Insecure employees are “hard to evaluate, hard to coach, and hard to develop,” says Ethan Burris, an associate professor at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas, Austin. “The challenge is that insecure people are so concerned with how they look and how they are perceived that they either fail to solicit critical feedback or completely ignore it when it’s given. And this robs them of the opportunity to improve.”
Source: Harvard Business Review, April 25, 2018. Link.
It’s not an easy process. But with time and patience, you may begin to see a shift in the right direction.
Principles to Remember
Do:
- Boost your employees’ confidence by providing specific feedback on what they’re good at.
- Cultivate trust within your team by showing your employees you care about them and are on their side.
- Assign your insecure employee to be a mentor or coach to another team member.
Don’t:
- Jump to conclusions. What you perceive as insecurity could be a personality quirk or cultural difference. Be careful in your interpretation.
- Be wishy-washy. Make sure your employee understands the specifications, the resources available, and the timeline of each task.
- Be a martyr. If you’re not seeing progress, either let this person go or assign them to a different job.