“Self-confidence is the ability to be certain about one’s competencies and skills.” (Northouse, 2015)
Why is self-confidence one of those leadership traits that can be seen as both positive and negative for exuding? If a person walks around erect, proud, and jovial they can be seen either as “faking it” or extremely confidence in themselves. At work, employees want to see their seniors be intelligent, confident, and friendly BUT not TOO confident because then it comes off as arrogant. Then the assumption is that the person is holding themselves in high regard because of the position they hold in the company. How often have we seen this happen?
An article by Psychology Today discuss confident individuals and addresses the “arrogant” type as one having, “less conscientiousness” than most. Those individuals will take less time making decisions and whatever is in front of them; in the case of the article it was discussing a man lusting for multiple women vice settling down with one. So have we had senior individuals in our companies act this way? Out of haste and a lack of information, using only their confidence and what they feel is the right answer to make a decision? What was the outcome? In most cases, I would assume the outcome was negative and if it was where was the attention pushed, on the employees or the senior?
“Leadership involves influencing others, and self-confidence allows the leader to feel assured that his or her attempts to influence others are appropriate and right.” (Northouse, 2015) With the type of individual I just described it doesn’t seem like there is a desire to influence others. So, maybe that is the difference between being self-confident and arrogant, but how do we show our employees that we are confident with our business decisions but want to include them?
When I was thinking about writing this blog, I immediately thought about the Trait Approach to leadership and all of the different things it entailed. Self-confidence was the first trait, not only because I believe a confident person has the ability to lead, but because they had to have the intelligence to get there. So when I sit back and think about confidence, it reminds me that leaders must be intelligent. They must have done something to get themselves to that position. Intelligence is built not only through trial and error but in dealings with other individuals in the company but also through intensive research.
I think that calling upon others is one of the best ways to build your intelligence, on two levels. The first is your own intellectual ability builds due to just taking in the information you are attempting to. Secondly, by dealing with other people it shows them that you are willing and able to work well with others to work towards a common goal. At times you must be able to delegate your work to others because you know others are more intelligent in some arenas. The end state is that you learn more about their area of expertise as well as build upon your own. With increased intelligence, it should naturally build you self-confidence.
So, all in all, if you want to build you self-confidence you need to build your intelligence first. But don’t be the person who believes they have the best answers all of the time. Know that others have different ways of viewing things and can explain things in a way sometimes that makes sense better than you can. When you can delegate work tasks, then bring all the employees together and their work democratically, it can build you own confidence but also build the confidence your employees have in you.
References:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beautiful-minds/200910/do-assholes-really-finish-first
Northouse, P. G. (2015). Leadership: theory and practice. Los Angeles: Sage.
The notion of this post was very interesting to me, because it seems that self-confidence is one of those traits that is difficult to conceptualize–as in, how much is too much? How much is not enough? In my personal experience the thing that would truly distinguish positive self-confidence with negative self-confidence is ability. Is a person competent, knowledgeable, and successful in his or her field? Does a person have superior knowledge of a situation or industry that coincides with her or confidence? Does a person make decisions based on experience, ability, and skill? If the answers to these questions are yes, then the self-confidence is appropriate and correct. If a person is confident but lacks ability and knowledge the confidence is unfounded and incorrect. In either case, the differentiating factor between self-confidence and arrogance is most likely humility; realizing that there is always something more to learn and that other people can teach us many things. Realizing the value in learning and in others is a way to have a healthy level of self-confidence in our own abilities while staving off arrogance. Thank you so much for your post! I enjoyed reading it.