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How to boost your confidence at work

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Use these tactics

Celebrate your wins

Identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities

Set measurable goals

Let’s explore these tactics with an example: Pip’s Cafe

The barista at Pip’s Cafe is feeling unsure, despite their passion for coffee, they often find themselves second-guessing their skills. See below how Pip’s Cafe barista uses these tactics to boost their confidence.

1

Use Winventory to celebrate your wins

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👤 Who is needed? Just you

🧠 What’s the goal? List and celebrate your wins to stay motivated.

👀 Why is this important? Focus on the positives and celebrate even the smallest victories, so you’ll be more inclined to continue to pursue your goals and develop beneficial habits. Use this tactic weekly, monthly or annually.

“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in day out.”– Robert Collier

💡 Tip: keep your Winventory handy and review it whenever you need a confidence boost.

Instructions

  1. Choose your timeframe – decide if you want to reflect on your wins from the past week, month or year.
  2. Grab a pen and paper, open a digital document, or use a dedicated app to list your wins. The key is to have a designated space to record your accomplishments.
  3. Think back on your chosen timeframe and list all the wins you can remember. These can be outcomes you achieved, habits you maintained, praise you received or challenges you overcame. Don’t be shy; no win is too small!
    A graphic with a pale blue background showcasing four post-it notes, each containing a statement of personal achievement over the last week. From left to right, the notes read: 'learned how to foam milk correctly,' 'talked calmly to our most negative customer,' 'drank water consistently throughout my work day,' and 'made some successful lattes for customers.' The heading at the top in a larger font states 'In the last week I have...
  4. Take a moment to review your list and appreciate your achievements.
 
⬇️ In the next tactic, with these this positive energy, do SWOT Analysis.
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2

Use SWOT Analysis to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities

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👤 Who is needed? Just you

🧠 What’s the goal? Identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for a desired end-state.

👀 Why is this important? Evaluate your current likelihood of success relative to an objective. Understand what’s impeding you, and what you can improve on.

💡 Tip: take a moment to celebrate your strengths. Know that to clearly lay out your range of weakness to strengths gives you agency for making changes in your life.

Instructions

  1. Create a quadrant as shown on a large surface.
    An image depicting a simple two-by-two matrix with a light background. Each quadrant is numbered and labeled with one of the components of a SWOT analysis. Quadrant 1 at the top left is labeled 'Strengths,' quadrant 2 at the top right is 'Opportunities,' quadrant 3 at the bottom left is 'Weaknesses,' and quadrant 4 at the bottom right is 'Threats

  2. Spend 5-10 minutes writing down all the Strengths in respect to the desired end-state, one per sticky note. 
    "Continuation of the 'Strengths' section in a SWOT analysis, with three post-it notes on a white background. The notes, in a soft teal color, list 'Coffee Knowledge: Expertise in making a range of coffee drinks,' 'Resilience: can maintain composure in a fast-paced setting,' and 'Passion: Enthusiasm for coffee culture.'"

  3. Then do the next section, Weaknesses. 
    This image features three yellow post-it notes each listing a different personal attribute as part of a self-assessment. The first note on the left reads 'Confidence: Tendency to self-doubt and second-guess abilities.' The middle note is labeled 'Experience Gaps: Can't create coffee-foam art confidently.' The note on the right states 'Stress Management: Challenges in managing stress during busy periods.' The notes are arranged horizontally against a neutral background.

  4. Repeat until all sections are complete. 
    A SWOT analysis chart divided into four quadrants on a white background. The top left quadrant is labeled 'Strengths' and includes three teal post-it notes reading: 'Coffee Knowledge: Expertise in making a range of coffee drinks,' 'Resilience: can maintain composure in a fast-paced setting,' and 'Passion: Enthusiasm for coffee culture.' The top right quadrant is 'Opportunities' with green post-it notes stating: 'Skill Enhancement: Access to training for skill development,' 'Customer Relations: Potential to build loyalty through consistent service,' and 'Peer Learning: Chance to learn from more experienced baristas.' The bottom left quadrant is 'Weaknesses,' with yellow post-it notes saying: 'Confidence: Tendency to self-doubt and second-guess abilities,' 'Experience Gaps: Areas of the job where skills could be improved,' and 'Stress Management: Challenges in managing stress during busy periods.' The bottom right quadrant is 'Threats' with pink post-it notes listing: 'Internal Competition: Rivalry with peers for opportunities,' and 'Market Trends: Need to keep up with changing customer tastes.'

  5. Now look at your Opportunities section and decide for yourself which part do you want to action towards positive change.
    "The 'Opportunities' section of a SWOT analysis, showing three post-it notes with potential areas for growth. They read 'Skill Enhancement: upcoming coffee-art training workshop,' 'Customer Relations: Potential to build loyalty through consistent service,' and 'Peer Learning: Chance to learn from more experienced baristas.' The notes are a light green color against a white background."
    Frame this into a “How might I…” statement.
    Example: How might I learn from more experienced baristas?

⬇️ In the next tactic, take your How might I... statement and use it with Goal, Signal, Metric.
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3

Use Goal, Signal, Metric to set measurable goals

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👤 Who is needed? Just you

🧠 What’s the goal? Know the impact you are having.

