Martine Ridderbos has over 20 years of experience in Human Resources, Leadership Development, and Executive Coaching. Most recently the Head of People & Operations at deep tech start up IOTICS, Martine previously held senior Talent and People roles at Brambles, RBS and ABN AMRO. She is now Co-founder of Orbitl Leaders, a Leadership Development and HR consultancy.
A Formula One driver changing teams at the peak of their powers, only for their performance to tumble. A top Premier League striker, struggling to find the back of the net following a change of management.
Like these high-profile examples, most of us will have seen someone’s confidence crumble in a new role. Competent and high performing previously, they now seem to repeatedly miss the mark, make unforced errors, fall behind on their targets.
The truth is, we have all been in environments that bring the best or the worst out of us. Environments where our worst habits come out or where our best habits can surface. Teams and managers who enable us to thrive or who contribute to our confidence nose-diving.
When I found myself in this situation early on in my career, I initially didn’t really notice. Like the frog who doesn’t realise that the water it’s sitting in is gradually coming to the boil, I knew I was struggling but didn’t realise the malign, creeping impact my environment was having on my confidence and as a result, my performance.
How confident we feel in our jobs is the result of a complex combination of factors, such as the length of time we’ve been in role, our level of autonomy, whether we feel trusted by our manager and team, the degree of psychological safety we experience, how well our work aligns with our strengths, the relative status we hold within our organisation, and how people interact with us. In addition, it's important to be aware of other influences outside of the workplace - such as family or health issues, major life changes or milestones - as well as our personal disposition.
In my case, chaotic management, a lack of support and the absence of psychological safety, all contributed to a toxic team environment. Being naturally self-critical, I at first assumed I simply wasn’t good enough, and the impact was significant, detrimental and long-lasting. On realising eventually that the issues I experienced were systemic, not related to my ability, and mostly out of my control or even influence, I knew I had to take steps to protect both my mental health and indeed my career.
Only once I had – painfully - removed myself from the situation and was yet again thriving, was I able to gradually rebuild my confidence. Tools such as Insights Discovery also helped to develop a much greater understanding of my own behavioural tendencies and likely reactions to certain situations, environments and the behaviours of others.
Confidence at work matters because it’s correlated with both job satisfaction and performance (Kraus & Orth 2021). For most of us this is intuitive. When we feel more confident we’re more willing to:
- Take the lead
- Disagree with others if we believe we have a valuable perspective
- Experiment or try riskier ideas out
- Be creative or bolder in our work
- We tend to be more persistent when we search for solutions to a problem, and
- More likely to have a relaxed or authoritative presence in internal and external meetings
Research suggests that the relationship between confidence, job performance and job satisfaction is bi-directional; when we feel more confident we perform better, we enjoy our jobs more which in turn can increase our confidence and self-esteem (Judge & Bono, 2001).
Here are a few self-reflection questions to help you get a gauge on how your work environment may be affecting your confidence. Answer each question with a score from 1 to 5 with 1 being 'not at all' and 5 being 'almost always':
In my role I often work on tasks that use my strengths?
Do you feel respected and valued by your colleagues?
Do you feel your manager believes in your potential?
If I work hard, I’ll usually be able to solve the problems I face at work
Do you feel generally able to do your job well?
Do you have a degree of control over the manner in which you do your job?
If your answers averaged 3 or below then it sounds like your current role and work environment is likely to be taking a toll on your confidence.
If you start to spot the signs that you’re becoming less confident in a role, the first step is to gain some perspective and separate your current level of confidence from your ability. Think back on previous roles you held or other environments in which you thrived, such as college or university:
- How did you feel?
- What were the factors that contributed to this being a good environment for you (people, support, intellectual challenge)?
- Were you generally able to achieve your goals?
- Did you feel capable of solving problems?
- How would past colleagues or friends have described you? What would they say your strengths were?
If you’re struggling to answer these questions, you may want to find someone who you trust and who knows you well to talk it through with.
Once you have set aside – even if just temporarily – your self-doubt, your next question is - what’s within your control and what can you influence? What can you do to achieve a change?
Stephen Covey’s Circle of Influence theory and Control Influence Accept Model (CIA) can be a useful tool here. Designed to break a problem down and make it less overwhelming, it identifies three ways to respond to challenges:
The most important thing is to take proactive steps and not let a decrease in confidence prevent you from pursuing a career that excites you or from excelling in your role.
Your confidence matters so protect it and if you notice, like I did, that a work environment is taking its toll on you then maybe it's time to act.
Martine is part of the Greenhouse team that delivers our leadership and management training. We tailor each programme to the needs of each organisation we work with, working with you to select the right mix of start-up leaders, practitioners and leadership thinkers. Find out more here.
