Last week we talked about how to build leadership confidence. Learning how to be confident as a leader is important. But, it’s also important that you learn how to help build confidence within your staff as well. Your team and business succeed the most when everyone operates from a place of strength and confidence.
But, struggling with confidence isn’t something that only leaders have a hard time with. 85% percent of people struggle with low self-esteem. That makes the likelihood that you have people on your team that struggle with confidence very good. As a leader, you can help them to turn this around and grow your confidence and the following tips can help.
Where does low self-esteem come from?
According to an article on Psychology Today, there are several areas that impact self-esteem including:
- Genetics
- Cultural background
- Childhood experience
- Mental health challenges like anxiety and depression
That means when you’re trying to help your staff build their confidence, you need to realize that there could be a lot of things at play working against you.
It could be that someone on your staff has always suffered from low self-esteem or it could be that they used to have a lot of confidence until they experienced trauma or a negative experience in life. You may never know where the challenge is coming from, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t help them address it.
1. Help them recognize and celebrate success
This was one of the tips we discussed last week to help you build confidence and it’s something that you can do for those you work with as well. As the leader, how you respond encourages the response of others. If you make a big deal out of every little success that you see, others will do the same.
When your employees see that you’re acknowledging and celebrating something that they were a part of, they’ll start to feel good. But, you can’t stop there. You have to teach them how to do this as well. If you set your employees up with the SPEARity app, they will have a place to do this every day. By encouraging them to track their own successes along with mentioning them yourself, their confidence will begin to soar.
2. Set them up for success
The way you delegate is going to play a large role in the success that your employees experience. Make sure that you’re providing them with clear directions on what they need to know and the resources that they need to accomplish the job.
Holding 15-minute meetings, something our Milwaukee business coaches, teach SPEARity members, will provide them a chance to touch base on a regular basis and ask for help if they need it.
3. Give them more responsibility
When your team sees that you trust them to accomplish the job, it will help them to feel more successful. Delegating as a leader isn’t always easy, but it’s necessary for both you and your staff.
When you delegate something, make sure that you’re providing the person with power to complete the task. Don’t make them have to come to you to get approval for everything. When you do that, you’re not actually delegating or helping them to build confidence. Show them that you trust them with the job and responsibility.
4. Share in the consequences
If your team feels that you are going to share in the consequences of decisions along with them, and show support, it empowers them to take action. Knowing that they have your backing, helps them to feel more confident in their own abilities because you are confident in them.
If your team is afraid to make mistakes, there are changes that you need to make as a leader.
5. Remember to view them as people first
Life is busy as a leader. There’s a lot that you need to accomplish and it can be a little too easy to start to view your team as just part of the plan to get things done. When you do this, it’s easy to forget to think of your team as people. They have challenges that they’re facing in life outside of work, just like you do. They have good days and bad days.
If you want them to feel more confident, remember to treat them like an individual person. Learn about them. Ask them about themselves. Some people operate under the misconception that if you are too friendly with your team they won’t respect you as a leader. There is a fine line to walk, but it’s completely possible to care about your employees as people and not just employees.
If you feel that you’re struggling with your leadership skills and helping your employees to truly succeed, contact a SPEARity coach today to discuss your options.
We are SPEARity, a local Milwaukee business coaching firm that specializes in executive coaching and leadership development training.
