"You can do it! You just have to believe in yourself!". This statement can be put into a myriad of contexts, and you've probably both pitifully received it and enthusiastically shared it with others. You can do anything if you believe in yourself. At least that's what we tell our children. But maybe it's also something we should start telling our colleagues at work. Because our belief in our own abilities, or in the words of psychologist Albert Bandura's famous term, self-efficacy, is a strong predictor of how well we perform at work as well as in a myriad of other arenas.
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What is self-efficacy?
Self-efficacy is a concept that is difficult to translate into Danish, but it covers the belief in one's own coping skills, the confidence in being able to handle challenges and the ability to initiate and maintain activities. Roughly speaking, it's about the extent to which you believe in your own abilities and the effect this has on your behavior. For example, if you have a high level of confidence that you can master the difficult task your boss has set you, you will be more willing to accept the task, you will better handle unforeseen challenges and continue your work when things get difficult.
Since Bandura defined the concept in the 1970s, a number of research projects have been interested in finding out what links there are between self-efficacy and behavior. The impressive results have only called for more research in the domain, as it has been shown, for example, that a person's level of self-efficacy is one of the best predictors of academic success. Of course, this is impressive in itself, but what does it look like in work contexts?
If you want to do well at work, believe in yourself
In a meta-analysis by Stajkovic & Luthans, it was found that your level of self-efficacy is highly correlated with your work performance. Self-efficacy has been shown to have a stronger positive correlation with work performance than other typical focus areas such as goal setting and modifications in organizational behavior. In other words, the more you as an employee believe in your own ability to master challenges, the better you will perform on the job. Ultimately, your employer is only interested in you performing to the best of your ability, but how can you believe in yourself more? And what can your colleagues do?
Don't think you can deliver the presentation? Do it anyway.
If you tend to doubt your own abilities and want to believe in yourself more, what do you typically do? Listen to a motivational podcast? Look in the mirror and say "you can do it!" ten times? These methods can't be dismissed as effective, but it's somewhere else you need to put your energy if you really want to see a difference.
Bandura highlights mastery experiences as the primary source of self-efficacy. Essentially, it's about experiencing success in overcoming challenges. If you don't believe in yourself and want to give that presentation to your colleague because you don't think you can do it yourself - then pull yourself up by the bootstraps, put in the effort, make that presentation and experience that you successfully overcame your challenge. Of course, it is essential that you are in an appreciative environment, which is one of the five pillars of a healthy feedback culture, so that you get the positive feedback that feeds your belief in your own ability to master.
Of course, another condition for increasing your belief in your own abilities through mastery experiences is that you have a degree of autonomy in the workplace, so you attribute your success to your own abilities and competencies. This is both essential for self-efficacy, but is also important when it comes to making employees feel motivated in the workplace. Having a personal experience of success in overcoming a challenge is the primary source of increased self-efficacy.
Not so brave? Then take a look.
You might be thinking "yeah, yeah - it's easy enough for you to sit behind the screen and tell me to just do what I don't have the courage to do", and it's true. If that seems like too much of a challenge for you, Bandura's second source of self-efficacy is vicarious experiences. This concept refers to watching others you look up to successfully overcome challenges you're hesitant to take on. So, if the presentation was too challenging for you, ask a colleague you look up to to do it instead. When that colleague does it and you see how well it went, it can help you have the courage to take the plunge next time - and implicitly strengthen your belief in your own abilities.
"You can do it! You just have to believe in yourself!"
The last source of self-efficacy is perhaps the one we use the most on a daily basis, it's called verbal persuasion. When we encourage our colleagues to do things or to believe in their abilities, we can create more self-efficacy in that person. This can be expressed in many ways, such as "you did a hell of a job last time, you can do it again!", "you're much better than you give yourself credit for!" and "I admire your ability to communicate". This is where it gets very concrete, and this source of self-efficacy does not depend on your own initiative, but rather on the good colleague and positive feedback.
You can also read about charimatic leadership here.
So if you're feeling insecure and that this feeling is keeping you from performing to the best of your ability at work, it's worth seeking to improve your self-belief. Jump into tasks you find challenging, witness a colleague succeed with a difficult task, and help raise your colleagues' self-belief with a pat on the back and the good old: "You can do it! You just have to believe in yourself".
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