12 Ways to Build Confidence as a Leader
Question for you…are you confident 100% of the time?
If you read that and laughed out loud and then said, “Nope!” – well, you’re just like everyone else.
I dare to say that not everyone feels 100% confident 100% of the time.
We all have those moments when our confidence level isn’t what it should be. When we’re plagued by fears. When we feel we’re in over our heads.
But we can’t let those nagging feelings of self-doubt take over.
Want to know how I gather confidence as a leader? Here are my 12 ways to Build Confidence as a leader.
1. Connect With Other Leaders
Connecting with other leaders allows you to have amazing discussions – about leadership, life, work – whatever! And it exposes you to other leadership styles – some of which you’ll love and some of which you won’t – which means you are constantly learning and evolving as a leader.
2. Be Self-Aware
Self-awareness is a skill that you need to be confident. Self-awareness will give you clarity as a leader – and clarity will assist you in making good decisions, in turn, giving you self-confidence.
3. Help Your Team to Be Successful
When you help your team to be successful, you reap the benefits – and one of those benefits is self-confidence. Because, yes, success breeds success.
4. Study Leadership
You’ve probably heard someone say, “He’s a born leader.” I find that this is usually not the case. Leadership is a learned skill. And, in order to be a successful leader and have confidence in your abilities, you need to be constantly learning – and studying leadership is part of that. Whether it be via books, courses, seminars, podcasts – the choices for learning are many – you’ve got to keep gathering knowledge.
5. Find a Mentor
Yes, a mentor can be helpful on so many levels – including the help they can offer to you as a leader. They can act as a sounding board, cheerleader, thought leader – whatever you need at the moment – and all of these roles can help to give you confidence in your leadership role.
6. Overcome Self-Doubt
This may be the hardest thing for you to do, but sometimes you just need to give yourself a good, ol’ fashioned pep talk and get over the self-doubt.
7. Make Decisions
We’ve all had those wishy-washy leaders who seem to struggle to make a decision. It’s the worst. Not every decision you make is going to be the correct one, but make the decision. Show that you can be decisive and take action when needed.
8. Challenge Yourself
Yes, getting an easy win can build your confidence. But you know what will take it to the next level? Getting a win on something that you found difficult or challenging. Don’t be afraid to challenge yourself and get that big win.
9. Celebrate Your Success
Big or small, you need to celebrate your successes. Too often, we don’t recognize our hard work – but that shouldn’t be the case.
10. Know Your Strengths and Weaknesses
When you know your strengths and weaknesses, you can capitalize on your strengths and reach out to others to help you with your weaknesses. It’s a win-win for everyone.
11. Understand That Fear Is Normal
Yes, every good leader experiences fear. Fear of making a wrong decision or incorrect choice. Fear of not moving fast enough – or too fast. Fear of being seen as weak or stupid. Fear is normal. Just know that.
12. Realize That Failures Will Happen
Guess what? All leaders experience failures. All of them. (Some just choose not to share them – but they’ve experienced them – trust me.) It’s part of being a leader. But if you can learn from them, they’ll help you become a more confident leader.
Who's Ready - Confident Leader
So who’s ready to be a more confident leader? Which tips do you already have in place, and which ones do you need to work on? No matter where you are on the confidence scale (and it can vary day-to-day – heck, even minute-to-minute), know that there are things you can do to build your confidence as a leader – and that doing so will benefit not only you but those around you, too.
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