NOTE: This is an excerpt of a detailed white paper I have created for my clients that outlines specific strategies for developing these confidences. If you would like the full white paper, please email me at [email protected]
I’m working with a very brave CEO who stepped into a global non-profit to turn it around after a tumultuous three years that included two ineffective interim CEOs and the loss of a customer that accounted for 70% of the organization’s revenue.
We’re working on numerous strategic and cultural initiatives. In all organizations, leadership confidence is essential. However, it’s critically imperative in an organization that is going through or has experienced turmoil, uncertainty and mistrust.
All organizations encounter challenges. During all times of leadership, leaders must strive to display three types of confidence:
1: Self-confidence
2: Team confidence
3: Organizational confidence
Self-Confidence
As I’ve discussed in previous columns, leaders are always being watched. To lead others through change and difficulty requires self-confidence that is rooted in a realistic understanding of one’s own self-worth. When employees are uncertain about their future or about the organization, they look to their leader for reassurance and direction.
When working with my clients, my goal is to develop in them a healthy combination of high self-esteem and high self-efficacy. This empowers them to confidently communicate their value proposition, and deliver on their brand promise. Many times, clients come to me with an insecurity about their leadership abilities, or an insecurity/unawareness about their value in the workplace. Sometimes, it’s both. As I tell my clients, we can’t expect our clients to value us and have confidence in us if we don’t see it in ourselves first.
My chart below diagrams what happens when these two characteristics are imbalanced. The upper left quadrant, however, shows what happens when they are balanced.
Team Confidence
The second pillar of leadership confidence is team confidence. No one builds an organization alone. Surrounding ourselves with “A” players is critical to moving to the next levels of growth. Especially in difficulty, a leader will need to know who really has their best interests. 100% confidence of their supporting team is essential to moving forward, in all organizational conditions. Trustworthiness, competency, and loyalty are three of the most important characteristics that supporting team members need for leaders to confidently move forward alongside of them.
Organizational Confidence
The final pillar of leadership confidence is organizational confidence. At all times, leaders must believe in the capabilities of their own organization. If their organizational confidence waivers, they need to assess where the doubt is originating, and take steps to restore it. Often when leaders lose confidence in their own organization, there are several underlying factors that have eroded the trust. Perhaps they have lost sight of their mission, or core values system. Perhaps the organization has lost a customer or key employee.
What matters is that the leader and the supporting team work together to restore the trust, and move the company forward.
Self-confidence, team confidence, and organizational confidence are three pillars of organizational health. When these are combined with a pragmatic assessment of an organization’s capabilities & value, and a realistic growth strategy, the leader, the employees, and the organization will be set up for growth and success.
Want to know HOW to create greater self-confidence, team confidence, and organizational confidence? Please email me at [email protected] to request my full white paper, and to set up a 15-minute skype session to share your greatest organizational challenge that is holding you back.
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About Successful Culture
We work with business owners, CEOs, and leadership teams that want to achieve their greatest personal & organizational potential. Through coaching, strategic consulting, retreat facilitation, and workshops, we equip leaders & emerging leaders with the mindset, tools, strategies, and processes they need to excel.
Ready to move forward? Email us today at [email protected].
Connect with me on Instragram, Facebook, and Twitter. Engage with me during my morning Periscope sessions as well (@marissalevin).
Please check out my Inc. Magazine columns on my Author Page too.
– In my latest Inc, article, I share The Essential Guide to Avoiding Workplace Text, Email, & Social Media Disasters.
– Learn about the 9 Leadership Behaviors that Lose Employee Trust & Respect here.
~Marissa Levin
CEO, Successful Culture
“Taking Leaders from Triage to Transformation.”
