Motivated, determined, and confident, Oliver was a star player and a fast riser within the organization, promoted after just two years in his sales role. Despite his success, the sudden promotion and lack of previous leadership experience made Oliver lose confidence in his abilities when conflicts with his team and superiors began to arise.
In the business world, there is an unprecedented demand for professional development, skill building, and growth to bring value to an organization and advance individual careers. Of the many skills leaders can bring to the table, confidence is a key attribute but can also be elusive. On the surface, confidence often seems like an innate skill for those who have it, but out of reach for those who don’t.
While leadership is an important skill for leaders to have–or more importantly, hone and develop–many leaders share fears that they don’t have what it takes to be an effective leader. According to research conducted by Gartner, only half of 2,800 surveyed leaders felt confident in their ability to lead their organization in the future. This lack of confidence is something that can be felt by employees. The same survey revealed that only half of employees felt their leaders created a cohesive vision for their teams.
Many factors can be attributed to a leader’s confidence or lack thereof, including:
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And these feelings can be easily justified. 60% of new managers fail within the first two years because first-time manager development programs don’t always set these first-time leaders up for success. Additionally, skills developed by high-performing, confident employees may not align with the skills an effective leader needs. For example, a star sales associate, like Oliver, may be competitive and assertive to meet and exceed sales goals, but when thrust into a leadership role, he needs to forget this mindset to become team-oriented and empathetic.
Fortunately, this lack of confidence is something that any good leader can work to overcome. Let’s take a deeper dive into the scenario presented above. Because of Oliver’s early career success, company management felt he was a good candidate for a role with greater responsibility and promoted him to a leadership position. However, without prior leadership experience, a confidence crisis ensued.
A colleague recommended that Oliver should seek an executive coach to help him transition into his new role and build the confidence he needs to be successful. Connect the Dots Coach, Megan was brought in and started the engagement by focusing on helping Oliver develop a transition plan and articulating how he wanted to “show up” as a leader in this role. Once he had a clear picture of the leadership brand he wanted and needed for success in his role, Megan was able to help Oliver understand what behaviors he needed and how to exhibit them. She also taught Oliver how to apply his successes in areas where he is confident and to those where he isn’t as confident. The key for Oliver was to take some small risks to learn and build on those outcomes to develop more confidence. Once the engagement was complete, Oliver was able to employ strategies that he learned and practiced with Megan, making the necessary adjustments to help him maintain forward momentum.
As a result of the successful engagement, our leader improved team cohesion and trust, fostered transparent communication, improved business results, and strengthened relationships with his boss and peers. Data collected by the International Coaching Federation has shown that executive coaching can result in a 70% increase in a leader’s personal performance, improve team performance by 50%, and increase organizational performance by 48%.
Once leaders have the tools they need to succeed, they can transform from a functional leader into a business leader. In turn, becoming this type of leader can increase someone’s potential within the organization and may make them an attractive choice to be promoted to higher leadership levels. While not all leaders may be born with the innate confidence of a leader, executive coaches can help unlock their potential and help them discover the confidence they need to be effective leaders.
Does your organization need more confident leaders? Contact Connect the Dots consulting for more information on how we can help your leaders build their confidence and enhance their leadership to improve business outcomes.
