Confidence Starts With Management

Having a Culture of Confidence® in a business or organization starts at the management level. Whether your organization is two or two thousand, it has a culture.

A culture is a set of beliefs. It is defined by the practices performed routinely in any business or organization. It can come about by design or by accident. No matter what its origin, it will develop or time. Why not make it a culture that increases each member’s sense of confidence, decisiveness and productivity?

Confidence Gets Results

Confident people get more done. They are more accomplished because they are more decisive. Confident people require less supervision, need fewer meetings and waste less time with unnecessary consultations.

Consultation and collaboration are still important to confident people.  But those same people are readier to make a decision and carry out the plan than those who are always in doubt about the consequences of their actions.

That is where management needs to step into the fray and begin to help employees and team members develop a Culture of Confidence®. Nobody takes a job hoping to fail. No employer intentionally hires a person knowing they are not capable. At the moment of hiring both employer and employee are on the same page and have the same desires. Each side of the equation is hoping for success.

Eliminate Fear

Lurking in the heart of many new employees is that feeling of fear. There is the fear they might not measure up. There is the fear they might make a mistake. There can even be the fear that management does not really appreciate the employee efforts.

Those fears or concerns, if left unaddressed, can fester and spread. It is like a virus. And when it starts to spread it can be difficult to stop.

These Things Work

Here are some things that help build a Culture of Confidence®.

Acknowledge Employees Efforts:  Don’t wait until an employee or member of your organization hits a home run to brag about their efforts. Not everybody is a home run hitter. Give public praise and recognition to those who grind it out each day in tasks that do not garner a lot of attention. Everybody appreciates a pat on the back and a nod of approval. Give them out liberally, but sincerely.

Keep Employees Informed: Rumors are usually more powerful than truth. The reason for that is rumors usually feed into a sense of fear or doubt and sadly that is too often the default response of many people. Let the people in your organization know the score. Be honest with them. Have an open line of communication between management and labor. Use it. Encourage it.

Treat People Fairly: There is a constant dialogue about treating each person in and out of the workplace equally. As laudable a goal as that might be, it is humanly impossible. It is not humanly impossible to treat each person fairly. Workers with different abilities and skills are always going to be treated differently. But each individual deserves the same fair treatment, concern and courtesy as the next. Remember that it takes eleven offensive players to be on the field in a football game. Each one is a standout in his own way. They are not treated equally while they are on the field. Some get bashed and battered on each play while others are protected to a certain extent by the rules. They are, however, each treated fairly.

I work exclusively with organizations that want their people to be self-assured, decisive and productive. If you would be open to a conversation about me speaking at one of your company events, or working with the members of your organization to help create a Culture of Confidence®, contact me.