• Publish Date: Posted about 2 months ago

Confidence Plays a Much Bigger Part in Professional Success Than Many People Realise

​When we think about success, we think about making money and climbing the career ladder, especially in the world of accounting. We don’t often focus on the skills that led to someone’s success, even though having the right attributes plays a big part. A lot of these important skills are soft skills, one of which is confidence, which is the soft skill that I’m going to be focusing on in this blog. I have taken a closer look at a lot of soft skills over the last few weeks, but confidence really stands out as one that a lot of people underestimate. If you want to be successful, you need to be confident. It’s as simple as that. If you’re not confident in your own abilities, you can’t expect everyone else to be. Confidence in your own abilities and decisions instils trust in others, and it enables you to take calculated risks when necessary. If you are faced with a complex financial task or accounting hurdle, you need to be confident enough to take a risk in order to find a solution.​Why Having Confidence is Important as a Finance ProfessionalThough it’s not easy to be confident, it’s a hugely beneficial soft skill to have when you are working in finance and accounting. When you are confident, you have the ability to focus on your tasks and projects, without comparing yourself to someone else or doubting your abilities.  Confidence enables you to ask questions and seek help, without worrying that it’s going to reflect badly on your capabilities. Having confidence also promotes communication, making it a lot easier for you to talk to your colleagues and managers, which leads to fewer miscommunications and ambiguity in a team. One of the biggest benefits of being confident as a finance professional is that it can boost your performance. I don’t know about you, but I find it a lot easier to be productive when I’m confident. I don’t hold back from asking questions or sharing my opinion, and I’m confident enough to collaborate with others to find a solution. Without confidence, reaching out to colleagues in this way can be difficult. How to Build Your Team’s ConfidenceWhen you are building your team’s confidence, encourage everyone to focus on their accomplishments and achievements. You need to remind your team what they are capable of and the goals that they have a good chance of reaching. Get everyone to remember past successes, and highlight how hard work really does pay off, as it has done previously. This is sure to motivate everyone into trying to achieve the same level of success the second time around. A lot of people’s self-confidence is held back by fear. That’s understandable, as there is a lot of hard work and complexities that go into accounting, and no one wants to make a costly mistake. But, your team shouldn’t shy away from this. Encourage your team to face their fears, to ask for help and to work together to overcome any ‘scary’ hurdles in the workplace. Building your team’s confidence isn’t something that happens overnight. It’s an ongoing project, but one that will pay off in the long run. A confident team is more likely to be successful.​Don’t forget, I’ll be looking at another soft skill next week, so check back to see which one is next on my list.