by Charlotte Gurney
A confident team is productive, collaborative and innovative. However, we all come to the table with different levels of confidence and there are many factors that can affect how people present themselves. The more confident your team is, the better their experience of working life will be, and the more they will be able to contribute to the business. So, how do you go about building self-confidence in your team?
Provide constructive & transparent feedback - Self-knowledge is the root of confidence, particularly when it comes to strengths and weaknesses. Providing employees with transparent and helpful feedback not only helps them to focus energy on what they are good at, but also lets them reflect and look to improve the things they are not. This creates a firm foundation for what their future targets are and builds their confidence going forward.
Build confidence through incremental achievements – Individuals build confidence through repetition and being exposed to challenges that they can overcome. By creating a path of progress for your team and providing useful, practical feedback, you’ll see their confidence grow gradually and your team will start to see what they are really capable of.
Get to know the people in the team - We often make the mistake of looking at employees purely in the context of who they are at work. However, if you take the time to get to know people for who they really are, not just their professional capacity, then you’ll be able to identify more ways to help increase their confidence which will transfer across into their role.
Acknowledge improvements and effort - Sometimes employees have a tough time recognizing where they’ve made improvements, and it may be up to you to highlight this. Doing so will deliver a confidence boost by acknowledging their achievements and progress towards their goals. It can also be just as important to note where extraordinary effort has been made, even if outcomes weren’t achieved. Moreover, the process of doing something is the learning curve itself and you can help employees to acknowledge growth and development even if there was no ‘achievement’ involved.
Embracing failure as a key part of success – The fear of failure can be one of the biggest obstacles to confidence. Therefore, supporting your team through failures and mistakes is vital to help them learn to see these as a natural part of the growth progress; not a source of shame or sadness. Learning from mistakes is much more important than punishing yourself for making them.
Celebrate the wins – If your team has performed outstandingly on a project and delivered some exceptional results, then celebrating this will provide a huge boost for overall team morale. This can be expressed via a reward team activity, meal or promoting their hard work to the whole business to show your appreciation and recognition of their hard work and dedication.
Confidence building is a vital part of positive team management. From using the tool of feedback to helping people deal better with setbacks, there are lots of ways to make this happen. To find out how Volt can support you in building your next team, please visit our Services & Solutions page on our website for more information.