The 3 "C's" of Leading with Confidence

It is the rare human being who can maintain confidence 100% of the time. Even the best of leaders experience dips in confidence from time to time, from context to context and from situation to situation.

The key is building your 'confidence' muscles.

I believe confidence can be cross-contextual. By that I mean having success in one area of life can be used as a reference point from which we can borrow confidence while we build it in that new area of our personal or professional life. And yet, that confidence transfer will only provide limited levels of confidence unless there are specific reference points within that context.

To raise the bar on your confidence as a leader I'd like you to offer three concepts to focus on that can provide a roadmap for creating higher levels of confidence in whatever endeavor you are embarking on, and especially in your role as a leader:

Certainty - Certainty is defined as the state of being free from doubt or reservation, destined, sure to happen, inevitable, bound to come. Certainty is how confidence is projected by leaders and it’s a skill that also has to be developed along with confidence. Certainty comes from experience and through developing your beliefs and values about yourself, your role as a leader, the world, your organization, the marketplace, etc. One of the key skills to nurture to develop your level of certainty is perspicacity or a keenness of mental perception and discernment, which helps in decision-making and problem solving.
Certainty can also be a double-edged sword as some leaders are too strong in their ‘certainty’ muscle and are shut down to outside ideas or perspectives. Thus a healthy balance of certainty and an open mind is important for leaders to develop.

Clarity - Many years ago I attended a workshop by Anthony Robbins and one of the most powerful things he said that day I'll never forget. His message was "clarity is power." I've learned over the years that is a very true statement. Without clarity its tough to see where you are going and a leader without clarity is not much of a leader.

There are many contexts in which a leader needs clarity. And that thought alone can be overwhelming. That is why I want to start by having you focus on four key areas to build your confidence and certainty as a leader:

• Your Leadership "Identity" – this is how you want to show up and be viewed as a leader
• Your Strengths – these are the things you do best and that you enjoy doing
• Your Areas for Growth and Development – these are the things you’d like to invest time, energy and resources in to improve and that you can improve in a reasonable period of time.
• Your Team Strengths and Talents – these are the things that your team members do well, that you don’t want to do and that you are more than happy to delegate to others because they like to do them and do them best.
Capability/Competence - This is defined as having power and ability, being efficient and competent. And, there are six fundamental areas leaders need to not just be capable, but must master:
• Visionary thinking – developing an inspiring vision that motivates others
• Decision-making – how to make both simple and complex decisions, and how to decide whether to make decisions on your own or get input from others
• Problem-solving – understanding the difference between a decision and a problem, how to solve problems on your own and help others solve problems…
• Influencing communication skills - for managing performance and behavior issues
Delegation – how to get more things done by developing your people
• Emotional Mastery – how to become a master of your emotions so you can gain greater respect from those you lead and raise the level of your own competence in the other five areas…

If you'd like to learn more about how the "3 C's" of Certainty, Clarity and Capability creates confident leaders, you can attend my free Tele-Seminar on March 10th and March 14th - "The Secret Formula of Confident Leaders: How to Become a Leader Others Enthusiastically Want to Follow" Register online at the SecretsOfConfidentLeaders.com website.