Trust and leadership are two sides of the same coin when it comes to talking about team leadership. Because despite the adversities and bewildering situations, whoever has a role in leading and coordinating teams must promote calm, analytical, and creative thinking of all project members to achieve the best results.
The truth is that the most challenging moments are also a great starting point to work on your confidence as a leader. But also, among the qualities of a good leader, is maintaining confidence in the leadership in daily work, since all decisions are important when it comes to carrying out a project.
In this case, we are not only referring to those financial leaders who must trust their intuition because they will have great impacts on the company’s economy because even human resources leaders must be prepared to support and guide their team and ensure that are trained and motivated to carry out their work in the best possible way.
Stay to read how to strengthen your leadership and confidence in times of uncertainty!
Think Optimistically
One of the great keys to maintaining confidence in your leadership role is to think positively at all times. By this, we do not mean those structures of thought that cease to be realistic in search of extreme positivity. But it is important to remember that there is a reason why you were chosen as a leader and therefore your work is valuable.
In this way, confidence and leadership complement each other when it comes to maintaining a positive level of mind. If together with your team they made this or that decision, it is the result of a series of analyzes and previous work that must be supported. Above all, in moments of crisis or turbulence that shake the stability of the project.
Trust yourself and your work team. No one other than this human group will be in charge of carrying out the project. Thinking optimistically will help you attract the positive energy you need to keep your company from collapsing in the face of a crisis, and it will also help you radiate optimistic energy to the people who work with you.
Remember Your Achievements
A leader’s professional, personal, and academic career is key to maintaining confidence in leadership. Remember who you are and who brought you to this job, thoughts of this type will help you in moments of mistrust in yourself or your team.
Practicing daily conversations in which the entire team is constantly reminded of their potential and what their professional achievements have been so far, can be a great methodology to increase confidence in leadership.
Although it may seem that this is the first big crisis you face as a team, the truth is that throughout your professional life you have had to deal with other problems, and a great way to regain confidence as a leader is to remember other difficulties you went through in the last.
Get out of Your Comfort zone
Another great tool that you can put into practice as a leader to increase your confidence is to get out of your daily routine and propose new challenges that will make you solve possible situations in different ways.
These changes in daily activities, or even risky decision-making, will let you know that you are capable of innovating and being successful in new circumstances. Without a doubt, these results will give you confidence as a leader and you will train your team accordingly.
Perhaps you think that during a crisis the safest thing you can do is to solve things in the same way as before, trying new paths can be a great success to solve the challenges. You may even start to get comfortable with the discomfort.
Therefore, adapting proactively is essential for an HR Manager. It is one of the most valued skills in organizations. At the same time, strategic thinking is even more necessary in times of uncertainty.
Seek Help
Many leaders feel they don’t need someone else’s guidance, but in times of high pressure or even during a project crisis, seeking help is synonymous with strength. Not only because it teaches the rest of the team that this type of attitude is viable, but also because it allows consulting an expert in the field and thus increases the confidence of the leader regarding the decision.
Giving some space to vulnerability speaks well of a work leader since he leaves aside that figure of the omnipotent leader and recognizes himself as another member of the team.
Recognize your Weaknesses
Many leaders know what they are good at and what they stand out from the rest, but very few know their weaknesses. As Sun Tzu says in “The Art of War“, “if you know the enemy and yourself, you should not fear the outcome of a hundred battles.”
By freely acknowledging your weaknesses, you know which situations or what types of projects are the most difficult for you and you will surely need to rely on someone else on the team. In this way, you will avoid possible failures for wanting to cover everything and thus you will maintain a level of confidence in the leadership.
But not only leaders fear exposing their weaknesses: people, in general, are used to hiding them and not facing them. Therefore, your role as a leader is essential to be an example for the team. Know what aspects you need to work on to minimize the impact of any error. Also, if you focus on embracing your weaknesses, little by little you will turn them into strengths.
Don’t stop learning
A leader should never stop learning and knowing more about his field. Staying up to date with the latest trends and not being left out of the ring is a key element in building your confidence as a leader. This way you will have up-to-date sources to use to support your decisions and the practice of going back to theory whenever necessary.
While learning is extremely essential for the HR leader, it is also essential for everyone else in the organization. It is a reality that teams need more training to strengthen their skills and develop new ones, and leaders are not the exception, but rather the example.
As an HR Manager, you can implement super learning to improve the performance and productivity of the entire company.
Develop your Emotional Intelligence
Another great tool when it comes to gaining confidence in leadership is being sure of your emotions and knowing how to master them to increase the productivity of your team. A leader is nothing more than an example of attitudes that team members should take as a guide.
For this, developing your emotional intelligence is key and confidence is one of those feelings that will make you a better leader. Do you wonder why it is important not to lose confidence as a leader? Let’s look at some of the benefits:
- Confidence helps you make better decisions because you stop constantly questioning yourself.
- If you radiate confidence in yourself, you also generate it in others because the people around you begin to feel that you have everything under control.
- You are more likely to speak up for others when the people around you are too scared to do so. Remember that in times of crisis, you may not be the only person affected.
- The leader who inspires and imparts confidence and security usually has a work team that accompanies him and seeks to be resolute in the face of problems or inconveniences, in order to achieve the desired results.
After all, emotional intelligence is key for leaders to understand themselves, it is also necessary because thanks to it they can discover, identify and improve their own leadership style.
Challenge your Ego
Another point to regain confidence and improve leadership is to challenge one’s ego. While leaders may believe they have it all figured out and the onset of a crisis can shake their confidence, it is important to put egos aside in order to build new achievements.
What is advised? Always keep in mind what the mission of the company is and how to keep it afloat during the crisis, before thinking about winning the applause of others or receiving more economic income. Letting go of the ego is also about accepting that you don’t know all the answers and asking for support and advice without fear of what others will say.
Be Consistent with what you say and what you do
A key aspect to maintain confidence in leadership is to be very consistent with what is said and what is done. In this sense, a good leader must respect the schedules and calendars, fulfill the promises made to the team, and set an example by complying with the rules or norms of coexistence.
A great example is a respect for the team’s leisure and extra-work time; If as a leader you don’t expect work queries to rain down on you on a Sunday afternoon, it will be very important that you respect the same with the rest of the people who make up the project. In this way, a bond of trust will be generated between the leader and the team.
Be very open in your communication
Another aspect that generally undermines the trust between the leader and his team is the lack of communication, obstacles in it, and misunderstandings. Generating continuous communication flows that take into account the feelings and needs of the team will achieve a level of trust between people in the long term.
Remember those bosses who were surprised with bad news in large meetings before certain members of the team? If what you want is to be a good leader, keep in mind that both in private conversations and in meetings you must be very careful with the way you say things.
Being a team leader is not an easy task. Therefore, a lot of work is required to strengthen emotional intelligence and thus be able to lead a work team that is increasingly autonomous, committed, and productive. With these tips and recommendations, you can improve your leadership and confidence as an HR Manager.
