How Having Confidence At Work Gets You Promoted

Rising up the ladder through confidence

Getting a promotion can be hard. The world and your office space have enough talented people for any available position that may need to be filled. But, with the right skills and confidence, that promotion could be yours for the taking.
Most people fail to clinch available promotions because they simply are not confident in their abilities. Maybe you feel that Shiru in Finance has better skills than you or that Wamalwa in Customer Service has a better relationship with the boss than you hence has better chances of bagging the opportunity. Whatever the case, lacking confidence can destroy your chances of getting a promotion that you actually deserve.
People often confuse confidence with having a big ego or being arrogant but these are completely different dispositions. While an ego and arrogance are self-promoting and selfish, confidence is knowing what you are good at and sharing this with other people and still admitting that you do not know some things.
So, how do you develop confidence at work?

1. Take up new but manageable challenges

Challenges are good. They help you develop you skills and learn new things all the time. Do not be afraid to take on challenges which exploit your existing skills and still make you go the extra mile and learn new things. While at it, do not judge yourself against your more experienced colleagues. Instead, learn as much as you can and utilise these skills.
With time, you will be very good at what you do and still be knowledgeable at what you are learning. This way, you can easily be trusted to take on new challenges and that is how that elusive promotion might just land on your laps.

2.     Be your own biggest fan

While taking up new challenges, it is easy to simply just let it slide or fail to immerse yourself in what you don’t know. Instead, you need to be your biggest cheerleader, congratulating yourself for new territories conquered, acknowledging that you are not perfect but your are trying, and correcting yourself whenever necessary.
When you are your biggest fan and critic, you can always be proud of small milestones, which no one else notices, and soon, you will be able to take on larger challenges. With time, you develop the confidence to take on new challenges because you have learned how to congratulate yourself with small wins, so even big ones will not seem like too much. With time, your ability to do almost anything will get you noticed and a promotion might just come with it.

3.     Know your strengths and take advantage of them

Of course, a promotion comes from the effective demonstration that you are good at what you do. An easy way of doing what you are good at is by recognising your strengths and then integrating them into your work. This way, you will effortlessly improve your output and your performance will be nothing short of spectacular. Additionally, you will not have a hard time perfecting your skills since you are working with your strengths anyway. Better still, you can take it upon yourself to train your colleagues and this boosts your confidence in your abilities. Soon, someone in the higher ranks is sure to notice your contribution and think that maybe it is time they gave you more responsibilities, and of course, more pay.

4.        Know your weaknesses and work on them

Weaknesses can stifle your confidence and this will only hold you back. Start by identifying your weaknesses and working on them. With time, you will have learned how to work with them or overcome them and this will boost your confidence. Promotions do not just happen. You start by working with your strengths and working on your weaknesses and soon, you will have the ability to do almost anything and this will not go without notice.

5.     Accept that there are things you can’t do and seek help

While knowing your weaknesses is a good thing as it helps you work on them, sometimes, there are those things that you are simply not cut out for t and learning them will either take too much time or prove to be too hard to do. Well, there is nothing wrong with being unable to do some things or trying to learn how to do them. But, don’t let this plunder your confidence. Rather, let it be an opportunity for you to be more self-aware. Self-awareness helps boost your confidence in your skills and helps you objectively identify what path is most likely to be productive. , With time, you will learn to focus your energy on what you can absolutely do or learn how to do and then delegate what is just not in your realm.

6.     Demonstrate leadership abilities

A promotion is often granted to a person who can effectively lead others. Well, it takes confidence to actually lead others. To do this, simply learn how to take on challenges and offer guidance whenever you can. You do not have to wait for a big leadership opportunity to show up. Take advantage of group tasks to show people how to do things or organise people to accomplish tasks. Once you confidently demonstrate that you are able to lead a team, people will naturally follow your lead. Soon, you will develop your leadership skills and when a promotion arises, you will easily clinch it.

7.     Be willing to learn

It is easy to stick to your comfort zone. The truth is, no one knows everything and a willingness to learn constantly expands your abilities and gives you the confidence needed to take on new challenges. A promotion is definitely a new challenge and requires you to learn new things so, with a learned ability to keep gaining knowledge, you will soon learn how to take on your new responsibilities without any hiccups. Besides, for you to be considered for a promotion, you need to have demonstrated that you have learned new things and put them to use.

8.   Accept your mistakes and correct them

No one likes to work with a person who does not own up to their mistakes or always shifts blame. The truth is, mistakes are inevitable and they provide a good learning opportunity. Over time, you will be corrected by your boss and your colleagues. Do not take this as criticism as it ruins your confidence. Instead, take it as a way of being directed to the right direction. With time, you will learn from your mistakes instead of letting them put you down and your confidence will rise with more abilities under your belt. As you continue to learn and be more teachable, a promotion will not be too far off.
Having confidence at work is a good thing but it should never be confused with having a big ego. Confidence works with everyone while ego is alienating. To get promoted, you need to have confidence in your abilities and you need to work on your weaknesses. Take this guide to develop your confidence and soon you will be handling more responsibilities and smiling more when your paycheck comes.