A healthy level of confidence at work will make you more likely to engage in challenging but manageable projects, will help you get outside your comfort zone, and allow you to achieve new goals – all of which are valued characteristics of successful workers. There are many ways to grow your confidence at work and take on new challenges, which will also aid your personal life.
Listed below are some ideas and suggestions of how to be confident at work, and to be a valued colleague who is positive and willing to take up new challenges and roles.
Opportunities at work
Continued professional development – make the most of any opportunity for further training such as seminars, classes, etc. offered through your workplace. There may be opportunities to engage in professional development (PD), both at work and outside work.
Some workplaces offer formalised PD to help you develop your existing skills and learn new ones. PD offered could take the form of short courses, half-day training sessions, or online courses. They may even offer very short online training sessions called micro-learning.
Talk to your manager or your workplace Human Resources department to find out what they offer in terms of PD for employees. If you do get the opportunity to do some workplace-sponsored PD, make sure you take it.
Learn new skills from others
You can also learn from your teammates or managers. This is on-the-job PD.
If you’re having trouble with something, don’t be afraid to ask your manager and teammates for help. Even if you’ve been doing a task for a while and are curious or concerned about what you are doing, ask! You may have identified an issue or may learn something you didn’t know before.
Watch and observe your teammates and manager, you may pick up tips and new knowledge. Don’t forget to ask them for any tips or insights about how to improve on the job.
Be open to learning new skills every day. In most cases, you’ll learn from the people around you (sometimes without even realising it!). Asking questions and increasing your skills and knowledge can help build up your confidence, so that you know you're doing your job well.
Take on more responsibility
In most workplaces, there are often additional roles that employees can volunteer to take up. These are great opportunities to learn a range of both specific and transferable skills at work.
Nominating yourself for these kinds of positions shows your employer that you are an enthusiastic employee who is adaptable and willing to give new things a go. If your employer sees you this way, you are probably more likely to be considered for extra roles or even a promotion in future.
It is also an opportunity to sample new roles and tasks to determine if you like to try something different in your career progression.
Take part in company volunteering and fundraising
Taking part in volunteering or fundraising efforts within your company can also help you to develop new transferable skills.
These activities could help you improve your teamwork, organisational, communication, and negotiation skills. It is a great opportunity to network with and learn from your teammates and work colleagues.
Also, these company-sponsored activities are a great way to get to know your teammates and form closer working relationships and friendships with them. This is good for improving your happiness and satisfaction while working at your company.
Use these volunteer opportunities to reflect on what tasks you like to do (and what you don’t like). Maybe this also could potentially be a new career path for you.
Attend external training, workshops, and conferences for networking opportunities
Attending events such as training, workshops, or conferences will give you a chance to learn more about your industry and develop your skills. You may get some helpful advice for different ways you could approach your work in future.
If you’re not sure what events would be suitable, ask your manager and colleagues for suggestions, or do your own research on industry events. Your employer might already support employees to go to certain events and pay for these opportunities.
If you find an event that interests you, but your employer won’t pay for you to go, you may still be able to ask them to let you go on company time. Show them how the PD will help you develop professionally and perform your duties more effectively.
Keeping in contact with the people in your network can also open the door to opportunities to collaborate with each other. You may even be able to find a job in future because of your connections with the people in your network. Conferences are a great way to network as well as learn something about your industry.
No negative self-talk – be kind to yourself
Making mistakes is inevitable, so don't talk down to yourself when it happens.
It’s no secret that the way we communicate with ourselves plays a major role in the way we see and experience the world around us. That’s why being mindful of these very delicate words we use on a regular basis is extremely important.
Unfortunately, there’s no switch to completely turn off our negative self-talk, but the most important thing we can do in these instances is to recognise when we have these thoughts, think mindfully about them, and communicate positive affirmations to ourselves.
There are four main forms of negative self-talk – personalising, filtering, polarising, and catastrophising.
