Confidence At Work: 5 Key Elements

Self-confidence at work is often confused with other terms, such as aggression or hostility. But if it is based on respect, it falls far short of that comparison. In other words, to be confident is to know and defend the rights we have as individuals and as citizens without attacking others. It is also the opposite of passivity.

In the work environment, self-confidence has important benefits for both employees and employers. Therefore, it is important to develop self-confidence and put it to use. How can this be done?

Defend your work

On some occasions, bosses take credit for the work their employees do. This is very frustrating for the employees because they do not get the expected credit for their efforts. For example, imagine that you have been working on an important report for several weeks, but when it is time to present it to the clients, the boss does not invite you to the meeting or does not mention you in the presentation.

Confidence at work forces us to break our silence and to convey our dissatisfaction with our bosses. Following the example from above, self-confidence would help us talk to our boss and pray that our work receives its due value. It is not a question of getting angry or speaking in a defiant tone, but informing the resulting discouragement  of not getting the credit for our work.

Say your opinion concisely and effectively

It’s a department meeting. It is a key meeting: important decisions must be made, those that will directly affect you. Therefore, the superiors ask everyone for their opinion on the current issues. Most people take either an aggressive or passive approach to the topics.

Let’s assume the debate is as follows: Do you think the company should increase the budget for your department? What suggestion do you have about it?

• Aggressiveness: “Of course they should. We do not even have a coffee machine. ”
• Passivity: “In any case, it is good. It does not affect me. ”
• Confidence: “We have noticed a few negative changes from last year regarding the reduction of the allocated budget. It would be practical to increase the budget to previous levels to better perform tasks in the department. ”

The first and second answers create excitement. The third answer makes it clear that self-confidence at work is a social skill that helps people communicate more effectively with their co-workers and superiors. With that, we can express our needs and understand the possible sensitivities that others may have. It enables intermediate solutions if it is not possible to fulfill our requests exactly as we want.

Give yourself value

If we want to be able to give opinions in a confident way, we must be careful so that we do not make a beginner’s mistake. One of these is to underestimate messages with phrases such as:

• “I do not know if it will work.”
• “It’s just an idea.”
• “It’s too early anyway.”
• “It can be a stupid idea.”

Try to avoid words to fill in: they are not your friends. On the contrary , they give the idea that you are not sure what you are saying and that you are unsure. If you give signals that you do not fully support your proposal and ideas, they will be much harder to adopt.

Use subjective communication

Subjective communication consists of expressing our thoughts and feelings in the first person. It allows us to speak without reproaching, judging or criticizing others.

Here is an example. Given the results the company shows due to effort and commitment, you think you should get a pay rise. There are two ways to convey this to your boss: “I want to talk about my salary” or “we have to talk about my salary”.

The first seems much less aggressive and impersonal. Simple details give your sentences  respect, ease of use and meaning. This is what job security looks like in practice.

Clarity and brevity

There are two aspects you need to clarify in order to use your confidence at work. One of them is the goals you want to achieve. The second is the main idea of ​​your message.

If you know your goal, you can approach it gradually. If you do not, it will be difficult to put self-confidence into practice and there will be certain cases where you get the opposite effect. In fact, a common and common mistake that people make when trying to be more confident is to say no to all suggestions. Reject suggestions when they conflict with your values ​​or rights, do not do it to try to seem more confident.

Similarly, avoid talking around and go straight to the point. If you can communicate your message in one minute instead of 5, do it in one. If you chat too much, people in the meeting will lose interest.

Studied through the five-factor model of Costa and McRae, self-confidence is a trait in outgoing people. No one is naturally confident. As we have said, it is more of a social skill that we can develop. It takes effort and knowledge to really understand the concept.