IMPROVING SELF CONFIDENCE: PRACTICAL & PROVEN TIPS TO DEVELOP CONFIDENT LEDERSHIP:

Focus on improving self-confidence is one of the key approaches to develop effective leadership. Managers and leaders who lack self-confidence typically have a tendency to postpone decisions our of insecurity. They can avoid conflicts and frequently feel like an impostor. Insecure leaders fear wrong decision, are rather resistant to take risks, and sometimes just behave overly humble.         

If you recognize yourself in some of these traits, there is a really good news: you are not alone. We all have moments of doubt. Moments where we feel insecure or unsure. I do, you do, everybody does. Having doubts is normal. And when it comes to leadership, it is not per se bad to show insecurity. As long as you do something about it. Most approaches focused on improving self-confidence have the same starting point: increase your self-knowledge and self-awareness. Generally there are two ways to do this:

1. Explore your core values, purpose and personal strengths
2. Explore your limiting beliefs and limiting emotions

Self-knowledge as a key driver of improving self-confidence:

We often kick off individual leadership coaching processes by exploring #1, which is what we focus on in this first post of the series, how to solve typical leadership challenges.

Knowing these helps you aligning what you do with who you are. It brings clarity to what you want and helps you to take conscious decisions to adjust your reality to your identity.

When you are working on these three elements, it is crucial to get beyond a simple list of words to achieve a rock solid consciousness of these core components of your self-knowledge, you need to give it substance.

Your personal core values:

Your values are like the gas to your engine. They are your motivators. If you run in an environment that is aligned with your values, you will feel energised and positive, and experience feelings such as comfort, happiness, fulfilment, drive, and satisfaction.

On the contrary, being in an environment that runs over your core values will make you feel triggered, angry, frustrated, disappointed or just flat. How do you identify your core values?

Your personal Why (or purpose) as key to improving self-confidence:

As individuals we all have things that make us feel totally connected. It is the typical activities that make us lose notion of time. More often than not, these activities are closely linked to things that really mean something to us. Activities that makes us feel alive.

The personal Why is something we aspire to, our personal purpose. Not the kind of “I was born to be a CEO of a marketing agency” or “president of your country”. Knowing your personal Why gives you clarity on what really ignites you.

What makes your fingertips tingle with excitement? Knowing your purpose helps you chose consciously what you spend time on and engage with, because the activity is meaningful to you.