The Importance Of Self-Confidence In Leadership

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Personal experiences with low self-confidence

Confidence reflects the personality of an individual. Low self-confidence indicates that the person is very introvert, just like mine characteristic traits. I lack the confidence to make new friends. This does not mean that I am unhappy. For my happiness, I engage in things like reading inspirational books and listening soft music. Even in these sources, I get to know about the ways and means adopted by the people to become successful in their life. Lack of confidence in speaking before a large audience exposes me to a lot of mocking and taunts, making me feel depressed. Therefore, I feel that I need to be confident in the decisions, which I take and the actions, which I perform. This is the reason for selecting the capability of self-confidence. For the completion of the assignment, Personality Tests are required to be analyzed. Therefore, I have selected Mcclelland’s Need analysis, The Big Five Personality Test and Authentic Leadership Self-Assessment Questionnaire. I feel that these tests would help me to measure my leadership skills and abilities.

My first attempt with the Big Five Personality Traits Test seemed very interesting. According to the results, the score of my openness was very high (62.5%). The score is apt as I tend to think and imagine things, which do not have proper end. The score indicates that my thinking is far sighted, as I try to find relationship between things, which might not be interrelated between each other. From these aspects, it can be concluded that I am creative, imaginative and intellectual. 

Consideration of McClelland need analysis has made me acquainted with my needs, especially the need for achievement, affiliation or power. This test possesses direct relationship with the enhancement of my leadership skills. The main component of this analysis is motivation, which I need for gaining self confidence. Motivation from my relatives, well wishers and managers would prove beneficial for me. Effective and judicious utilization of the motivation would inspire me to refer to external sources and expand my perspectives. On the contrary, if I assert my power over the suggestions, it would lead to negative results. I think if I take into consideration, feedback system, I would be able to assess what others think about me as a person. Setting realistic and achievable goals would be helpful for me in modifying the negative points about me. Delving deep into the aspect, my initiative towards taking feedback reflects my confidence regarding getting familiar with my negative points. This aspect reflects my attempts towards the attachment of proper value and weightage to my leadership skills and abilities. As a matter of specification, the feedback consisted of questions, which defines me as a person in response to the motivation and encouragement provided to me.

Diagnostic tests for measuring self-confidence and leadership skills

Apart from this, I also conducted Authentic Leadership Assessment Questionnaire. Through this test, I became aware of my weakness, which hampers my path towards leadership. As a matter of specification, the test consists of characters ranging from 1-5, signifying the dimensions, which I have towards penetrating into the path towards leadership (Uncw.edu, 2018). The questions range from my weakness to my approaches towards the action of the others. This questionnaire specifically made me acquainted with the fact that I have weaker leadership skills, as I have received the score below 15.

Assisting the senior managers needs adequate knowledge, skills and experience about the business issues. Low-level leadership skills are shameful for me in terms of the post of assistant manager, which I hold. Along with this, possession of lower grade leadership skills creates negative impact on the employees. This is inappropriate in terms of boosting the morale of the employees regarding their capability to expose better performance. In this, self-confidence plays an important role. I can relate an example here. Once I was assigned with the responsibility to assist my manager in finalizing the deal of launching an outlet in the neighboring country, UK. I had to talk with the foreign clients, which was difficult for me, as I lacked confidence. I felt very nervous to stand before the clients and suffered from inferiority complex. On my managers’ request, I went up to give presentation and stammered a lot. This type of presentation created a negative impression about me in the minds of the managers as well as the foreign clients. It was the absence of my convincing style, which took the company to utter loss.

Once, my manager was busy and asked me to handle the queries of the staffs. I received many mails from the staffs, which was difficult for me to tackle single handedly. The work pressure during this time was very high. The senior managers could not be consulted, as they were busy in the meeting regarding the development of policies for systematizing the business activities. I became nervous, as there were constant messages from the staffs regarding the status of their problems. Some of the staffs were using slang languages, which made me more tensed.

There are times, when I do not receive any support or motivation from my manager. There are times, when my manager assigns huge workload to me and stands right next to me, ordering to complete the tasks quickly. This aggravates my nervousness, which results in mistakes and errors.

