Much of the support we offer people begins when something has already become difficult. A career setback. Burnout. A relationship breakdown. An unexpected transition. A loss of confidence. A period of uncertainty or change.
At these credit, people can find that the challenge is compounded by feeling ill-equipped to deal with it. The psychological resources they need may be depleted, underdeveloped, or difficult to access when already under pressure.
So there is a good case for thinking about how we build these resources earlier.
This is where Psychological Capital, or PsyCap, has something useful to offer coaches and those working across the wider talking professions.
From responding to problems to building resources
Developed within the field of positive organisational behaviour, 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 developmental perspective is that these resources are considered relatively state-like. They are 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.
We regularly help people access these resources when they are already facing difficulty. But coaching, counselling, psychotherapy, mentoring, and other developmental conversations also give us opportunities to strengthen them in advance.
We can help people understand what supports their ability to recover before they face a major setback, develop alternative routes forward before Plan A falls apart, and build confidence in their capabilities before that confidence is put under pressure.
Building your HERO resources
The four PsyCap resources offer a useful framework for these conversations.
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?
Together, these resources provide a practical way of exploring the psychological resources someone has available, and where there may be opportunities to strengthen them.
Imagine two people 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 things go wrong (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 has changed is what the person has available to draw upon as they navigate it.
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 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.
For those of us working across the talking professions, this adds another question to the ones we already ask:
“What psychological resources could we help this person 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.
If you'd like to explore Psychological Capital further, my one-hour talk, Psychological Capital in Practice: For Coaching and Growth Conversations, takes a deeper look at the research behind PsyCap and how the HERO resources can be intentionally developed through coaching and other developmental conversations.
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.
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