Competence and Confidence

A friend of mine recently started a new job. She loves her job and has been working successfully in her field for over a decade. This job is a bit of a challenge although she’s done the work before, she’s never had this particular title.

As a result, she has the competence to do the job, but her confidence isn’t there. As she told me the other day, “I realize with each passing day that I know a lot more than I’ve given myself credit for. I definitely have the skill set and the expertise to do this job. I just wish I had more than just that.”

I said curiously, “What else do you need beside skill set and experience?”

She responded, “I wish I had more formal knowledge, if not a degree at least a certification. Everything I’ve learned, I’ve learned on the job.”

The fact that she’s learned what she’s learned on several jobs, in diverse situations and garnered great reviews and respect from her peers did little to bolster her confidence.

The irony is that her predecessor was the opposite. Apparently, she was all confidence but not much competence. My friend says that everyday she is undoing the work of this woman. Her predecessor had the staff doing time intensive workarounds because she didn’t know how to use the software correctly. She made the people under her subscribe to complex standards and routines that, according to my friend, served no purpose other than to make her look like she had a lot of knowledge.

In fact, even though some of those old methodologies and tactics have been proven wrong, people are still convinced that this woman was a competent, knowledgeable professional – a true testament to how strong her confidence level was.

Luckily, my friend’s confidence is growing with each passing day.

Competence and confidence is a formula for unstoppable success.