What You Need To Know
A member of my team does not have the confidence to make decisions. Although she knows the job well, I continually have to give directions. What should I do?
This person's self-confidence could well have been damaged if she has made mistakes in the past and suffered as a result. Another possibility is that she has been over-promoted. Every time you make a decision for your coworker, you reinforce her dependency on you. By turning this situation into a learning exercise you may help the person develop, or regain, the confidence to trust her own judgment. Solicit recommendations for solutions by beginning, perhaps, with minor issues and graduating to more important ones as you progressively withdraw your input. Taking time to support the decisions your team member takes independently should strengthen her self-confidence.
I was recently promoted, and although I felt confident in my former job, I am starting to doubt myself—this is such unknown ground for me. What can I do about this?
People often find their confidence takes a knock when they start a new job, and they are often tempted to go back to their old comfort zone. When that return is not an option, they try superimposing familiar activities on to their new role. If this is the case for you, the problem is not so much an inability to do well, but a lack of relevant skills or knowledge, both of which can be learned. Asking for constructive feedback, coaching, and recognizing small successes will help you to reap the greatest rewards from your talent and to grow the sense of self-worth you need to succeed.
What To Do
Build a Confident Work Force
Self-confidence cannot be faked. It needs to emanate from a well-grounded belief in who you are: if it doesn't, you'll come across as loud and shallow. In a workplace environment, confidence helps to build commitment, create trust among colleagues and ultimately lead to high standards in terms of the products or services your business specializes in. A confident work force uses its initiative and makes decisions that support organizational goals. Extra benefits—such as a more comfortable atmosphere in the office and better morale—are icing on the cake.
Elements that build a confident work force include:
- people having the knowledge and skills to do their jobs well;
- clear objectives for individuals and teams;
- authority in decision making and accountability for those decisions;
- recognition for achieving personal goals;
- investment in learning and development;
- opportunities to meet new challenges;
- celebration of meeting organizational objectives.
Increase Skills and Knowledge
Employees' confidence at work comes from knowing what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. Whether their know-how was learned in school or professional training or on the job, it allows them to work within clear boundaries of competence. Their abilities are noted by others, which in turn boosts their confidence and improves their self-image. Assigning employees unfamiliar tasks is likely to shake their self-confidence, but cross-training them so they have transferable skills is one way in which to keep their confidence high.
Set Clear Job Objectives
Success breeds self-confidence, and success can be measured only when an objective has been met. Clear objectives allow employees to monitor their progress and adjust their focus in order to see what is on the horizon. Without clear objectives, employees cannot enjoy success, because success is never defined. Their enthusiasm and energy diminish, and so does their self-confidence. Poorly articulated objectives cause more personal grief in organizations than almost anything else. It is extremely demoralizing for an employee to pour his or her energy into a professional void.
Allow Authority and Accountability in Decision Making
Organizations that are well run allow their employees the authority to make decisions and then hold them accountable for their outcomes. This scenario is healthy for the business and essential for the staff if they are to take pride in their own achievements. All too often, however, organizations split authority and accountability are split, and people are held accountable for things even when they have not been given the authority to get the job done. Having accountability without authority is a major complaint among employees and a source of great stress. Raise this issue with your own boss so that you can begin to address this issue with your team or department,
Recognize the Achievement of Personal Goals
Although some people do not need external recognition to make them feel successful, most of us value some form of public appreciation. Even the simplest public gesture—a mention on your company's intranet, or in a newsletter, say—proves the worth of their contribution to the business. It will also boost an employee's chances of promotion, increase his or her "visibility" within the company and give even the least confident person a healthy sense of self-worth.
Invest in Learning and Development
Many organizations make their employees responsible for job-related learning and professional development. This is not as cost-effective as it may seem. Individual employees are unlikely to appreciate the complexity of organizational goals or understand how they can best contribute to achieving them. Employees and the organization—which can provide support in the form of advice, time for study, or participation in special projects—should collaborate in creating individual learning and development plans. The type of training necessary will of course depend on the size and type of your business, as well as on any budget constraints, but either internal or external training or educational programs may be of use, especially if staff are in need of specific job-related knowledge and skills.
Investing in people has a measurable effect on their self-confidence as well as on what they can bring to the business. Support your employees so that they can develop professionally and makes sure that their learning stretches them, enabling them to achieve their goals both at work and personally.
Celebrate the Meeting of Organizational Objectives
Never underestimate the power of celebrations. They can range from anything to bringing in cookies and doughnuts for a successful team to share during their coffee break to a large, company-wide party to celebrate hitting your end of year target or reaching all of your business's objectives. All societies use celebrations to reinforce their shared purpose and reflect on their achievements. Organizational celebrations have the added benefit of assuring employees that they are an indispensable and valued part of the business.
Work With Individual Employees
In addition to supporting a self-confident work force, organizations may have a role to play in helping individual employees develop self-confidence. This is not an obvious corporate responsibility, but self-confident individuals promote a broader organizational culture of confidence. Individual coaching or mentoring, buddy systems, and co-coaching are all ways to help individual employees develop self-confidence.
At the heart of self-confidence lies strong communication skills. Being able to get your point across well in any situation—whether it be during an informal meeting with colleagues, meeting new clients, or bolstering the relationship with existing ones—creates a considerable feeling of self-confidence. This, in turn, helps us to respect ourselves as well as others. Developing the communication skills of individual employees pays large organizational dividends, whatever your industry.
What To Avoid
You cannot let go
It is common for managers to feel that they must keep a 'tight rein' on employees in order to avoid losing control or disrupting the status quo. This approach can have negative effects, however, such as alienating team members or making them feel unconfident in their decision-making skills. The upshot? An ineffective team. Learning to let go creates an environment in which future stars can rise and be recognized.
Where To Learn More
Book:
Smith, Manuel J.
When I Say No, I Feel Guilty
. Rev. ed. New York: Bantam, 2003.
Web Sites:
BusinessTown.com:
www.businesstown.com/people/motivation-team.asp
more-selfesteem.com: www.more-selfesteem.com