By Jason Croxford

Confidence is a feeling of wellbeing that is directly influenced by the people that surround us. A team whose managerial staff is capable of such agility.

Confidence is a feeling of wellbeing that is directly influenced by the people that surround us. Building confidence can be encouraged by scaffolding the environment, interactions, and training in support of your team. It just makes more sense that a team manager would work to influence an increasing confidence in his or her employees, to promote the well being of every on your team. A team whose managerial staff is capable of such powerful agility in this area will thrive.

No leader should ever choose to disassemble the confidence of any employee in their charge, but by not paying attention to the culture in an office, it can happen. A team manager must understand that their influence can create a positive or negative atmosphere. If the team manager is effective, then they will be a positive influence–one that builds confidence in the employees who work for them.

Things To Focus On With In Your Team

1. A manager can build confidence in her or his staff by making sure they are trained well to do their job.

Hopefully, your team will come to you prepared to do the job for which they were wanting to do. However, not only does staff need to keep up on the ever progressive technology that is required of them, your staff needs to continually be challenged, introduced to new ideas and ways to improve in their job.

Team managers who keep their staff challenged in creative methods, thinking more openly, or looking at the same issues in different ways, will give their employees a varied way to express their work, which will increase that feeling of well being or confidence.

One major problem with training in most companies is that no one asks the team member’s what type of training they might like to have, or feel they need. Consequently, most trainings are not well thought out, its throw at team member’s with very little thought as to the effectiveness of the training, or the trainer. In every organization, professional development is a matter of course. It has become so much a part of the yearly calendar that it has become invisible.

When staff is forced into periods of training that is of no worth, they question if the leaders have any awareness of them or their work at all. When a company wastes time and effort in this way, the effect is definitely negative in every aspect. The team member, whose time is wasted, whose ideas are never considered, and who will feel disrespected if this happens, will not have their confidence built up.

When the team member is involved in training that is important to them, training that fills a need they have expressed to management, when they see that someone has listened, and values their time, and confidence is raised. They will feel as though the heads of the company pay attention to what they do, and who they are. They feel like they have worth.

2. Confidence comes from being treated with respect.

Respect is the treatment of others and yourself with genuine feelings of acknowledgement. The opposite is to ignore. Sometimes respect is more easily seen when you examine it for what it is not. When you don’t pay attention to a person, their ideas, their presence, who they are or what they do, then you are being disrespectful. So to show respect is to give honest attention to a person, what they have to say, how they feel and think and act. Respect is not to agree with but to give credence to the fact that another person’s viewpoints, opinions, and focus has worth, if not to you, to that person himself. It is not placating them, but accepting them for who they are.

Often team members fail to recognize there is so little cost in creating a positive atmosphere. When you change the environment by changing your own behavior, the payback is enormous. Giving respect for others will change the interacting within your team in so many ways, especially if it comes from the top down. It can, however, move from the bottom up. Respect stands out.

3. Managers can encourage confidence in their staff by encouraging positive interaction between team members.

Development of good people skills is brought about with the regular display of positive interaction within a company. It should be modeled, promoted, and encouraged. It’s not a simple idea, and it takes effort to bring people together when they only have their work in common, but if you the leadership creates time and provides space and allows for such interaction, aside from the work of the day, then the work of the day will be more effective. Workers will develop the confidence to excel and move forward with less supervision, less stress, and with more productivity.

4. When team managers demonstrate an appreciation of a job well done , it will build individual and team confidence.

There isn’t a person alive who doesn’t feel good when their boss lets them know they are doing a good job, that they are appreciated, and make a difference to the organization. 

Appreciation comes in many forms and it is important for the manager to know what makes his team members feel appreciated. Some people like recognition in front of others. Some like plaques, pins, or a visual recognition. Others don’t like to be bragged on in public and prefer to simply be called into the office and told how much they contribute to the team.

Money is never a bad option when it is feasible. Gift cards, if they aren’t too specific, can be a boost to a worker. Sometimes a plant, an extra break, a day off, or an early dismissal give the most pleasure.

Bottom Line

Confident people are self-motivated, have high self-esteem and are willing to take risks. But even the most confident team member may suffer a crisis of self-doubt in times of radical change. That is when leadership becomes a critical factor.