It is your sole responsibility as a leader to build and grow the confidence of your team. Your team’s performance and engagement is a direct reflection of your leadership.
Follow these nine tips to help you cultivate a team that is confident in you (as their leader), themselves and their abilities:
- Trust first, give your team the benefit of the doubt.
- Listen actively, pay attention to your team’s needs.
- Praise in public, let your team be the hero.
- Coach in private, coaching is a positive thing when done in a private setting and framed around growth and development.
- Play to your team’s strengths; put the right people in the right seat on the bus. They will feel, much more confident and successful in their role.
- Show compassion & empathy; no one is perfect. Show that you care and create a safe environment for your team members to come to you with anything.
- Let your team in! They want to be a part of the big picture. Ask them their opinion, show them it matters.
- Create a safe environment where it is ok to fail, making mistakes/error is ok; this means they are trying.
- Own it, if you do nothing else do this. Celebrate your team– ‘we’ when you succeed and own the failures– ‘I’ when we fail, don’t place blame. Let your team know you have their back no matter what.
If you are doing one or a combination of the above, then you are off to a great start! I challenge you to look at your reflection as a leader and ask yourself, honestly, if you positively contribute to the confidence your team has in you, themselves and their abilities.
