It is common to see that while you are busy working hard, others seem to be advancing much faster in their careers. Have you ever thought why does this happen?

In many cases, either your contribution is not being considered or it is not being recognized. Speaking of which we even feel that do the results not speak for themselves? They don’t. Even though it’s all about the numbers. For example, if you think of a salesperson, his/her sales would have increased, but it would have happened without his/her efforts. There must be other parameters that must be responsible for the increase in sales. Parameters like the superior quality of the product or marketing efforts would have helped the sales to increase. Even when the sales go down, it could be due to increasing competition.

Many times it is difficult to separate actual drivers of performance. Because of this, people tend to evaluate competence based on other factors, meaning you must do more than produce results to convince them of your expertise. One of the ways to do this is by demonstrating confidence in your abilities.

A study which was conducted showed the connection between confidence & perception of confidence. As a part of this study 48 subjects were asked to rate the competence of 60 imaginary people who were facing a class final examination. The subjects received 2 important pieces of information which is; they learned what the imaginary people predicted their performance to be — from very good to very poor; they also learned the people’s “actual” performance. After which, they had to rate each imaginary person’s competence.

What was found was that the person’s prediction holds a strong influence on how subjects perceived their competence. Research showed that those who made optimistic predictions were much more competent than their modest colleagues — no matter how accurate those predictions were and how well they performed. Even with a positive forecast and a terrible result, they were still evaluated as almost twice as competent as those who precisely predicted their poor performance. This suggests that if someone asks how you expect to perform, you should give a positive and confident response. A negative forecast may lead you to be perceived as distinctly less competent — no matter how well skilled you are. What matter is the attitude! There is a famous saying which says – Your attitude determines your altitude” which means how successful he/she will depend upon the attitude of the individual. A positive/optimistic attitude is much better than a high skill level.

As we all know the world is changing fast and change is the only constant. Change is hard and people resist change. It is not easy to accept something outside the norms. A positive attitude is must in such cases to embrace change and create a better and greener impact.

So, all this is needed to create a positive effect that leads to competent and confident employees. In other words: praising your competence seems to be fine if you do not claim that others are incompetent.

Hence, to convince others of your skills and abilities, make it a habit to communicate that you are good at whatever you do — without any self-criticism regarding your core competencies.

Compiled by Faber Priyal & Faber Mayuri