Recently I was speaking with a newly-promoted supervisor. He was telling me how afraid he was that he would make some unforgivable mistakes in his role. As a result, he was in trouble for neglecting to confront some poor performance in one of his direct reports.
It was a clear case of a lack of confidence. But what caused it? A lack of competence.
Competence means we’re able to master the competencies of a task. If we’re The Boss, we should be able to aptly manage enforcing time and attendance, attitude problems, laziness, and the occasional insubordination. If we don’t have the knowledge and skills to do this, we are indeed incompetent.
But don’t wear that badge with shame. It simply means you need to learn how to do it. Get some training. Master the skills. Once you do this, I’m sure you’ll begin building that CONFIDENCE you lack. Confidence, based on confidence, gets you the respect of your Boss, peers, and of course your direct reports.
So this week, do a good self-assessment. What areas do you lack confidence? What competencies are you not able to master in those areas? What are you doing to get the knowledge and skills to build that competence?
Your window of excuse only lasts so long. Get busy today doing that self-assessment or have your Boss give you the honest truth. As The Boss, your people deserve a confident, competent leader.