No.2564

Helping an Employee Overcome Their Self-Doubt

By Tara Sophia Mohr
…

Typically, managers and mentors make a mistake. They think their job is to encourage, compliment, or cheerlead when their people are struggling with self-doubt. They say things like, “You really can do this!” Or “I have complete confidence in you. I wouldn’t have given you this role if I didn’t think you had the capability to do it.”

In the coaching field, this is known as “arguing with the inner critic.” It’s the dialogue between someone’s voice of self-doubt (“I can’t do that, I don’t have what it takes,” etc.) and the affirming words of a supportive person who has a different perspective (“Yes you can! You are great!”).
…

The alternative is to take the conversation up a level. Instead of arguing with your team members’ inner critics, you can introduce a conversation about self-doubt – what it is, why it shows up for each of us, and how it can impact what you achieve as a team.
…

https://hbr.org/2015/10/helping-an-employee-overcome-their-self-doubt