Top Career Confidence Tips from a Career Confidence Coach

Posted on January 03, 2023 by Kate Bishop, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.

Lack of confidence will affect us all at some stage in our working life – imposter syndrome is said to affect over 80% of the working population in the UK alone!

When this lack of confidence lingers it can be incredibly debilitating as it can prevent us from:

- Making valuable contributions in meetings, on projects and to organisations as a whole
- Asking insightful and valid questions
- Challenging opinions and the status quo
- Going for promotions and pay rises
- Applying for roles internally and externally
- In fact, 85% of working adults will feel incompetent at work at some point.

That is a lot of low confidence and this can not only slow and hinder our career progression but even stall it altogether. How can we, therefore, create inner career confidence so we feel comfortable to be able to actually do those points above (and more!)?

Know Yourself Inside Out
Being aware of what we want, what motivates us, what our values and priorities in all areas of our life will help us identify what we really want from our work. If we work for an organisation whose culture fits our values, then it is highly likely we will be motivated. However, if we are having doubts it may be due to an incongruity between what we really want and what we are gaining from our role.

You Be You
Not everyone needs to be the loudest voice in the room and not everyone is an extrovert. If we all were then the world would be a very noisy place and probably not that fun.
Focus on your strengths and skills – write them all down and then get a colleague to write down how awesome they think you are, and you do the same for them. Do this with friends, family, your partner, your pet! Keep those Awesome Lists visible to boost your confidence when you need it and as a daily reminder of how capable you really are.
Finally start demonstrating these strengths and skills in all areas of your work and make sure those that should see this are fully aware of how valuable you are to the business.

Be Courageous to be Confident
Step outside of your Comfort / Safe Zone every once in a while, – in fact as often as possible. This will be you proving to yourself that you can take risks, even if the results are not as you intended you still went for it, seen how brave you can be and learnt what worked and what didn’t work so well.
By doing so regularly you will build a level of comfort with continually taking a risk – whether that be speaking up in meetings, having a difficult conversation or asking for a pay rise. As your confidence grows so will your ability to take on new challenges.

Be Open
To opportunities. Aligned with being courageous this point is about saying yes to what comes your way to further your career. Go for coffee or lunch with someone you respect at work and learn from them – what are they doing which you are not? What advice can they give you?

Be a Cheerleader
I’m not suggesting grabbing pompoms or doing crazy gymnastics here – I am advising you to get and be a champion for others in your company.
If you want to progress within the organisation but are not sure how or are finding you are coming up against obstacles find a senior member of the team to champion, you and your value. Ask them to mentor you so you are doing all the right things to get that promotion.
Pay it back by being a cheerleader for others so that their attributes are seen and heard about too. By creating strong relationships at work these can benefit everyone over time as well as increase team motivation and productivity.

Be Positive
I know, I know – much easier said than done, however, by shifting our negative, non-confident mindset to more positive one we are much more able to cope with challenges that come our way. Again, as we do this, we will prove to ourselves and others how capable we are and will begin to see issues as opportunities to show off our skills, champion our teams and grow our courage and confidence.

Visualisation
Feeling uncertain when approaching a new career challenge is probably rooted in negative self perception. Most of us have this nasty habit of amplifying our weaknesses, which makes us view ourselves as being worse than what we really are. Visualisation can help. It’s a technique that’s used a lot in mindfulness, giving the brain something to focus on. Take a few quiet moments and try to build an image in your head of you tackling the challenge. You’ll gain a great understanding of the skills and talents you already possess that can help you succeed, and help you see the positive outcomes.

Practice
A new challenge at work means facing the unknown, and let’s not beat around the bush here: the unknown can be scary. But it’s only scary because it’s something we don’t really face all that often. In life, and at work, we build routines; we wake, we eat, we go to work, we come home, and so on. It’s actually very rare that we have to deal with the unknown so it’s natural that we wouldn’t have much confidence in this area. So make it something that you do see every day. Even something as simple as taking a different route to work can help the unknown become more familiar and comfortable.

Forget the rest
Don’t get me wrong, having a strong support system in place can really help people to feel motivated through periods of change, but when you’re faced with a career challenge and you’re not feeling too confident in your ability to succeed, sometimes it can be beneficial to close your mind off and focus on you and you alone. I really believe that one of the biggest obstacles standing in the way of confidence building is comparison. I work with so many people who overlook their own qualities in favour of the qualities of others. Remember: other people’s qualities don’t affect or negate ours.

If you are in need of more help with confidence either in or out of the workplace then please get in touch to see how I can help you.

Kx