Taking a self-efficacy approach to management

Hardly anyone likes to be ordered around without being asked for input. Society is changing, and people either have or demand to have more say about what they want to do and how. Although certain societal norms in workplaces require us to modify our outside work behaviours, altering them too much raises incongruence issues, becoming an underlying problem for many work-related issues.

Developed by psychologist Albert Bandura, self-efficacy theory tries to explain an individual’s belief in their ability to succeed in a particular situation. One can see how this theory is relevant to the workplace and why it can be beneficial for leaders to understand its key concepts. Leaders can play a crucial role in creating an environment where employees feel they can make a difference and believe in their abilities. Depriving one’s self-efficacy in the workplace can be detrimental to an organisation as much as it can be for an individual. People become doubtful and stop believing in their own abilities to do well, eloquently summarised in Henry Ford’s quote, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.”

Bandura believes people develop their self-efficacy through four primary sources of influence:

Mastery experience. One of the best ways to learn or improve a new skill is by practising it. Performing a task successfully is the most significant source of influence on one’s confidence in their own capability. The mastery experience eventuates from taking a new challenge and becoming successful in doing so.

Social modelling. People do what people see. Having a positive role model and observing others successfully completing a task are some ways to increase their confidence that they too possess the capabilities to master the activity and succeed.

Social persuasion. Receiving constructive feedback while performing complex tasks can convince individuals that they have what it takes to succeed.

Psychological responses. It is not so much about psychological triggers, but more about how we interpret and respond when triggered. People can improve their sense of self-efficacy by learning to minimise stress when facing challenging situations. Even in difficult situations, people with a higher sense of efficacy are more likely to display higher performance, whereas more heightened than usual self-doubts can be incapacitating.

Beliefs about one’s own abilities have a profound effect on those abilities. Leaders have a significant role to play in shaping their people’s abilities and creating a people development arena by implementing four simple practices:

1. Encourage practising new skills and create psychological safety so people feel comfortable failing. It is unhelpful to think that every activity will produce the best outcome all the time. Giving people time to practice and more than one chance if they do not get it the right first time will inspire more people to actively participate in their professional development.
2. Promote mentoring, peer mentoring, and internal or external coaching.
3. Provide feedback and invite others to seek feedback. The perception that getting no feedback equals doing a job well is problematic. People need to know when they are doing well, when they need to improve, and most immortally, they feel comfortable approaching a leader and asking for feedback.
4. Believe that your people can make good choices. Leaders hire people because they believe they can or have the potential to do well in the role. The research shows increased participation - care about work, co-workers, customers and organisation – when leaders move from micromanaging to involving people in decisions and seeking input.

Not every activity or project finishes with positive results. Whatever the outcome, making own’s decisions increases responsibility and accountability.

References

Bandura, A (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a Unifying Theory of Behavioral Change. Psychological Review, 84(2): 191–215. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.84.2.191

Bandura, Albert (1982). Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency. American Psychologist. 37(2): 122–147. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.37.2.122

Bandura, A (1988). Organizational Application of Social Cognitive Theory. Australian Journal of Management, 13(2): 275–302. https://doi.org/10.1177/031289628801300210

Beattie, S., Woodman, T., Fakehy, M., & Dempsey, C. (2016). The role of performance feedback on the self-efficacy–performance relationship. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, 5(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1037/spy0000051