Combating these types of negative self-talk takes practice. It is important to incorporate positivity whether you’re experiencing tough moments or not. Practicing positivity isn’t about disregarding the unfortunate nature of a situation, but instead acknowledging that you will find a way around it. It can be as simple as making the best out of a difficult situation.
Ask for feedback from your superiors - it shows that you care and want to continue improving
When someone gives you feedback, they let you know about their thoughts and opinions on something you have done. Sometimes people may just give you feedback while other times you may have to ask for it.
Feedback at work can come in many forms:
- Formal feedback usually comes through a scheduled meeting or other official channels. This can be through a performance review organised on a regular basis (this could be every six months), a scheduled impromptu meeting with your manager, or even feedback surveys from your customers or co-workers.
- Informal feedback can come from our everyday interactions with people in the workplace. You might receive praise from a customer or colleague, or someone may let you know about area you could work on to improve.
Positive and Critical feedback
The feedback you receive can be positive, critical, or a bit of both. But generally, feedback can help you recognise what you’re good at, and what you can improve on.
Someone can give you positive feedback to let you know that they like what you’ve done or that you’re on the right track. Receiving this kind of feedback can be encouraging and boosts our morale, so don’t forget to say thank you when someone compliments your work. Also look them in the eye and be sincere in your thanks.
However, you may also receive more critical feedback. This kind of feedback tells you the areas you can improve on. This type of feedback can seem discouraging, but you can use it as an opportunity to help you grow. Instead of being defensive, try considering the feedback you’ve been given and take time to think about how you could act on it to improve.
Dress for success
Dressing the part and ensuring you look put together and professional can make a real difference in how you present yourself and how confident you feel.
People who dress better may have more confidence, feel more powerful, and be more focused on details. More importantly, people perceive well-dressed people as leaders, and go to them for support at a faster rate than those not as well-dressed. Some basic tips:
- Begin with the basics. Always choose dark socks when wearing dark pants and/or shoes. Your belt should match or coordinate with your shoes.
- Personal hygiene. Neat hair, clean shaven and minimal makeup. Limit use of cologne/perfume; it’s meant to compliment not overwhelm.
- Keep it simple. Accessories should be just that: extra.
- Keep it clean. Clothing should be clean and pressed.
- Dress for the occasion.
- Dressing well is more than just clothing. Body language and the way you hold yourself go a long way in indicating your state of mind and attitude.
Set yourself goals
Setting short-term and long-term goals can change the way you perceive your progress and your success. Setting short-term goals can be a great way to see how much you're doing.
The setting of goals has been shown to increase employee motivation and organisational commitment. Additionally, goals affect the intensity of our actions and our emotions – the more challenging and valued a goal is, the more intense our efforts will be to attain it, and the more success we experience following achievement.
Short-term goals at work include finishing an important project on time or submitting a task earlier than expected. A personal short-term goal could be to change a daily habit such as walking home instead of catching the bus. Long-term goals could include a promotion or increased responsibility within a team. A long-term personal goal could be to quit smoking.
Leave your comfort zone
Take some steps outside of your comfort zone every now and then and see what opportunities arise.
When we’re in our comfort zone, we know what to expect and we know how to react. We feel that we have some control over the situation.
When we leave the comfort zone, we’re no longer in a familiar and controllable situation. Living life in your comfort zone has obvious benefits: low stress, reduced anxiety, and general feelings of well-being. However, when you are continually going through the motions, you may get bored and become interested in trying other things.
The ability to move out of your comfort zone in regular, positive ways allows you to strike the right balance between certainty and uncertainty. Pushing your boundaries can make you more productive, more adaptable, more creative, and allow you to have more confidence in the workplace. For example, if you don’t like public speaking, giving a presentation in front of a group of people at work would involve you moving outside of your comfort zone.
Fear of failure is one of the most common fears that hold us back from achieving excellence or stepping out of our comfort zones. Successful businesspeople have all failed spectacularly at some point in their lives. The difference is that they don’t let failure hold them back as they know that in every failure there is a lesson – but you must move out of your comfort zone in order to find it.
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