5 Tips for Appearing Confident When You’re Not.
Boost Your Interpersonal Communication Skills!
When you communicate well, you do well. That’s why building confidence through improving your interpersonal communication skills is powerful.
Our course Communicate With Influence will help you communicate effectively, which is vital to career development and business success.
This online program that will help you improve your interpersonal communication skills, choose the right communication method to convey your message, and communicate with Confidence both verbally and non-verbally.
You will also explore the art and science of effective communication, build trust with those you are communicating with, and learn to fine-tune your listening skills by asking the right questions.
You will also gain insights into miscommunication (the signs and how to resolve it), how to make an impact with non-verbal behaviours, and how to capture the attention of senior executives.
So, if you want to communicate efficiently and effectively, improve your morale, productivity and relationships (with clients and colleagues) – this is an ideal course for you!
Learning Outcomes
Outcomes achieved by undertaking interpersonal communication skills courses include:
- Adopting a receptive mindset
- Improving interpersonal communications
- Strong listening skills
- Indicate receptivity to a communication
- Traits of different types of listeners
- Interpersonal communication listening skills
- Clarify messages with effective questions
- Being a good listener
- Types of listeners
- Asking the right questions for clarification
- Preparing to communicate with an executive
- Communicating with senior executives
- Building your credibility with senior executives
- Conducting a meeting with senior executives
- Communication platform characteristics
- Communicating a pitch or presentation
- Making a report or a proposal to senior executives
- Techniques to get the attention of senior executives
- Interpersonal communication skills
- Recognising audience characteristics
- Methods of interpersonal communications
- Appropriate audiences for receiving an e-mail
- peaking effectively in business settings
- Overcoming nervousness about speaking in front
- Preparing content for effective communication
- Signs of a miscommunication
- Resolving a miscommunication
- Delivering bad news
- Techniques to project a positive attitude
- Non-verbal behaviours
- Interpretations of facial expressions
- Sharing communication responsibility
- Making connections with people
- Showing interest when communicating
- Strengthening a communication connection
- Primary intent of a communication
- Communicate appropriately to an audience
- Tailoring your communication to an audience
- Body language and tone of voice
…And more!
Why is Confidence Important in the Workplace?
Lacking in confidence can be a huge setback in your professional and personal life, but it’s a skill that can be improved.
According to Career Strategist Leigh White confidence is vital anytime we are building trust, such as in new professional relationships, sales, business development, job interviews, and networking meetings or media interviews.
“Each of these situations can be a little unfamiliar, which leads to feeling less than, questioning our worth or ability to pull this off successfully.
“During Covid-19, the added complexity has been virtual networking, meetings and interviews.”
5 Tips for Appearing Confident When You’re Not.
Ms White has the following tips on being confident in situations where you’re feeling vulnerable.
1. Prepare
Confidence is based on feeling prepared.
- Do as much research as possible on the person (via LinkedIn and Google) or company/organisation (via their website and news sites)
- Make notes that will be relevant to the conversation and be clear about what the objective of the conversation is (i.e. is this an interview, or are you doing industry research as examples)
2. Posture
The way you sit or stand makes a huge difference to your Confidence.
If this is a virtual (video) meeting, or if you are on a phone meeting, you will feel more ready and confident if you stand.
Even more so if before the meeting begins, you stand with your hand on your hips and shoulders in a confident posture and say confidence boosters like, “I am ready!” or ‘YES‘ out-loud three times! The brain believes what the body is doing, quite amazing really.
3. Positive Mindset
If you find yourself falling into the trap of self-doubt, questioning your ability, deciding they are not interested in you (before you’ve even met) be sure to check-in with yourself regarding your inner conversations (self-talk).
Self-doubt is a big confidence killer, and it is important to call yourself out on negative self-talk, invest time to write down the negative thoughts and concerns, then ask yourself in your journaling exercise “is this fact or worry?”
Soon you’ll be able to see that some are false worries. Remind yourself of the value you do have to offer.
4. Avoidance
If you are procrastinating about making important calls because you lack Confidence, here are a few tips – 80% of jobs are found through personal and professional networks today (not advertised).
So, networking is key to your strategy, and most people want to do good and help others (you’d be surprised). Don’t talk yourself out of it before you’ve tried, make a list of three people you know who may be able to help you and give them a call.
5. Cheat Sheets
Have your resume or professional bio in front of you when you are on a virtual interview, meeting or call just to help reassure yourself of details like dates, achievements etc.
If you are someone who tends to speak too much, not enough, too quiet or too loud, put a sticky note on the monitor to help remind you of this.
If you want to gain more confidence in the workplace or personal endeavours, enrol in our online interpersonal communication skills course, Communicate With Influence