👀 Why is this important? Show yourself how your work is contributing to the team’s goals, and the value you have.

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” – Peter Drucker

💡 Tip: keep a dedicated journal to consistently track your goals, signals, and metrics.

Instructions

  1. Write down your How might I… in front of you.
    Example: How might I learn from more experienced baristas? Now change it into an action statement with more specifics.
    This is a pale blue rectangular card with black text that reads 'Learn coffee making skills from more experienced baristas.

  2. Discuss which signals would show that you are going in the right direction. Write them down. Two yellow sticky notes are shown. The first note says 'Receiving positive feedback from senior baristas on their technique,' and the second note reads 'Getting fewer customer complaints or remakes on the drinks they prepare.

  3. Consider your goals and signals: what metrics could you set that would show you’ve reached your goal? Metrics should be: Who, What and When.
    A teal-colored rectangular card with black text. The card says 'Acquire and practice at least two new coffee making techniques per month. A teal-colored rectangular card with black text that reads 'Achieve a 20% increase in positive customer feedback regarding drink quality within six months

  4. Keep track of your goals, signals and metrics over time; consider sharing them for the entire team to see.

This image illustrates a goal-setting framework with labeled notes connected by arrows indicating progression. The first note is a blue square labeled 'Goal' with a blue rectangle below it stating 'Learn coffee making skills from more experienced baristas.' The second note is a yellow square labeled 'Signal' connected to two yellow rectangles. The first rectangle says 'Receiving positive feedback from senior baristas on their technique,' and the second rectangle says 'Getting fewer customer complaints or remakes on the drinks they prepare.' The third note is a teal square labeled 'Metric' with a teal rectangle below it stating 'Acquire and practice at least two new coffee making techniques per month,' followed by another teal rectangle that reads 'Achieve a 20% increase in positive customer feedback regarding drink quality within six months.' The notes are arranged in a horizontal line against a neutral background.
⬇️ Now that your are done all three tactics, keep all of what you just wrote somewhere for you to see daily to remind you of your capabilities, and to also keep you on track towards your goals.
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What ways can I use this recipe?+
  • The complete loop: this means short, separate sessions for each of the three tactics in order
  • Ongoing process: use these tactics regularly and consistently to maintain a great working environment
Some tips+
  • Set Small, Achievable Goals: Break down complex tasks into smaller, manageable steps and set goals that can be realistically achieved in a short time. Celebrate these small victories to build confidence and create a positive reinforcement loop.
  • Seek Constructive Feedback: Regularly ask for feedback from both colleagues and customers. This will not only provide insight into areas of improvement but also highlight strengths, which is essential for building self-assurance in one’s abilities.
What next?+

Congratulations! You have completed a round of How to boost your confidence at work !
You have celebrated your wins, identified your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and set measurable goals. Now it is time to start making actions towards these goals, and to keep celebrating yourself daily!

Do you have questions, tips or tricks? Join our Slack community of 20,000+ professionals.

8 thoughts on “How to boost your confidence at work”

  1. One of the toughest measurements is the “wins”; much of what I do is behind the scenes. Couple that with having been a consultant for several years, calling out my clients’ wins, taking apart my effort, and calling them out as wins is a challenge now the shoe is on the other foot.

    Reply

  3. Here’s a general comment about the decks, which I have found to be useful. I have the full set and one problem is that they are not distinguishable from each other once out of their boxes.
    So the examples you show above, with ‘Team Tactics’ or ‘Workshop Tactics’ labelled in the upper right of the card are not on the actual cards. Once you start mixing decks it gets very difficult to be clear on which card belongs to which set.

    Reply

    • Hi Gordon, thank you for your insight, it is very valuable. We have also noticed this and are working to improve this for future decks. Thank you.

      Reply

      • Hi Naomi
        another thing you might consider… I work with another deck of cards [system] and each deck has a unique number which is printed on all the cards for ease of sorting to return them to their boxes. Helpful when using card decks with groups of people and finding orphan cards, easy to return to the right deck.

        Reply

  4. Hi team, I’m using Pipdecks for work (community events facilitator at a charity) and for myself and for helping my teen with his a levels – and more importantly helping him to enjoy problem-solving and develop approaches and tools that will help him explore his year off.

    I love the productivity cards you’ve shared here – the need for me is that the studying tools taught at college are aspirational (create a revision timetable, structure your day) but they don’t tackle the emotional overwhelm and assume you know how to break this mammoth task (revision timetable) into smaller steps, and how to link that to the personal experience (confidence building, reflective learning etc).

    I’ve tried Skillshare courses (making notes and sharing them with him), but we’ve both crashed and burned…

    So I think Pip Deck cards are the way to go with this. There is a real need in the post covid student audience – productivity tools and experiments that are short, simple steps (all laid out). I’m dabbling with the idea of getting this deck for me, and to see if using it will inspire my son to dabble too (he’s in year 13 panic revision at the moment). If we can make it work for us, I’m going to encourage his college to use these to develop their study skills resources.

    I love your way of working – and I’m aspiring to use my Workshop tactics more, and building up my Miro skills at the moment.

    Love the videos too! I need to see how things work before I give it a go (“What does good look like”) so thank you for helping me to get my head around this too

    Reply

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