7 Steps to Improved Self-Confidence!

Self-confidence is something that many of us wish we had more of, and at the same time some workplace employees may have too much. As with most workplace skills and competencies an appropriate balance of self-confidence is important for success.

Let’s assume that you are not over-confident and that you (like many people) are sometimes searching for a little extra confidence to give you additional influence or power in your workplace role. If this applies to you, consider these sevens steps for a more confident you:

1. Consider your past achievements – think about 5 or more great things you have achieved, create a list and keep it accessible, refer to it often.
2. Analyze personal strengths – what are your strengths and weaknesses? What are opportunities and threats?  Consider a personal S.W.O.T. analysis.
3. Consider what is important to you – what things are truly important to you? Think about reaching for things that are important, but take small steps.
4. Defeat any negative self-talk – negative self-talk can be very damaging. You must develop a personal mindset that is positive. Find something positive in each day, choose to focus on that item or thought.
5. Promise yourself you are committed to succeed! – Make a personal pledge to yourself that you are committed to success.
6. Build your knowledge – learn, identify skills necessary to reach your goals or targets, consider past mistakes an opportunity to refocus, it is important to remain positive and think forward!
7. Start with small goals, celebrate, and grow – each small step is a piece of your success. As you begin to achieve some small reachable goals, stretch a little and go further. Celebrate your success and reflect, you may be surprised how far you have come.

Remember that self-confidence includes a balanced approach, too much confidence can be just as harmful as too little!

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Motivation - Workplace Relationships Matter!

Organizations attempting to understand why their employee teams lack motivation may need to look no further than the personal on-the-job relationships that their employees share. Some schools of thought have been that organizations should discourage co-workers becoming friends considering that the imaginative future problems will outweigh any short-term positive results.

As the generations and their associated informal social policies shift over time, so do the values and beliefs that a new breed of workforce brings to the job. Organizations now more than ever may need to consider the impact of discouraging workplace friendships or downplaying the positive effects of emotional connections that people naturally make with each other. Many organizations claim to encourage a team approach and one of the most fundamental ways to build teams is through relationships. Many positive outcomes can occur when teams form strong interpersonal relationships, here are a few worth mentioning:

• sense of community
• creating shared history
• sense of obligation
• desire to belong

These and many other similar positive relationship building outcomes provide something many organizations seek – workplace motivation. Employees who fail to form relationships or worse yet are discouraged from forming relationships lack a sense of purpose in their work, or even worse, a sense of distrust in the organization. Organizations that discourage building relationships or a management philosophy that encourages tearing down cross-organizational relationships set themselves up for alienation that fuels cynicism, conflict, and a lack of enthusiasm for the mission at hand.

Do you desire a motivated and engaged workforce? Building effective and positive workplace relationships is an essential  ingredient for the motivation recipe. 

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Adaptability, Optimism, and Diversity

Are you flexible when confronted with workplace challenges or obstacles? Many experts believe that this may be a key competency for workplace success, especially in organizations that possess high levels of emotional intelligence. Not surprising is the idea that being adaptable and displaying high levels of emotional intelligence seem to fit together like hand and glove.

Having the skills to read your environment and understand the needs of the people or the organization and then adapt appropriately should be a desired skill. Like many workplace skills adaptability is not created genetically, it is a learned skill. Those who have learned to scan their environment and make adjustments as required are often regarded as valuable team members. They are the first to get picked for new or challenging assignments.

In many cases those who are adaptable are also highly optimistic.They tend to be resilient in their pursuit of excellence while also facing challenges and setbacks head on. They approach others in the workplace with empathy and leverage diversity effectively. Differences are not viewed as a distraction from the focus, they are viewed as opportunities.

Do you adapt quickly to challenges and obstacles? Are you optimistic about assignments and do you recognize diversity as a collaborative opportunity?

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