5 tips to help you build your confidence as a leader

When it comes to taking on a role as a manager in the hospitality industry, getting the gig can often seem like the easy part compared to what comes next: carving out your position as a confident, attentive and communicative leader.

For people in any number of industries, confidence is the toughest attribute to capture and present in the workplace. But it can be done!

Confidence doesn’t just come from the way you operate in your personal life – in the workplace, it can be derived from how the business is run, the procedures and goals you put in place, and the way you communicate throughout the company.

Here are some top tips to consider on your journey towards becoming a more confident leader.
 

1. Know your strengths and limitations

Too often, those who take on new roles as managers spend far too much time fretting over their limitations, and not enough time playing to their strengths.

It’s easy to get caught up in negative thoughts, particularly if you are the person with a fair share of responsibility on their shoulders. But the sooner you acknowledge and accept your limitations, the sooner you can start working in areas that your strengths allow – and learning how to delegate the tasks or areas that you know aren’t your cup of tea.

2. Plan, plan, plan

The more disorganized a leader, the messier the headspace. We’ve all experienced it in our personal or business lives: it’s easy to leave the planning or admin until later – but later can stretch out for a long time.

The most confident leaders are those who have everything in order from the get-go. In the hospitality industry, this means making sure you have processes and procedures in order before you open your venue for the day or night, and ensuring you have quality staff on hand to run everything smoothly.

It might mean setting aside blocks of time each month to review processes and organizational structures (which may feel like a time-waster), but in the long run this will benefit both the business and your confidence as a leader.

3. Set goals and expectations

When you take on a role as a manager in the hospitality industry, it isn’t enough to just turn up to work each day. It’s important to sit down and think about your goals for the venue as a manager and leader: what kind of environment you want to create, what roles within your position you think might need to be delegated or re-worked, and what you want to get out of the role in six months or twelve months’ time.

Setting expectations for yourself in your working role as a leader can help to give you certain goals to work towards, guidelines for your time within the company, and help you ascertain what works for you and what doesn’t. What can you gain from the role, and what do you hope to give back to your staff? How do you hope to communicate with leaders above you? What goals or expectations can you put in place to assist you in becoming more confident and happy in your role?

4. Communicate effectively

As the manager of a hospitality business or a certain area of a hospitality company, one of your biggest strengths should be the ability to communicate effectively – both with fellow leaders and with your staff members.

It’s important to encourage effective communication throughout your venue, and ensure that you remain approachable and friendly while retaining your authority as a leader. Leaders who ask for honest feedback, chat with staff about what is going well and would could be run more effectively are the leaders that exude the most confidence.

Creating a set hierarchy or a business structure that doesn’t allow for back and forth between managers and staff won’t do your business any favours, and it won’t help to improve your own confidence as a leader. But learning to communicate with and listen to others in a positive way will not only inspire confidence within yourself as a leader, but may empower others within your company to harness confidence.

5. Know yourself and your business 

One of the biggest keys to confidence – in both your business life and personal life – is knowing yourself. Not only knowing your strengths and limitations, but being aware of the ways in which you work most effectively, knowing what a healthy work-life balance looks like for you, being aware of unhealthy situations and knowing how to look after yourself during non-working hours. It’s about learning to accept compliments and ‘wins’ at work, and learning how to improve in areas that might not be working as well.

Knowing your business is also vital when trying to gain more confidence as a leader: how it operates, what makes it tick, and what business goals are in place for the future.

The most important things to remember when it comes to taking steps to become a more confident leader are effective communication, planning and goal setting, and ensuring that you know what works best for you in a business environment.

Learn more about leadership with our lesson on How to be a confident manager 

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