Without confidence there isn’t leadership. Followers need to be confident in their leader, but it starts with the leader being confident in themselves. There are varying opinions on how much confidence is innate and how much can be learned, but there is general agreement that confidence can be learned.
Confidence is personal so what can make someone confident is a very long list. Items that support confidence include experience, expertise, resilience, self-awareness, adaptability, optimism, not requiring validation from others, support networks, and so on.
For leaders, one surprising driver of confidence is alignment. As a leader your alignment to your organization’s mission, vision, and especially values, can have a significant positive impact on your confidence because:
- Making plans and decisions that support the organization takes little effort.
- Consistency in communication and actions comes naturally, with no second guessing.
- When push comes to shove, you know you will fight for the organization. The will and strength to fight when your vision and mission are on the line, or your (and the organization’s) values are crossed is extremely strong – knowing this is in you provides confidence.
- You know you belong and are the right person for the job.
What should you do to tap into this confidence builder? Take the time to compare and contrast your personal Mission, Vision, and Values (MVV) and those of your organization.
Understand the differences and make sure you can rationalize and live with them. There can’t be significant misalignment of values, and there must be strong correlation between your personal mission and vision and those of the organization.
If there is significant misalignment, then depending on your ownership position or influence, you could consider some adaptation of the organization’s MVV, and if this is not possible then it may make sense to move on. This sounds harsh, but it is that important, and chances are if there is misalignment, you know it and it is causing issues.
Resources:
List of Values: https://www.scienceofpeople.com/core-values/
