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FIND GEELONG | AUGUST 2022
www.findgeelong.com.au
Why Should Leaders Exude Confidence? LEADERS RESILIENCE COACH By Sally Higoe
According to Eleanor Roosevelt, American political figure, diplomat, and activist, “A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader; a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.” But I bet any employee wouldn’t feel good if their leader doesn’t show confidence in making decisions. The leader’s behaviour affects how the team thinks and decides. If a boss is lazy and doesn’t make decisions confidently, expect chaos in the team. But if the boss knows what he or she is doing, work would be like a walk in the park for the employees (but not all the time!). A timid and self-doubting leader will result in uncertain situations and confuse members. However, a confident leader will develop a group of independent, creative minds with a clear intention of what they want to achieve as a team. After all, apart from this, how can confident leaders positively affect the organisation? Confidence improves your decision-making process Making decisions should be a collaborative effort and open to any suggestions. But let’s be honest, the boss (yes, that’s you) always has the final say.
A leader will face numerous decisionmaking situations, and most of these would have a huge impact on the team. Confidence is the person’s ability to create a decision without being stressed and anxious while understanding the possible results or consequences and holding accountability for this decision. Confidence should not be based on emotions but on factual judgments. Have you done enough research? Were you able to analyse the situation carefully? Are you going to accept the result regardless of the outcome? Do I hear a ‘yes’? Good! These are the primary questions you should ask yourself before creating a critical decision. Confidence drives effective communication Effective communication is basically the key to the success of a flourishing team. As a leader, you will need to have the spirit to facilitate meaningful conversations. An aura of confidence is essential to this, as well as when it comes to striking communications with individual team members. If you are confident in sharing your thoughts with your colleagues and subordinates, it should not be difficult for them to trust you and be more open about their thoughts and opinions. Your confidence and your team’s level of openness is necessary when coming together to brainstorm solutions to pressing problems — they get to speak their mind and help you come up with various solutions without fear of consequence.
Confidence builds trust If you show confidence in handling your responsibilities as a leader, your team sees that you know what you are doing and trust your decisions as a result. As we all know, trust is essential to all sorts of workplace collaborations, and when you have achieved a healthy level of trust between you and your team, it will not be hard for you to lead them to accomplish objectives that will help your organisation reach set goals. A leader trusted by the team will have his or her insights valued. The words of a trusted and confident leader carry plenty of weight, and their decisions are ultimately respected, whatever the results may look like. Confidence improves workplace relationships If you are confident with your actions and decisions, you practically eliminate any anxiety or stress growing amongst your team. As mentioned earlier, they will get to trust you, and this should result in healthier working relationships not just between you and your team but also between individual team members. As your confidence inspires healthy working relationships, expect to create a workplace conducive to productivity. Productive workers are happy employees, and happy employees are satisfied individuals who are more than willing to stay with the team provided they are appropriately compensated for their efforts.
