Being A Confident Leader

Leaders are assumed to have great confidence at all times.  But in reality, not all leaders are always confident.  Being a confident leader isn’t easy.  There are times when we doubt ourselves and we are unsure what the right decision to make is.  Leaders need to project confidence which is expected.  But being a confident leader takes work.

Although leaders are expected to be confident, there are plenty of reasons why leaders can feel insecure.  Sometimes it’s more obvious than others, but leaders have insecurities that they too find difficult to overcome.  Here are some reasons why leaders my feel insecure in their role.

• Skill – Sometimes we feel that our skills are insufficient in order to lead our team. We have subordinates who are much more skilled the job than we are.  We feel that we are unable to lead them because we don’t know as much as they do.  But it is ok to not know as much as your subordinates.  You can read my explanations as to why in my article Don’t Be The Best here.
  
  
• Experience – Similar with the skill insecurity, many leaders have doubts about their experiences. They feel that they may not have enough experiences as their subordinates in order to lead.  Even when leaders have more experience than their team members, they still feel that it’s not sufficient to be effective. 
  
  
• Uncertainties – What we don’t know will happen can lead us to have fear of what’s to come. Leaders always wants to make the right decision and bring success to their team.  The ability to be confident in the decisions we make and know that it will be the right decision doesn’t come easy.  When we lack the ability to predict the outcome, our confidence too is lacking.
  
  
• Consequences – The fear of failure may be a source of motivation for many. But for many leaders, it’s a great reason why they don’t have confidence in themselves.  They fear the consequences of failing so much that they lose focus on actually leading to their best abilities.
  
  

It’s not that confident leaders aren’t insecure, many are.  Many great leaders are insecure and hold great fear of failure heavily on their shoulders.  But they don’t allow those fears and insecurities effect their abilities to do what’s best for their team.  Leaders who can put those fears aside also do the following in order to project their confidence.

• It’s ok not to know – A confident leader understands that it’s absolutely ok not to know everything. It’s also a great asset to have your team know more than you.  You want to encourage a good team with great members to grow and become better.  As they get better, they are more capable to help you. 
  
  
• Ask for help – To ask for help isn’t a sign of weakness. Instead, confident leaders are secure it their abilities that they are very comfortable to ask for help from their subordinates, peers and even superiors. 
  
  
• Give credit – Many leaders hoard credits to themselves and sometimes even takes the credit that belongs to others. But these are not confident leaders.  Confident leaders don’t have the need nor the desire to claim credits for themselves.  Being a confident leader, you should always be giving credits to others.  Their success will in turn become yours.
  
  
• Put down – Being a confident leader means you don’t need to put down others or the work of others to prop yourself up. But this is something that I see all the time. Leaders will unfairly criticize others and their work in order to elevate their own achievements.  You can read about How Leaders Should Give Criticisms in my article here.  Confident leaders need not do this as their skills and quality should speak for itself.
  
  
• Welcome critiques – As being a confident leader should not be giving unfair criticism, a confident leader should be able to welcome criticism. Be able to handle criticism will allow you to learn and grow.  Be able to be confident enough to recognize that there’s always room to learn and grow will only make you better.  You can read more about How Leaders Should Handle Criticism in my article here.
  
  

Confidence allows us to do great things.  The lack of confidence holds us back from reaching our full potentials.  In the case of leaders, lacking confidence not only hold you back, but it also hold your entire team back from achieving their best.  So be confident and project it for yourself and your team.  Understand and accept your insecurities, but don’t allow it to hinder your potential.

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