Manage to Engage

CHAPTER 7Out Your Doubt and Boost Confidence

Most important thing is to get rid of doubt. If you got doubt in what you doing it's not going to work.

—Nipsey Hussle, rapper

Imagine how people would feel if they were confident they'd succeed. Confidence is a multiplier. With it, great things can be achieved. Without it, very little. Have you ever really performed to your best when you lacked confidence?

Having confidence at work isn't just about our own ability, it's also about having confidence in leadership, peers, and team members that they will be great people to work with or they can do what's expected. The confidence leaders can lead us through crisis and transformative times. We also expect to have confidence in the products and services we offer customers. When you are in a tight labor market with more jobs than talent, employee confidence is a critical index. The same is true in times of high unemployment when people are reluctant to move jobs, having confidence you will keep your job or that the firm will treat you fairly will retain your heart, head, and effort not just your hands and body.

While broad confidence surveys might measure employees' confidence in the economy or their ability to get another job, the key indicator is confidence in their employer – do people trust their employer, leadership, their boss? When we know we can trust the people around us, particularly our managers and leaders, when we know the information we receive is useful and accurate, when ...