Yesterday, I wrote a blog about improving self confidence in yourself but today I am focusing how you can help others in building their self-esteem. I am not talking here superficial confidence here but a profound belief in one’s own abilities, which many people unfortunately don’t have. 

Confidence takes you further than insecurity. These people have following abilities:

1. Dare
2. Learn
3. Stretch
4. Take on new challenges [1]

When a person lacks self-confidence, his behavior can be defensive, aggressive or even arrogant. It’s only when we get to know them better that we realize what the underlying reason for their behavior is. If we don’t recognize that an employee or a team member lacks confidence we may respond in a different way and worsen the situation. You have probably experienced a team member who used overconfidence to mask his insecurities. In this situation, manager gets annoyed and challenges the employee and thereby another defensive reaction gets triggered.

To get the best out of the situation, and the employee, respond in the following ways:

• Give them support
• Give sincere praise
• Build them up step by step
• Set clear expectations
• Offer training

Above tips will help a team member feel more confident about their abilities and increase their performance. Although, it’s very difficult to get the root cause of their self-esteem issues. The employee will have to take matters in their own hands and decide to work on the underlying problem. This can take a little while, as they will have to revisit their thought patterns and understand where the negative self-talk comes from.

References:

10 Strategies for Building Confidence in Others