The significance of motivation and communication skills

Lack of confidence is the main reason for my failure in terms of executing the allocated duties and responsibilities efficiently and effectively. This is reflected in my team management. I mumble while levy orders to the team members. For this, I have experienced taunts and mocking from the staffs several times. In these situations, I became so tensed that I became blank.

Reflecting on these situations made me feel depressed, sad and angry on my incapability. The taunts and mocking haunted me and disturbed my sleeps. Inadequate sleep was one of the other results for the mistakes, which I committed while executing the assigned duties and responsibilities.

The satisfactory results of the diagnostic tools are the typical evidence of my true character and the personal experiences, which I have gained in the learning process.

According to Joanne Love, motivation and regulation of behavior helps one to enhance their self-confidence. These attributes are the primary resources for the leaders in terms of assessing their needs. In its true essence, an authentic leader is a mere designation, which acts as an optical illusion for the aspiring leaders (Travers, Morisano & Locke, 2015). As per the arguments of Francisco Dao, enhancing confidence possesses similarity with laying the foundation of a house on sand. When the foundation of house is laid on sand, it is coated nicely with paint. But when instances like earthquake comes, the shakiness of this foundation is revealed due to the absence of strong and flexible materials during construction. In the same way, when leaders are created, the outer appearance seems like they have attained professionalism. However, when they are assigned an intellectual work, the hollowness of inner layer reflects the absence of basic training and motivation.

Aording to Ratnasari & SalimAndriansyah, (2014), self-confidence is something, which the individuals require for enhancing their social interactions. The more people they meet, they would be able to create a positive impact on their bosses. This positivity is crucial in terms of exposing radical transformation in the performance, which the employees expose in the workplace. These aspects prove true especially for young executives, as they are in their learning process in terms of polishing their adaptability, ability to influence others and leadership skills. The major drive behind refinement of these skills is to alter the current personality of the employees in terms of the identified goals and objectives.

In the arguments of Ralph Nader, communication attains an important position in enhancing the self-confidence of the individuals, especially the employees. Communication skills prove beneficial in terms of achieving both personal and professional development. Using ornamental words in the communication reflects the high social status of the individuals within the society in which they live (Schwarzer, 2014). On the contrary, using common and simple words in communication would ease the grasping power of others. Countering this, usage of common words hampers the upgradation of the employee performance, affecting their professional development. Providing the employees with many opportunities regarding giving presentation on the business issues enhances their communication skills. The results of the presentation acts assistance for the managers in terms of planning training courses and materials for the employees. Even the employees with good communication skills fail to expose their communication skills properly. This might be out of nervousness, anxiety or tensions. Therefore, training is also required for all the employees (Fransen et al., 2015).

The relationship between dictatorship and self-confidence

As per the opinions of Bernice Milburn Moore, the persons who are confident and competent are creative enough. They have the ability to mix with people especially children. As a matter of specification, their bondage with children is of high level (Moore, 1952). This is because children are the source, from where these people gain abstract ideas and concepts. Trust in self and faith in the ability to perform the tasks makes the people confident regarding overcoming the difficult and complex situations. However, under the limitation of human behavior, competent in doing the assigned roles and responsibilities was enough. In terms of the present competitive ambience, mere competence is not enough for emerging as a leader. This is in terms of exposing rational behavior for adding positivity to the personality.

One of the other aspects of this article is the relationship between dictatorship and the self-confidence. The previous sentence possesses positive as well as negative connotations. From the positive aspect, dictatorship means trust and confidence in self, regarding the capability to perform the activities diligently (Ferris et al., 2015). Viewing it from negative perspective, dictatorship means misutilization of the power and authority. Herein, the concept of authentic leadership is totally nullified. Even the scores of the assessment questionnaire would be low, because of the negative markings. An interesting fact here is that dictators and the autocratic leaders hesitate to interact with the people with high self-confidence.

