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A top leadership expert has urged brokers to invest in confidence-building, saying a lack of self-assurance often holds professionals back from reaching their full potential.
“Very few people succeed in business without a degree of confidence,” says Michelle Sales, a prominent expert in leadership development and executive coaching.
“Confidence helps us maximise our potential,” she continues. “Without it, we can get the job done and be very competent in doing so but with it, we set our bar higher, believe more things are possible, we can have more impact and be more successful.”
According to Sales, confidence is particularly important when it comes to moving into more senior roles and professionals suffering from insecurity will often find themselves overlooked for a promotion.
“Often confidence gives you the ability to first put your hand up for that more senior role and then be successful at nailing the selection process,” she tells Insurance Business.
“Without it, you may have all the competence and skills required to do the job but just never feel ready to go for it,” she continues. “Without confidence, you can give up too easily, refuse to believe an opportunity is possible and, therefore, make limiting decisions about what you do and how you do it.”
Of course, Sales – who has worked with a number of corporate giants including ANZ and NAB – acknowledges that everyone goes through periods where their confidence level dips.
“This can happen whether you are just entering your professional life, or you are highly experienced,” she tells Insurance Business. “No-one is immune to these bouts of insecurity at work.”
While fluctuating levels of confidence can be expected, Sales says it’s a complete myth that confidence is a personality trait that some people just naturally possess.
“Often people think of confidence as something that the lucky few are born with and the rest are left wishing for,” says Sales. “This simply is not true.”
Instead, Sales insists that confidence is learnable and outlines four key areas that brokers should focus on in order to build confidence for sustainable success.
“With consistent effort, and the courage to take a risk, we can gradually expand our confidence and, with it, our capacity to build more of it,” she says.
However, as most people are aware, there is a fine line between confidence and cockiness – stray too far and it’s unlikely that clients will appreciate the unnecessary bravado. So, how can brokers be sure they don’t cross that line?
“Having the ability to ‘show up’ with real confidence means you know yourself, you can be yourself and you show up as the best version of yourself,” says Sales. “Real confidence is about the ability to be authentic and vulnerable - not about bravado and cockiness. This is work that requires a good level of self-awareness and people that you trust giving you feedback along the way.”
Sales also says it’s important that brokers regularly reflect on what is most important to them – their values, purpose and beliefs.
“Reflect on the decisions you are making and whether your behaviour is in line with your values,” she says. “And finally, what impact are you having on those around you, and what feedback have you received?”
