If you’re a CEO, executive leader, or business owner, you know first-hand the impact of anxiety in your workplace. A certain amount of stress and anxiety at work is normal. It’s work.
But, Dr. Kathleen Smith who’s a Licensed Counselor & writes about anxiety says: “Anxiety can affect performance at work, the quality of the work, relationships with colleagues, and relationships with supervisors.” Research also shows that workers disengage when they feel anxious. Then, Innovation, creativity, profits, and share prices, drop.
At The Confidence Project, we teach people practical skills to lower anxiety at work. And here’s what happens: As people practice these skills for communication and connection, they become more self-assured. They can bounce-back from set-backs. And, they feel more free to innovate, speak up, and collaborate. We call this, a Confident Company Culture.
Here are three ways that confident people can influence a company culture:
#1. Confident people maintain composure.
Composure is the quintessential “calm, cool and collected.” It’s not that you aren’t aware of your feelings, but when people are composed, they’re less likely to fly off-the-handle in meetings or react impulsively under pressure. They can also take action in dealing with difficult clients, or deadlines, or highly-charged situations. When confident people stay composed in a crisis, it benefits the whole company. And, that reduces workplace stress.
#2. Confident people know their worth & rarely take offense. Instead of reacting defensively when they hear negative comments or have to negotiate a tough conversation, they focus on their strengths. That’s another key to lowering anxiety. When you’re able to devote your energy to understanding the other person, you feel more at ease and everybody’s energy can be channeled into getting stuff done.
#3.Confident people celebrate others.
People who understand their role and their strengths aren’t intimidated by the success of their colleagues. Instead, they welcome fresh ideas and celebrate the good. And, when one team member acknowledges another, it encourages other people to do the same. Then, anxiety goes down and creativity and collaboration go up... Some work stress is inevitable, but anxiety doesn’t have to be.
The more people practice these practical skills, the more motivated and confident they’ll be to help your organization thrive.