May (the month, not the PM!) saw the launch of our inaugural Authentic Confidence Programme. Confidence is underrepresented in the psychological and business literature, and yet many managers, coaches and trainers will uncover issues of confidence when seeking to support and develop staff. This seems to be reported more by women than men, and it is on this basis that the course launched with five women taking part. They were a wonderfully diverse group, the range of professions included a Civil Servant, a gas engineer and someone looking to regain employment.
I believe there is a lot of research that needs to be done, which has led me to undertaking a Professional Doctorate in Occupational and Business Psychology, exploring this very topic. My research is novel but the experiences of the women do not seem to be, with many experiencing the same barriers and challenges. But just one session into an eight session programme and already an impact has been made, with initial feedback such as “Was an awesome first session…” and “The course was amazing yesterday, thank you so much”.
It seems that by coming together and looking constructively at the challenges of building confidence in the workplace great strides can be made.