How to Help Employees Work More Confidently

No matter how skilled an employee may be, if they lack confidence, they will not be effective at their jobs.  Employees who lack confidence will take longer to complete tasks, they will interrupt their co-workers and supervisors more often, and will hesitate to solve problems on their own. Conversely, confident employees are more productive, work well independently and are more likely to take creative and independent approaches to solving problems. Use these tips to help your employees work more confidently and productively throughout the day.

Get to Know Your Employees as People

Bosses who take the time to get to know their employees almost always lead confident teams. People want to work for managers and leaders who care about things that are important to them. Take time to learn a little about their families and hobbies, and really listen to their preferences when it comes to projects, tasks and their communication style.

Be Specific in Your Feedback

Simply saying, “great job on that report,” doesn’t reinforce the behaviors, skills or processes you’d like to see repeated in the future. Managers are often good at offering specifics when providing constructive criticism but tend to be less specific when things go right. When someone does a great job, provide details about what you saw them do well so they feel confident in repeating those behaviors in the future.

Celebrate Incremental Improvement

When you’re coaching an employee through a rough patch, take time to celebrate areas where you start to see improvement. This will build confidence as they continue to try to improve, and will reinforce their newly learned positive behaviors and skills. You don’t need to present them with an award, just tell them that you’ve noticed the improvement and can’t wait to see how they continue to develop.

Give Them the Freedom to Try New Things

Micromanaging employees negatively impacts morale and can also negatively impact confidence. While it is important for your team to follow defined processes, give them to the freedom to do their jobs the best way they know how and encourage them to share new ideas and try new approaches.  Encouraging them to think creatively will show them you believe in their abilities and will ultimately boost their own self-confidence.

Help Them Fail Forward

Nobody likes to fail, but failure is inevitable. If your employees are afraid to come to you with a failure, it will negatively impact their confidence and affirm feelings of inadequacy. Encourage your team to come to you with mistakes; then work with them to determine what went wrong and the steps they can take to fail forward and learn from the issue. This will show them you are truly rooting for their success and help them build the skills to deal with future failures proactively on their own.

Are You Looking for Confident Talent for Your Team?

If you are looking for talented, confident team members for your agricultural business, contact the experts at Morris Bixby Group today. Together, we can help you achieve your goals.

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