Am I Good Enough?

I firmly believe that this question sits in the heads of all the best leaders.

And I also believe that it’s one of the key drivers of their (and your, if this question also sits in your head) success.

Provided that the question (and the underlying doubt) are productive and invigorating, rather than debilitating.

My experience coaching senior leaders across sectors bears this out, as does so much of the research in this area.

So how can you tilt the scales to leverage and benefit from this state of mind?

Adam Grant, organisational psychologist, Wharton Professor and best-selling author nails this (in my opinion) in his latest book Think Again. Adam delves into the meaning of terms such as humility and confidence, and how these impact your performance at work. He writes that confidence is a measure of how much you believe in yourself, and tells his readers that evidence shows that this is distinct from how much you believe in your methods. You can be confident in your ability to achieve a goal in the future whilst maintaining the humility to question whether you have the right tools in the present. He calls that the sweetspot of confidence.

I have shared this with many of my clients over the last few months, universally to strong agreement and sighs of relief. As Adam goes on to say, we become blinded by arrogance when we’re utterly convinced of our strengths and strategies. And we get paralysed by doubt when we lack conviction in both. What we want to attain is ‘confident humility’: having faith in our capability while appreciating that we may not have the right solution or even be addressing the right problem. That gives us enough doubt to reexamine our old knowledge and enough confidence to pursue new insights.

This feeds nicely into a brilliant image shared by McKinsey in their recent piece on Adaptability, a key tenet of good leadership.*

So what can you do to try and drive the right mindset on this?

Think. Calmly and strategically. Ask yourself what you have to succeed in your role. What are your strengths? What are your current and unique capabilities? What is it that you have, and that you can do, which will lead to success in your role? (And if you’re not too sure of the answers to these questions, then be brave and go and ask people.) And then ask yourself what you don’t have. What capabilities are you missing? What tools do you not have in your toolbox in order to succeed in this role? And how can you go about filling the gaps (either yourself, or by building on the skillsets of those around you).

And remember, you won’t be the only one asking yourself this question. If you are lucky, you will have lots of people in your organisation asking themselves the same question. So make sure your organisation is a safe place to learn, and that you promote the discipline of doing so.

To find out more about my coaching, and how I support my clients, please do get in touch confidentially on catherine@sportandbeyond.co.uk

*This is a really good article that I thoroughly recommend you read - not least so I don’t fall too foul of copyright laws! https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/future-proof-solving-the-adaptability-paradox-for-the-long-term