It is one of those traits that empowers you when you have it and undermines you when you don’t. You perform better when you feel self-confident, and your team performs better when members feel confident in you and each other. So it’s important to know how to get your confidence on.
If you lack it, the result is insecurity and unwillingness to risk, and that creates less progress, which lowers your confidence! Although we all feel varying degrees of self-assuredness depending on what we’re doing, it is useful to think about how we become confident in the first place.
Learning to feel and exhibit belief in yourself is not only better for your self-esteem; it makes you a better leader. Whether you lead employees or volunteers, a confident leader stimulates and inspires. Who wants to follow someone who is unsure or insecure? Would you want to be on a plane if the pilot announced, “I’m really scared!”
Get your confidence on and people will follow you.
Be aware of your position on the confidence continuum, and then devise ways to improve it where necessary. Instead of avoiding risks, find ways to take small ones safely. It’s like building muscle. It’s an exercise. Here are a few ways you can get your confidence on – in yourself and in others:
- Act confident – Picture yourself walking, not flailing. Fake it until you feel it.
- Coach confidence – use inspiring words to build your self and others up, rather than using put-downs.
- Think of something that you are confident about. How did you get that way?
- Break down your risks into baby steps to build up your self-assurance.
- Acknowledge your successes, progress, risks taken and achievements.
- Expect some missteps on the road to success.
Like so many things, improving confidence is a process, not an event. Keep your performance high by renewing your conviction periodically. That’s how to get your confidence on – and how to build it in your employees. You haven’t peaked yet!