The Problem With Confidence
2020 has been full of ups hasn’t it? The business landscape feels like it has changed at least three times in just nine-months! The one thing that stood out as I’ve looked to serve my clients as both coach and consultant, is how important the confidence level of the leader is to organizational health.
An overconfident leader can often stifle truthful dialogue. An underconfident leader creates an uncompromising vacuum in vision and execution.
Now I’ve been a part of my fair share of organizations and I’ve worked with leaders across the confidence spectrum. And either end can be a nightmare, but it’s not permanent. Offering a dose of humility to the overconfident and offer support to the underconfident is definitely achievable.
There’s an old saying “Speed of the leader. Speed of the team.” This simply means, “as goes the leader, so goes the organization.” So let’s dive in and see how to address each end of the spectrum
This is the first part in a series of posts about confidence. Let’s start with the underconfident leader. Here are a few angles on how to grasp the reason behind the lack of confidence and a few tips to overcome.
Be kind to yourself
Underconfident leaders beat themselves up for even minor mistakes. No one gets it right all of the time. Treat yourself as kindly as you’d treat your team member or peer who did the same thing.
Trust your gut
Most underconfident leaders that I talk to, after some digging, realize that they quite often have the answer to the problem. It’s my job to “unfold” the leader inside. To break down the psychological barriers. Trust that you know your stuff as your default. Then work to prove it if required.
Surround yourself with people who “get” you
If you are struggling with the paralysis that can come with a lack of confidence, get some perspective. Work with a coach, a consultant, a mentor or increase the size and quality of your peer network. They can help you in some immediate decision-making, but more importantly they can affirm who you are in each difficult moment and in living out their own personal story.
Just ship
Seth Godin’s famous line “just ship” means that as a leader, we’ll have to make the decision and deal with the fall out after. Choose to gather the data, make the plan and implement in the appropriate time frame. Reluctant leaders can quite often be unable to make the big decision. Do the work and “just ship”.
Keep track / Celebrate
You’re making decisions every day. Take time to reflect on some of them. Go for a walk and bring a journal. Write down some of the decisions (good or bad) and what you’ve learned from them. Celebrate getting it right AND celebrate getting it wrong and learning from it. This act alone can be life-changing in the life of an underconfident leader.
Next time, how to temper overconfidence as a leader.