Emma Cullen, Creative Content Producer at the online, interactive presentation platform, Mentimeter (www.mentimeter.com), provides expert tips on how to increase your confidence in the workplace.
Plan to be confident
Don’t doubt yourself
It’s common to doubt your own abilities, but in order to gain confidence, getting rid of this self-doubt is essential. Whenever you feel doubt creeping in, it's a good idea to think about past experiences where you have achieved something,. This will remind you of how successful you are and what you are capable of, giving you the boost of confidence you need to dismiss the current feeling of doubt. When you manage to overcome self-doubt, you become stronger, and it becomes a little bit easier to dismiss this feeling next time it comes along.
Accept that everyone makes mistakes
Everyone makes mistakes at work. Instead of seeing these mistakes as examples of failure, alter your mindset and see them as an opportunity to learn something. When you adopt this mindset you will find that mistakes are no longer something that can dampen your confidence at work and once you let go of the belief that you need to be perfect, you will find that you feel more confident taking risks and trying new things.
Equip yourself with the right tools
While only you can truly alter your own feelings of confidence, there are plenty of tools you can use to help you achieve this. Consider reading books that have been written by successful leaders or podcasts like ‘This Is Your Life’ that explore how to be be more assertive and productive in the workplace. There are also courses and other resources that you could use, such as the online presentation platform Mentimeter. Mentimeter enables you to create interactive presentations and is an ideal platform to use if you are leading a meeting and feeling nervous, as the interactivity of the audience ensures that the spotlight is not on you throughout the whole meeting, instead encouraging audience members to take an active part in the meeting.
Plan to be confident
Your outward display of confidence in the workplace is often dependent on how confident you feel within yourself. To ensure you feel confident, take the time to plan and prepare for situations so that you are never caught off guard and instead know how to handle them. Try to always arrive on time to work so that you don’t start your day feeling stressed and make sure to dress well. If you feel and look good, then you are bound to feel more confident in yourself, and as a result, you will appear more confident to others.
Ask questions
While it might seem daunting, never be afraid to ask questions at work. Whether its asking for clarification on a task, or asking for help, these questions will help you succeed within your job and ultimately help you to feel more confident in your abilities. It’s also important to ask for feedback and help from your manager, mentors and colleagues, not only does this demonstrate that you care about your work, it ensures that you have an accurate idea of what you need to improve upon and what you are doing well.
Adopt a positive attitude
Positivity is important at work and it can have a profound effect on your performance and that of the people around you. Try to ensure that you adopt a positive outlook even if you are feeling disappointed or annoyed by something and consider distancing yourself from those in the workplace who have a negative attitude, as this will only dampen your own spirits.
Recognise your successes
When you work in a fast paced environment it can be easy to forget to recognise small achievements, throughout the day. Whether it was meeting a short deadline, or coming up with a new idea, take the time to silently congratulate yourself on these, rather than only focusing on the things you didn’t manage to accomplish or find the time to do. Thinking about these things reminds you to focus on the positives and helps to boost your confidence in your own abilities.
Mentimeter (www.mentimeter.com) is a free-to-use, online platform that allows real-time interaction between presenters and their audiences: making meetings enjoyable, engaging, and more productive. Founded in Stockholm in 2014, and recognized by The Next Web in 2018 as the fastest-growing startup in Sweden (with over 20 million people in 100 countries having already benefited from its innovations to date), Mentimeter enables speakers at lectures, corporate events, workshops, and other formal and informal meeting types, to truly engage with their audiences by providing them with easy-to-use tools, such as polls, quizzes, word clouds, multiple choice questions, to make presentations interactive.
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