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Self-confidence
is like a computer's operating system. The quality
of the data you feed into any computer is irrelevant
if the operating system isn't working properly. The
amount of training in information or
skills people receive, the quality of the equipment
they use, and the amount and quality of the resources
they have at their disposal are all of little account
if they lack
the self-confidence to think boldly, communicate
frankly and operate simply.
"ONLY
self-confident people can be simple," according
to GE's chairman and chief executive Jack Welch. "Think
about it. You get some engineer who is nervous and
not too sure of himself. He can't explain his design
to you in very simple terms, so he complicates it.
If you're not simple you can't be fast, and if you're
not fast you're dead in a global world. So everything
we do (at GE) focuses on building self-confidence
in people so that they can be simple."
I
find this philosophy not only spot-on but wonderfully
refreshing. How much smarter it is to deal with root
causes (ie lack of confidence) than having
to cope with the symptoms of a problem (ie wading
through unnecessary, time-consuming and energy sapping
red tape, verbosity and jargon). How much more cost
effective it is to run personal development programs,
underwriting people to take risk and investing in
mentoring programs, than to deal with self-protective,
responsibility-avoiding bureaucracy!
Jack
Welch's simple insight into human nature has a lot
to teach us. We often see the "hard-hitting",
jargon-using "professional" as a person
of influence and power. A person to be listened to,
noted and, often, feared. People use so many different
defences to hide their lack of self-esteem. So often
we find these people intimidating, annoying and blocking
but rarely do we see them as frightened people who
actually need our help and pity. When faced with people
who are officious we ourselves usually fall into defensiveness
rather than realising that we are dealing with insecure
individuals who need help to build their confidence.
Apart from the personal blocks such people generate
in us, it is one big leap more to realise that people
who lack self-confidence cost organisations
a fortune through complicating things, building in
red tape and lengthening (if not avoiding altogether)
the decision process. How many organisations see self-confidence
of their people as a number-one training,
staffing or strategic
priority?
Self-confidence
is built by experience - by taking risks and noticing
that, succeed or fail, we learnt and moved on. But
self-confidence is also built by self-awareness.
As it is difficult (even foolhardy) to feel confident
captaining a boat you don't know well, how can you
be confident of yourself if you don't know who you
are? Self-confidence is also built from taking
responsibility for your own life and more particularly
your personal choices, even if those choices led to
unsuccessful outcomes. It is much easier to change
our own beliefs, behaviours and ways of relating,
than to change other people and the world in general.
By taking personal responsibility we give ourselves
the confidence of knowing that if we were part
of the problem we can therefore be part of the solution.
To
many people's surprise, self-confidence can
also be built by looking at personal patterns of thought
and action, and seeing how many of these are linked
to early childhood decisions. It's hard to be confident
about decisions and actions based on outmoded, unconscious
childhood patterning.
Thus
a mixture of action, self-reflection and personal
decision making builds self-confidence. Some
of this can be done alone, some fostered by personal
development programs or in-house mentoring and
projects, and some requires professional outside help.
But if we aren't working to build our own self-confidence
we are undermining our effectiveness. If we aren't
working to build
the confidence of our people we are contributing
to the building of bureaucracy and unnecessary complication,
structure and verbosity - the big killers of simplicity,
flexibility and speed. In short, if we aren't focusing
on, investing in, and working to build, our own and
other people's self-confidence we're killing
our chances of success in a global world.
by Margot Cairnes |
