Trust. Conviction. Self-belief. Reliance. Self-assurance. Certainty. Faith. These are just some of the words used to try and capture the essence of what it means to be confident. As you get older, you come to realise the role it plays in your life, its impact on your health and mental wellbeing. Confidence is a vital life skill and is needed in every area of life. And building confidence in the workplace can be the difference between thriving in your role or waiting impatiently for 4pm every day.
What Is Meant By Confidence?
According to the American Psychological Association, self-confidence is the “belief that one is capable of successfully meeting the demands of a task.” Confidence is key. It’s the unwavering self-belief that you can, you will, walking into every sense like you belong. Confidence is not letting what others may think or say about you affect the pursuit of your goals. It’s not questioning whether you can take up space, but owning your truth, power, skills, and abilities. When you are confident, you know who you are and own every part of you, flaws, imperfections, and everything in between.
Benefits Of Being Confident
Being confident has many benefits, at home, in your personal relationships, and at work. It’s a soft skill that can be transferred between the many areas of life. Here are a few benefits of being self-confident:
- Better communication
- Improved work-life balance
- Makes you a better team member or manager
- Increases positive response to feedback
- Helps you deal with conflict better
Ultimately, confidence at work helps you perform your tasks better, and makes you are more productive. and helps boost your company’s brand perception.
Confidence At Work
Confidence is not always considered a necessary skill in the workplace. However, it is one of the “soft skills” that are gaining popularity in the workplace and needed for success. It’s labelled a soft skill because unlike other skills, it is not easily measured, nor tangible.
Whether you are a team leader, manager, or general employee, it’s a must-have skill due to the changing nature of the workplace. Team members are more likely to take the lead and guidance from managers who are emotionally aware. That is, leaders who are confident in themselves that they don’t need to bully their subordinates or create unhealthy work environments to mask their lack of self-confidence. As a team member, being confident allows you to collaborate effectively with your team, you are part of creating a healthy work environment, there is healthy communication and teamwork at play.
What Does Confidence Mean In The Workplace?
Being confident at home or at play doesn’t always mean you’ll be confident at work. There are different tasks, needs, and demands at work that may require you to step into a part of yourself you haven’t tapped into yet. In your social circle and home life, you have often chosen the people around you. You also have long established ways of working and developed relationship dynamics on your terms. It’s not always the case in the workplace because you’re dealing with different personalities, temperaments, and situations that you can’t control. Because of the different elements at play here, it’s important to develop that self-confidence so that you don’t derail your professional goals.
When you’re confident at work, it means:
- You can take criticism
- You aren’t afraid to make mistakes. You admit them, learn from them, and continue growing
- Increased your output
- You’re able to be a better advocate for yourself
- You know how to set boundaries and stick to them
All in all, confidence contributes to workplace happiness, career growth, completing everyday work tasks well and overall performance.
How To Build Your Confidence In The Workplace
It’s important to remember that confidence isn’t something out of your grasp. It is something you can hone and develop over time with hard work, commitment, and dedication to creating a stronger version of yourself.
- Engage in positive self-talk
This may sound corny to some, but you should never underestimate the power of your thoughts and words. It’s said that the words you speak create the house you live in. Get into the habit of speaking positive things (affirmations) about yourself. Loudly state your goals and what to plan to do to achieve them.
- Know your strengths
Know what you can do and do it well. By performing these tasks and succeeding in them, you not only build confidence, but you make yourself a more valuable employee. You’ll be recognised for knocking these out of the park, giving you more responsibility and ultimately, boosting your confidence levels. That pat on the back and praise from your boss does wonders for your confidence.
If you’re unsure about your strengths, take our workplace personality assessment. This test helps you recognise these as well as your weaknesses and offers a list of courses you can enrol in to develop your weaker areas and strengthen the stronger skills.
- Increase your knowledge
The more you know, the more confident you’ll be on various subjects and your role at work. You’re bound to boost your self-confidence when you know and can speak eloquently and comprehensively about your job, the skills, software, tools, and trends related to your position. You’ll be called on to speak on this at work and with colleagues, trusted with information and counted on, which are great confidence boosters.
We often hear how New Year’s resolutions get left by the wayside by mid-January or February. This is often because people haven’t broken them down into smaller achievable tasks. Without doing this, the goals begin to look overwhelming and impossible to meet. However, if you break these down into more manageable tasks, and you achieve them, your confidence in your abilities will grow.
- Fake it until you make it
No, that’s not a typo. This long-standing saying holds merit. When you live confidently and perform with a confidence you may not yet feel, it tricks your mind into believing that you can and works to get you there. The positive reinforcement you’re likely to get creates a positive loop in your mind that builds your confidence up as you go.
Confidence Boosters
Learn from your mistakes. Develop more skills. Find a mentor. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Walk tall. These are a few other things you can do to build your confidence in the workplace. Remember, confidence is a skill you have the power to develop.
Confidence can be learned. The big question is, how confident are you? It’s a simple question but it requires an honest look at yourself to determine whether it’s a skill you need to build from scratch or simply build on.
“Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.” – E. E. Cummings
