Self-doubt destroys employee productivity.

When a staff member doubts their ability to do a task, most leaders think that their job is to encourage, compliment, or cheerlead. They say things like, “You can really do this!” or “I have complete confidence in you.” This is a common leadership mistake.

Reassurance is rarely convincing. Hearing your boss say something like, “You’re really great at that,” doesn’t speak to your underlying fears. In fact, it can add to the stressful feeling of being an imposter, as in, “No one realizes that I don’t know what I’m doing.”

An old adage says if you give someone a fish, they eat for a day, but if you teach them how to fish, they eat for a lifetime. Giving your team the capacity to act and survive on their own empowers them to be self-sufficient. Giving them the answers disempowers them. When a new problem emerges, you want your team to know they have the capacity to confront the challenge and overcome it, as opposed to waiting to see what you would do.

Empowering leaders must be teachers.

Give your team the tools to navigate self-doubt on their own. Introduce them to their inner critic—the voice in our heads that anxiously and irrationally underestimates our own capabilities. Have a conversation about self-doubt, what it is, why it shows up for each of us, and how it can impact what you achieve as a team.

Demonstrate that you understand that fear and self-doubt are a normal occurrence when you grow into new roles, take on greater responsibilities, or share your voice. The goal you want them to work toward is not unfailing confidence, but rather, more skillful management of their own limiting beliefs and self-doubt.

I encourage my clients to notice when their inner critic acts out and name that voice. I call it monkey mind. I never understood that term until my coach introduced it to me. My monkey mind has a nagging tendency to impact my energy level, and thus my results. Once I learned to recognize how my inner critic gets triggered, I was able to predict when he might kick in, and how he could be quieted. The same is true for you.

Your team’s accomplishments don’t depend on their level of confidence, but rather, on building the skill of managing their own self-doubt. Every “I can’t” or “I’m not good enough” or “what if I make a mistake” keeps your business from growing.

Effective leaders give their team the tools to become skillful responders.

Want help? Schedule a free 45-minute session with an LXU coach.