Have you ever come across a leader who lacked confidence? How successful used to be his/ her subordinates? Self-doubt is not difficult to notice. Even if sometimes leaders can benefit from showing a slight vulnerability, it’s crucial that they preserve their control. Being confident enables us to accept bad appreciations, make lucid decisions, and most essentially give our team members a clear idea about the way to take, inspiring them. In other words, it’s much easier to follow a leader who knows where to go and how to walk down the road. Besides that, employees normally feel better to relate to them in times of vulnerability, being an opportunity to provide support.
So how can we develop our self-confidence and be sure that we’re approaching our team elements in a clear way? Despite it doesn’t a straightforward thing to teach and learn, there are some mechanisms that you can activate.
Within an Entrepreneur article, Nadia Goodman gives away three advices for those who want to improve their confidence as leaders:
- “Get the facts first – Feelings of anxiety or doubt — both signs of shaky confidence — start with a negative thought, such as “I’m terrible at giving presentations.” Most of the times, those thoughts are false. Put negative thoughts to the test. For example, if you think investors doubt your abilities, ask yourself what evidence you have to support that belief? What evidence do you have against it? If the facts suggest it’s true, then brainstorm solutions to fix the problem. If not, use your list of evidence to help you toss that belief aside.”
- “Acknowledge your accomplishments – As you work towards a big goal like launching a product, pay attention to daily successes in order to keep your confidence high. At the end of each day, write down five things you completed or learned.”
- “Update your-self image – When we doubt our abilities, we typically remember embarrassing or painful moments when we did that task terribly. But those memories are usually wildly out of date. The reality is that you’re constantly learning, and with experience, you get better at knowing who and how to ask for help. When you go into a doubt-inducing situation, think of all the skills you’ve gained, and act as if you’re that person — the updated, accurate version of yourself who has the experience or know-how to succeed.”