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Think about watching a sports match between two teams, where one team is more confident than the other.
The members of the more confident team know that they have a good chance of winning. As a result, everyone on the team makes good decisions, and the players work together seamlessly. Meanwhile, the other team's confidence is shaky. Players doubt their abilities, they hesitate, and they don't commit fully to any particular course of action.
When this happens, the more confident team will likely win.
The same principles apply in the workplace. When people on your team have low self-confidence, it can hold them back from reaching their full potential. That's why it's important to build the confidence of those around us, especially if we're leading a team.
Note:
The strategies we look at in this article focus on building confidence in people you manage. However, you can apply many of these strategies to colleagues, and even to your boss. If you do this, make sure that you approach them sensitively, and with empathy.
If you would like to boost your own confidence, take our quiz, How Self-Confident Are You? and see our article on Building Self-Confidence.
Recognizing Low Self-Confidence
People who lack self-confidence rarely thrive. They see more risks than opportunities, they don't perform particularly well in new situations, and they often have low self-esteem. What's more, they rarely trust their own judgment, and they may see any successes that they do achieve as resulting from luck, rather than from their own efforts.
By contrast, people who have high self-confidence are often more productive and more effective, and can raise the morale of the entire group. They're also more comfortable taking risks, which can have benefits for their own careers, as well as for their teams.
Confidence can make or break people's ability to achieve their goals. Once you've identified a team member suffering from a lack of confidence, apply the steps below to boost their self-confidence.
Develop Knowledge and Skills
Chances are that there are several skills you rely on to do your job well. When you use these skills successfully, what happens? You feel confident! These are the skills that you've worked on over the years, and you're comfortable that you can use them to accomplish the task at hand.
The same is true for the people on your team. The stronger their skills are, the more confident they're going to feel.
So a good way to increase the self-confidence of people in your team is by encouraging learning, and by providing plenty of opportunities for additional training. The more knowledge and skills that people have to do their job, the more confident they're going to feel, especially when they approach challenging projects.
Set Clear Goals
Many people get confidence from completing tasks and projects successfully. But that confidence only comes if people know what they need to do.
This is why it is so important to set clear goals for every member of your team. Goals define success, and give people an objective to shoot for. Without them, they're working aimlessly.
So make sure that the people on your team know what goals they're working toward, and help them to achieve these goals. Then, when they succeed, celebrate their achievements!
Tip:
If you'd like to learn more about team goal setting, our Bite-Sized Training session on Setting Team Goals will help.
Identify "Triggers"
Very few people can claim to be totally self-confident and most would like to be more confident in certain areas of their lives.
Whenever we are faced with a new challenge or are asked to do something we don't like, we may feel a lack of confidence. We may worry that it won't go well, that our performance will be disappointing, and we will come out of it with a poor image.
If you work with someone who has low self-confidence, help them to identify their "trigger situations." When they know what causes their confidence to waver, they can work to build the knowledge and skills they need to feel more confident.
To do this, ask them to list all the work situations that make them feel confident. This could be anything from writing the company blog to helping shape your department's budget. Anything that makes them feel happy and confident should go on this list.
Then, have them consider why they're confident in each of these situations. What knowledge or skill are they using that makes them feel good?
Next, ask them to list the situations that don't make them feel confident. This could include giving presentations, expressing an opinion in meetings, or writing a report. Why don't they feel confident in these situations? What new knowledge and skills would help them feel better in each scenario?
It can be an eye-opening experience to identify these triggers. But, once they can see which skills they could improve on, they'll be more motivated to face their fears.
Tip:
Talking to someone about their self-confidence may be something that they instinctively try to avoid. You'll more likely be successful if you have this conversation as part of a coaching or mentoring relationship.
Empower and Delegate
If you want your team to tackle tasks with confidence, it's important that you allow them the autonomy to make their own decisions.
When your people have the power to decide what needs to be done, they start to take ownership of their work. It truly becomes their responsibility, and when they succeed, their confidence can soar.
Whenever you can, delegate tasks, and give your people the power to make their own decisions. By handing over more responsibility, you'll show that you trust their judgment and ability, which in turn will empower your team members.
Be aware, however, that people who have low self-confidence may resist this at first: after all, they may doubt that they'll make the right decisions. To fight these doubts, encourage them to take on small, achievable projects. Then, if they rely on you too much for help or guidance, encourage them to be more independent (see our article on preventing manager dependency for more on this). This will push them to make their own decisions, instead of running to you for help or advice.
Celebrate Success
It's important that all of us celebrate the success we've achieved, because recognition of success builds self-confidence.
Whenever your people accomplish a goal or hit a key target, celebrate with them! Reward them with a team dinner, or even gift them tickets to an event they would enjoy. At the very least, congratulate them on their success, and let them know how much you appreciate their hard work.
It's also important to keep your team excited about what they're doing. Celebrating success helps with this, but keeping motivation high long-term is key to building a team with high confidence levels. You can learn more about this in our article on the Sirota Three-Factor Theory, which explains the importance of fairness, achievement and a sense of camaraderie in motivating people.
Encourage Positive Thinking
Many people who lack self-confidence focus on negative thoughts. They may think things like "I can't do that!" or "I'm not smart enough." These negative thoughts cause people to spiral down further, reinforcing their belief that they'll never be good enough to succeed. Of course, this just makes things worse!
Encourage people to think positively and use affirmations. One technique is to show them how to "flip their thoughts" – every time they catch themselves thinking a negative thought, teach them to think its rational opposite.
For instance, if they think "I'm not smart enough to finish this project," instead they should think "I know I have the knowledge and skills to finish this project. If I do need help, I can always ask for it."
Flipping a thought from negative to positive creates a subtle shift in our minds. The change in our outlook and energy is almost palpable, so this technique can make a big difference in confidence!
Tip:
Again, this technique is most likely to be effective when used as part of a coaching or mentoring partnership.
Balancing Self-Confidence and Over-Confidence
When people become more self-confident there's always the risk they can become over-confident, or even arrogant. There's no doubt that there is a fine line here, but once it's crossed, these people can start to impact the morale and productivity of the group in a negative way. What's worse is when people get careless, because they overestimate their own ability to improvise in difficult situations.
If this happens to a person on your team, start by gently bringing the situation to their attention. Chances are they haven't realized that they've crossed the line into arrogance. Meet with them in private, be specific about what they're saying or doing, and explain why their behavior could be construed as arrogance.
If their behavior has caused tension or upset in the team, make sure that you let the person know. Usually, when people are aware that their behavior is hurting others, they're motivated to change.
Key Points
If you work with people who have low self-confidence, there are several ways that you can help.
First, encourage them to develop additional knowledge and skills. Help them to set clear goals, and sit down with them to identify specific situations that cause their confidence to plummet.
If you're leading a team, give your people as much power as you can to make their own decisions, and celebrate the success they achieve along the way. But remember that too much self-confidence can be just as damaging to your team as low self-confidence, so help them find the right balance.
