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7 Tips to Meet Challenge with Confidence

The business world is a demanding one. In times of uncertainty, it is essential to be clear, stay focused and commit. As a business leader and professional, you (we) must be able to understand and develop our best resource — people; extract the right information; comprehend numbers; facilitate, negotiate and manage change; make key business decisions; and seek and leverage opportunities all the while maintaining sanity. In order to achieve success, today’s business leader and professional must meet challenge with confidence.

There are no quick fixes for acquiring confidence, but there are manageable steps that can help build confidence. Here are seven jumpstart ideas to get you going:

1. Get the facts, Jack!

Ask questions of your business stakeholders, get feedback and the information needed, analyze it, and draw business conclusions. Try to neutralize your emotions but be aware of peoples’ needs. Interpret and present information that supports the business point of view and the long-term strategic commitment.

2. Believe in what you’re doing

If it is needed, go back to basics with your people and your business. Trust that you have what you need and move forward with it. If you believe it, so will others. Just be clear. Leverage what you know & believe in what you’re doing.

3. Relax and be patient!

Stop tapping your foot at every meeting while you’re watching other people process information. There is a lot going on in our business world right now and people are concerned. To the best of your leadership abilities, let things happen in other people’s time, not in your time. Believe that it is not if but when it will happen. Focus your energy on the overall goals and outcomes required and your people will follow.

4. Accept that sometimes confidence drops

This applies to confidence in you, confidence in the people around you and confidence in the work you are involved in. This is normal in business. Refrain from reacting. Regain your focus through stepping back, sitting down with your people and discussing the issues at hand, and enabling confident solutions to flow. Find breakthrough thinking and opportunities. Develop a call of confidence (COC) in your environment through a process of engaging your people in “confidence building leadership.”

5. Acknowledge what you don’t know

There is nothing worse than talking to someone who clearly does not know the answer to a question or problem but will not admit it. Don’t be that person. Be a straight shooter and look your people in the eyes and say “I don’t know, but I will find out” or “I don’t know, what do you think?” You don’t have to know everything, but you do need to facilitate answers.

6. Learn confidence!

Yes, confidence can be learned. Set a plan to build your confidence. Become aware of your body language: the way you speak, what you say and how you say it. Practice your skills in front of a mirror.

7. Interact confidently with your environment

Are you the stick in the mud or are you the can-do person? Build your journey; develop you and your people’s SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats). Set your goals, build through knowledge and experiences and, as your confidence grows, find ways to accelerate confidence development in others.

As we said, the business world is a demanding one and we must meet challenge with confidence. To do so, be clear, focused and commit. Once you demonstrate confidence, you will inspire confidence in others — be it in employees, bosses, stakeholders or in the people you serve. We need to be honest but confident as business leaders and professionals. Do not be afraid to embrace the importance of confidence in your business; it is the bridging force in times of uncertainty between you, the people you work with and the business in which you are engaged./

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