Motivation is a crucial element for the aspiring leaders in terms of overcoming all their weaknesses. However, rationality needs to be maintained in the provision of motivation and encouragement. As a matter of specification, motivation and encouragement needs to be such, which makes the individuals aware of their needs (Wien & Olsen, 2014). Consistent evaluation possesses flexibility in assisting the employees to assess the effectiveness, feasibility and appropriateness of the needs, which they have identified. If the employees attempt to exert their power upon one evaluation, it indicates that they are very impatient and tend to experiment with their knowledge, skills and capabilities. As per the propositions of Ralph Nader, the true essence of motivation is the production of more leaders from the leaders. The first leader here is the leader himself and the second leader are the followers, who have emerged as the leaders.

Behavioral theory can be brought into the discussion through the reference of the article, Leadership and Motivation.. Every person possesses individual traits, due to the type of socio-cultural background to which they belong. The circumstances control the behavior of the people. The events taking place in our surroundings alter the approach of the people in terms of their thinking and response (Ferris et al., 2015). This article perceives motivation as the direction of the efforts towards the achievement of goals. If the efforts are whole-hearted, the persons are bound to achieve their targets. On the contrary, disorganized approach towards the performance of the tasks would deviate the persons from their goals. Dedication, commitment and persistent efforts enable the persons to abide by their specified targets.

The self-esteem of the individuals varies according to the experiences, which they gain from the surroundings. The high and low level of self esteem adversely affects the emotional and social parameter of human mind (Fransen et al., 2015). People who have high self esteem are very flexible with the maintenance of stabilities in the relationship with others. In order to understand these dimensions, curvilinear model of self-esteem can be considered. The axis of the model depicts that the achievements earned by the individual is directly related with their self esteem (Orth et al., 2016).

Motivation exposes an individual to understand their needs and reach the targeted goals. If motivation is provided adequately by the seniors and experienced persons, the individuals find an urge to expose better performance in their professional career. In this process, the lack of confidence improves, making the individual capable of undertaking challenging and enduring tasks. Theoretical consideration in the provision of motivation proves beneficial in terms of achieving positive results. Delving deep into this aspect, taking practical tests of the employees excavates their behavior in different situations. Positive response to these tests increases the confidence of the individuals, enhancing their self-esteem. Herein lays the conjoined significance of behavioral and curvilinear model of self-esteem.

If the individuals make plans and schedules, their life would be systematic and organized. This systematic life would help the individuals to maintain the balance between personal and professional life. Here, setting of realistic and achievable goals is crucial in terms of emerging as a successful personality. Sticking to the goals is very important, as deviation would compel the individual to encounter taunts and mocking. Therefore, individuals need to silently move towards the chosen path to leadership. That does not mean social interaction would not take place. Instead social interaction would enrich the perspectives of the individuals regarding the alteration of personality through the enhancement of self-confidence. However, the appropriate suggestion needs to be chosen by the individuals. Evaluation of the appropriateness, effectiveness and appropriateness would make the individuals aware of the direction in which they are progressing. Maintenance of consistency in this evaluation possesses flexibility for bestowing best results in terms of upgrading the standards and quality of the performance exposed by the individuals.

Taking the personality tests would expose the individuals to the levels and scores of their traits. Honesty in giving the answers would place the individuals in front of their true self, which would act as an empowerment from the identified issue of lack of confidence. Another important aspect here is the time taken for completing the test. Taking too much time to answer the questions indicates that the individuals are not fully aware of true self, which makes the decision-making process prolonged and complicated.  On the contrary, random answering would reflect that the individual might be able to take spontaneous decisions in future with practice.  

Training would enhance the preconceived skills, knowledge and skills of the individuals. However, the selection of the trainer needs to be appropriate in terms of getting proper guidance and coaching. On the other hand, it is the duty of the trainer to prepare the trainee, so that he is able to reach the identified and targeted goals. Attending personality development courses would also be beneficial in terms of enhancing the social status of the individuals.

References and Bibliography

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Fransen, K., Haslam, S. A., Steffens, N. K., Vanbeselaere, N., De Cuyper, B., & Boen, F. (2015). Believing in “us”: Exploring leaders’ capacity to enhance team confidence and performance by building a sense of shared social identity. Journal of experimental psychology: applied, 21(1), 89.

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