2 more hacks to build your confidence at work

If you’re being buffeted by the storm that is Covid, then it’s likely your confidence may have taken a hit.

It’s what prompted me to share a few thoughts on confidence and a handful of hacks in this article last week.

So, here’s Part Two of the article, otherwise known as Hacks 4 and 5.  

Hack #4 Know your strengths and get good at talking about them

Do you know what you’re good at? What you’re really, really good at? What energises you?

Getting clear on your strengths, and being able to communicate them effectively to others is central to developing your career and growing your confidence.

It means you can put yourself in the path of opportunities that enable you to be your best - work that sees you truly in flow. When you’re in a career that utilises your strengths most of the time, the research says you’ll feel more engaged, be happier, learn faster and perform better.  

All of which adds up to more confidence. 

Think about what you’re good at, what you want enjoy, what you want to master, and how you can do more of it.

How to identify your strengths

There are a number of online tools that can help with this including the VIA character strengths survey (free), the Reflected Best Self Exercise, and the Strengths Profile. 

I also have one I utilise with my own clients, but here’s a quick way to get started. 

Think of three times when you were at your best, when you had a strong sense of achievement about something, and felt energised and confident. Think in the context of both work and broader life. 

What were you doing? 

What was the activity you gained energy from? 

Write a quick story in the form of a short paragraph for each and then identify the themes that emerged. 

Use this as your starting point for three sentences that start with

When I am at my best I am...

Getting feedback from others 

At this point, it can also be really valuable to get feedback from others. We should all have a way of tracking our progress and capturing the way that others see us when we’re at our best  (see Hack 2).

The Reflected Best Self Exercise is designed to do just that, but you can also ask two or three people whose opinion you value, what they really value about you. Have them think about a situation in which they saw you at your best, and describe what you brought to that moment.  

So, doing your own inventory and inviting reflection from others is an excellent first step for identifying your super powers. When you know your super powers, you can design a career that will give you more opportunities to use them. It’s a lot easier to be confident at work when you’re doing the stuff that makes you great.

And if you’ve recently lost your job or are grappling with what’s next, staying connected to your own strengths will help you maintain your confidence at a time of uncertainty, and enable you to show up for interviews and career conversations in a way that reflects you at your best.  

That is, as long as you can articulate your strengths to others. Because if you can’t communicate them with clarity, it will be hard for others to see you clearly. 

Try to frame each one up with a word or a short phrase and learn to describe them in a way that is short, punchy and uses language that feels like the real ‘you’ and not what you think you ‘should’ sound like. 

When you speak as the real you (and not a corporate robot) you’ll be more congruent and more confident.

When I first started talking about my strength in helping others develop in their career, I was using generic language that sounded a bit samey.  But then I started sharing what an old colleague of mine had said to me

‘You’re really good at helping people go beyond what they think they’re capabilities are’.

And that gave me a more compelling way of talking about coaching and mentoring.

Hack #5 Test your assumptions

Often, it’s our own assumptions that get in the way of our confidence.

It might seem like a fairly superficial assumption, such as “I want to apply for that really exciting role but I’ll probably be knocked back.”

But there is often a Big Hairy Assumption (BHA) beneath the superficial one. 

It’s typically based on ‘a belief that you hold about how the world works, how you work, and how people respond to you’.

Amazing things can happen when you test and remove your big hairy assumption.  I’ll use the example to demonstrate.

Firstly, look at your assumption.

e.g. “I want to apply for that really exciting role but I’ll probably be knocked back.”

Then ask yourself, what is the BHA underneath that one? Remember it’s usually a hidden, internal belief. 

In this example, it be something like

e.g “I would never get that role because I don’t have the experience they’re looking for, like Simon or Penny have.”

Lastly, write down three ways you could test that assumption (we often find out that our assumptions don’t match reality).

e.g. “I could talk to the hiring manager to find out what they’re looking for, find someone in my network in a similar role and ask them to help me consider how my strengths could help me secure this role and where I might have gaps, and search for people with this job title on LinkedIn and review their experience.”

You’ll very likely find there is a gap between your assumption and the truth. You’ll probably also learn a lot more about what might help you get that exciting role. And you’ll feel a lot more confident about what’s possible. 

p.s Have you discovered new ways to build your confidence at work? Send me a message and let me know, I’d love to hear about what’s worked for you.