Leadership Confidence

We All Are Wondering: Am I Enough?

Recently in the mastermind, Nate asked for feedback during his time on the hot seat (the hot seat is a time where a leader brings his #1 challenge to the community and we help him solve it). This simple acts of raising your hand and asking for help develops leadership confidence.

The question Nate asked:

How do you give your best teacher feedback? She’s incredible and if I’m honest I don’t think there is anything I can tell her that will improve her teaching. I also feel like an imposter around her … like I’m not enough … or like I’m a fraud as the “leader” of the building.

Maybe you can relate?

Our Answer for Nate

Brené Brown writes in Dare to Lead:

“No matter what is done or what is left undone, I am enough.”

I love this statement because it shares a secret to leadership confidence.

You are enough.

The district picked you. They gave you the keys. You are the school leader.

It’s a myth thinking that you need to have “all the answers” and to think that you have to be the best at everything.

What you need to be able to identify is how you contribute the most value to your organization and then build a team to support you where you are weak.

And when it comes to “A” players — you probably can’t tell them anything to improve them. So stay curious. Ask great questions. Follow up.

I haven’t met an “A” player who doesn’t have a plan on how she wants to level up.

leadership confidence from blbs

Some questions you may ask:

?Where are you hiding?
?What dream do you have, but haven’t tried yet?
?How can I support you?
?What experiment will you run in your class this week?

Now you have that data, keep checking in and get them the resources they need to be their best. Keep checking in to help them develop more leadership confidence.

Failure is a Springboard

Remember being a kid and loving to bounce on a trampoline? Have you ever watched a toddler fall down and bounce right back up?

trampolines help us learn from failure and develops leadership confidence

As a child, we rarely gave a thought about someone watching us. We just did it. Whatever it was. When we fell, we just kept going.

And most of the time, falling made us better.

Here’s a more important truth: Failure doesn’t hold us back. It’s a fear of criticism that holds us back.

“A” players will certainly make mistakes. Offer a kind shoulder when the inevitable happens; smile with examples of your mistakes to cushion the fall and use this as an opportunity to model that learning from mistakes is how we do business.

Springboards Lead to Lasting Outcomes

Failing forward with comfort is more likely to lead to playing a long game and interdependency.

Hesitancy and nervousness can drench even our most well-lit ideas; W. Edwards Deming often argued that organizational fear leads to short-term thinking, increased competition, and decreased collaboration. A leader who does not trust his or her own ability to fail well is unlikely to inspire others to try to make difficult changes.

The leader who establishes the belief that failing is a step forward and a springboard instills confidence; the bravado that results is highly contagious and quickly moves one conversation at a time to permeate the organization.