How can I build confidence to do more self-promotion?

It is great to be humble and modest, but there comes a time that you need to self-promote. Remember that you were hired for a reason. You have knowledge that others do not have and details that could make a difference in decisions that your management needs to know. Just start by interjecting a comment about what you are working on in a meeting, asking a question that shows you have thought about the conversation or sending a status report to your manager on a consistent basis with your ideas and recommendations. This used to be a challenge for me as well. I started observing how others promoted themselves in meetings and discussions. Some people are so good at it and do it with such ease that you can learn a lot through by observing them.

I would recommend a couple of books on this subject. The first one is called “Brag: The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn by Peggy Klaus. This book gives you some great ideas on self-promotion and some tips to think about depending on who you are talking to about what you are doing. This book really helped me to think about self-promotion very differently. The second book is called “Louder Than Words: Harness the Power of Your Authentic Voice by Todd Henry. This one really helps you to think about what you want to accomplish and developing your voice to help you get there.  You can see these books and additional resources on this topic on my website at: Leadership Resources

Taking some small steps and trying these things will start to show you what you know. It will build your confidence and enable you to take a risk to try the next thing. This is not going to happen overnight, but it will happen. You will start changing and others will see a difference in you and how you are showing up during meetings and conversations. If you continue to struggle with this and would like to see results more quickly, I would suggest hiring a coach. I did this at a time that I was struggling and it helped me through some tough situations. I am now coaching clients who have this same type of challenge and seeing them develop to their potential. They are now building their confidence in ways that they never thought possible.

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