The podcast that helps women in tech accelerate their influence, step into their dream leadership career and break through the glass ceiling.
When we lack confidence, it can manifest in many ways. We may not be taking the leaps forward that we know we should, asking for, or taking an opportunity. A lack of confidence can hinder when we speak up, or we might listen to our inner critic more than we should. But one that is not talked about enough is having the confidence to say no. This applies not just to you, but helping your team learn how to say no to you.
One major player in our confidence, including leadership confidence, is our inner critic. That voice inside us that questions everything we do, makes us doubt ourselves and often is the thing that keeps us up at night. Many people talk about silencing our inner critic and turning it off. I believe that done in the right (and healthy) way, our inner critic can serve us. But only when we have learnt to fully trust ourselves.
Confidence is something that many (if not all) of us lack at some point in our lives. Some people have a gift of always appearing confident, others are genuinely confident 90-95% of the time. But every one of us has a lack of confidence in something, or a confidence gap, from time to time. The key difference between those who work through this best and those that are held back by a lack of confidence is having a toolkit that works for us as individuals to help push through those confidence-testing moments.
Guest Post by Lauren Smit of Lauren Graphics
How do you curate your online presence so that it is really working for you? What steps should you go through to make sure that what the world reads about you, works in your favour? Your online presence can open so many doors, but it can also slam doors shut, so let’s take some time to get this right.
Whether we like it or not, our online presence is often the first thing people look to when they want to get to know you. Gone are the days of really figuring somebody out just over a coffee. Before you even meet people for the first time, these days they will do an online search and make a decision about who you are before they even answer an email. So what does your online presence say about you? Is it saying what you need it to say? Does it actively work for you or hold you back?
Do you have managers that come into meetings, tear apart your idea, then walk out again? Not great right?
As managers and leaders, our job is often to give feedback, critique and help get people unstuck. But so often poor management is due to poor feedback. So what does it mean to give good feedback?
Do you use post-it notes? Write little messages to yourself because they are handy. Dot them on your screen before you leave work? Have them in the car? On the fridge? Does it work? I’m guessing not. And here is why…
Ever been in the position where you knew you were ready for a promotion?
You’d blown all your targets and KPIs out of the water. You had gone above and beyond in basically every aspect of your job. Everyone you worked with thought you already had the job title you and your boss both agreed that you should be going for. Then promotion time comes around and… nothing.
Stuck in a meeting again? Third meeting today? Tenth meeting this week?