it can be strengthened by recognizing previous mastery experiences, identifying transferable strengths, learning from others, and breaking challenges into achievable steps.

When have I handled something like this before? What did I do that helped? What skills and strengths can I draw on here?

Resilience is our capacity to adapt and recover when faced with adversity, setbacks, or significant change. We can explore the personal, social, and contextual resources that help someone regain their footing when life becomes difficult.

What has helped me recover from setbacks in the past? Who or what can I draw on when things get difficult? What helps me restore my energy and perspective?

Optimism involves positive expectations about future outcomes while still acknowledging the realities of a situation. It allows someone to recognize difficulty and uncertainty while retaining a realistic belief that things can improve and that their actions can influence what happens next.

How am I explaining this situation to myself? What else might be true? What can I influence? What would a realistically positive outcome look like?

HERO provides a practical way of exploring the psychological resources someone has available, and where there may be opportunities to strengthen them.

Importantly, we don't need to wait until a client is struggling to have these conversations. They can be just as valuable when someone is progressing well, preparing for change, or looking to develop their capacity to navigate future challenges.

Imagine Two Clients Facing the Same Setback

Consider two experienced professionals who are unexpectedly told that their roles are being made redundant. Neither saw it coming. Both feel shocked, disappointed, and worried about what happens next.

One has rarely thought about how they respond to setbacks. Much of their professional confidence has become attached to their current role. When that disappears, so does much of their sense of capability. They struggle to imagine alternative futures and begin to interpret the redundancy as evidence that their career is moving in the wrong direction.

The second person experiences many of the same emotions. Strong psychological resources don't make disappointment or uncertainty disappear. But over time, they have developed greater awareness of their HERO resources.

They can draw on previous experiences of successfully navigating change (efficacy).

They can see several possible routes forward rather than becoming dependent on one outcome (hope).

They know which relationships, routines, and ways of thinking help them recover when challenges arise (resilience).

And while acknowledging the uncertainty ahead, they retain a realistic expectation that a worthwhile next chapter is possible (optimism).

The situation hasn't changed. What differs is the psychological resources each person has available to draw upon as they navigate it.

Of course, this is an illustrative example rather than a suggestion that psychological resources determine how someone will respond to redundancy. Individual circumstances, available support, and wider structural factors all matter. But it helps illustrate why developing these resources before they are needed can be valuable.

We Don't Need to Wait for the Storm

There is a useful parallel with physical health here. We don't generally wait until we need physical strength before deciding to build it. We exercise, develop fitness, and establish healthy habits knowing they will help us cope with demands later.

Psychological resources deserve the same attention.

Hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism can be explored and developed through everyday coaching conversations, including when life is going relatively well. These can be valuable opportunities to reflect, experiment, and build resources without the immediate pressure of a crisis.

This also has implications for how we approach our own development as coaches. The psychological resources we help clients cultivate are equally relevant to how we navigate uncertainty, manage professional challenges, and sustain ourselves in our work.

Supervision can offer a valuable reflective space to explore these resources, both in relation to our clients and within our own professional practice.

Ultimately, this adds another question to the ones we already ask in coaching:

"What psychological resources could we help this client build now that may serve them in whatever comes next?"

We can't equip people for every challenge they will encounter. But we can help them build more of the psychological resources they will have available when those challenges arrive.

Developing Psychological Capital Through Coaching

If you're interested in exploring how Psychological Capital can be intentionally developed through coaching, you can explore these ideas further through AoCP's Accelerated Positive Psychology Coaching Certification program, which brings together psychological research and its practical application in coaching:

https://www.theaocp.com/certification

References

Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191–215.

Luthans, F., Avey, J. B., Avolio, B. J., & Peterson, S. J. (2010). The development and resulting performance impact of positive psychological capital. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 21(1), 41–67.

Luthans, F., Youssef, C. M., & Avolio, B. J. (2007). Psychological capital: Developing the human competitive edge. Oxford University Press.

Snyder, C. R. (2002). Hope theory: Rainbows in the mind. Psychological Inquiry, 13(4), 249–275.