Your reservoir of confidence
"The most beautiful thing you can wear is confidence." Blake Lively
There is no such thing as a completely confident leader. There may be leaders who have huge egos and think they know it all but, I promise, they have internal struggles such as insecurity. As leaders, we strive for greater confidence. I coach leaders toward that end, yet I caution that they will never reach the mountain top of confidence. I point them in the opposite direction - down, deep inside them where there exists a reservoir of confidence - a place they can visit and dip into when needed. Too many are unaware it's there.
Leaders gain confidence through experience. The good ones don't run from conflict, rather, place themselves in difficult situations and in difficult conversations where they learn and grow. It is their duty to do so. These difficult experiences harden them and sharpen their skills for the future. Leadership experiences have a way of repeating themselves. When my clients share their struggles in a specific moment I help them navigate rough waters coaching them to address conflict in effective ways and to learn because a similar problem will surely visit them again in the future. For instance, a toxic employee can wreak havoc in an organization. Leaders and organizations do (or should do) the hard work to remove them from the team and prevent a similar experience, however, they will surely encounter another bad apple down the road.
There are two ingredients in the reservoir. The first is experience. Even young leaders have experience with difficult conversations they have had or perhaps training where they may have experienced a scenario which taught them. Over time their reservoir fills with their experience and through that they should gain confidence. The key is knowing to return to the reservoir recalling those experiences and the lessons learned from them.
The second ingredient is core values and or moral code. Many problems, boiled down, present a simple right and wrong. Knowing that allows a leader to draw upon their core values and morale code to gain confidence when dealing with difficulty. When in the reservoir their voice is clear and confident. "This is wrong, he or she is wrong, and this must be addressed."
Dipping into the reservoir requires strength, focus, courage, and discipline. Leaders step forward to do the right thing armed with the ingredients found in their personal reservoir where they find confidence. The key is knowing it is there because it is.
Make it Personal!
Rob
Rob Campbell