People have reached out to me over the last five or six years, as I became more senior in my career, wanting me to mentor them. One common theme has been: “Ayo, I see you have confidence and I want mentoring to develop my self-confidence.”
I appreciate the kind compliment about how I am perceived to be confident, but if only people knew how I feel inside too.
Instead of writing to staff on how people can develop self-confidence, I thought I would write for fellow leaders and managers about just one tip that is simple and can help boost staff confidence, and that I found helpful, especially as a black man.
I was lucky to be known by name by my CEO very early in my career, and I found this was a great boost to my confidence early on. The fact that “small me” at the time was known by my CEO was immense for me. As a result of the responsibility I had, I would go out with him and he would find a way to touch my shoulder in public as a show of affirmation and closeness. These all meant a lot to me. Thank you, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede.
Since then I have been very lucky in my career that the roles I occupied meant very senior leaders in the organisations I worked for knew who I was. It meant a lot to me every time, and it allowed me to start work, make a presentation or have a senior-level conversation from a settled place within. Thank you to the bosses along the way who did that, especially Phil Lambert, Michelle Cuomo Boorer, Halima Khan, Sarah Mulley, Joanna Davidson CBE and Tunde Olayinka.
When I call staff by name, I find they respond differently.
I find the same is true now. When I call staff by name, I find they respond differently. Staff have given me feedback on how touched they are that I know them and that they have the space to interact with me. That is especially so for people with some form of protected characteristic, those who are more reserved or introverted, and those lower down the organisational hierarchy.
My tip for you then, leader: know your staff by name, especially those you don’t directly manage. Irrespective of the group size, create time to say hello to each person by name and have a quick chat.
We leaders want to see staff go above and beyond for the cause and give their discretionary effort. Here is one for all of us then: implement the actions that help boost staff confidence, and they will be happier to give their all.
At the time of writing I was leading a unit of over 150 staff, a privilege I shared with Ann-Marie Soyinka, and I strove every day to know their names and have a chat as much as possible. Not there yet, but ambitiously and humbly trying every day.
An earlier version of this essay was first published on LinkedIn on 18 July 2024.
