Most leaders I come across, are so busy trying to build their own levels of confidence that they neglect to focus on building confidence in others
People feel confident when they feel supported and empowered and have “mastery” in their day-to-day work. So, as a leader of a team or an organisation, how can you ensure these three things are in place?
Support stems from a strong team culture. Confidence grows when people feel safe to experiment and know that mistakes are acceptable. That confidence is reinforced by leaders who genuinely care and foster a sense of belonging where people know there's someone to confide in and rely on. This support takes two forms: practical - providing the tools and resources needed to do the job, and emotional - offering someone to turn to when challenges arise. Importantly, support doesn’t always have to come from the leader. In a healthy, confident team culture built on strong relationships, team members can count on one another, creating a network of trusted colleagues ready to help when needed.
At the heart of empowerment lies effective delegation. Briefly put, it means being very clear on the “what” or the task that needs to be done and being flexible on the “how” that task needs to be achieved. Adapting delegation to suit the task and the team member is crucial - a new team member may require a lot of guidance on the “how”; someone more experienced will need a lot less. Allowing team members to come up with their own ideas on how to solve a problem or carry out a task - even if they need to run it past the leader first - builds confidence, helping them to feel empowered. At the heart of this is trust. By all means, build in “guardrails” - parameters and check-in points, but then empower the team members to do things for themselves.
The third factor in building confidence in others is mastery. A confident team arises when each member feels they have the skills and knowledge for the work they need to do. A leader can build confidence in others by providing that skill development. A positive learning environment will look different depending on the size of the team and the scope of the roles, but some of the basics include providing time off for people to attend formal training courses and allowing more junior team members to “shadow” managers and learn through observing. To go further, transformational shifts can occur when a leader takes a coaching approach to delegation, helping their team members develop their own approaches through exploratory questioning techniques and timely constructive feedback.
When I speak to my clients about what’s stopping them from building confidence in others, their initial answer is “time”. Once we’ve explored this and realised that the perceived increase in time investment is not that huge and worth the benefits, there is still a pause. The client will often then admit a lack of confidence in empowering others. Usually, it’s a fear of letting go of control, that others can’t do the task as well as they can, or that by empowering and upskilling core team members, they’ll lose them to other organisations or teams.
So be honest - what’s stopping you? If you’d like to take the plunge and build a confident team, get in touch to see how I can support you. Whether helping build neglected skills in your team members or supporting you in overcoming obstacles to empowering others, I’d love to help!