Some of the most useful skills you can have in life are great people skills and high confidence. However, it’s sometimes easier said than done to build your confidence. To help you with increasing your confidence and how to improve your people skills, we’ve put together the following guide. From building your self-esteem by investing in a new look, to how to improve your communication and leadership skills in the workplace, we’ve covered a range of different topics. If you want to find out more, then keep reading.
Invest In Your Look
Sometimes all you need to help boost your confidence is to spend some time and money investing in your look. This could be through investing in an entirely new wardrobe of clothes, or through cosmetic procedures to correct things about your look that you’ve always been self-conscious about. Before making a big investment in your look, consider carefully what it is that would help to build your confidence. For example, what kind of clothes you want to add to your wardrobe and how they would make you feel. Finding the right clothes is not just about what you think looks good, but also about what you would feel most comfortable in. If you’re uncomfortable in your clothes, this will show in your body language and affect your confidence in your new wardrobe. Some of the best cosmetic procedures to invest in to boost confidence involve aligners from ALIGNERCO or whitening kits to give you a straighter and brighter smile. Or you want to invest in skin treatments to help you feel confident in your skin and correct imperfections.
Positive Body Language
One area of communicating confidently that many people forget about is using positive body language. This might seem small, but can actually make a huge difference in how other people perceive your communication and confidence. For example, maintaining eye contact whilst talking, smiling confidently, and using your hands whilst talking to express certain points. On the other hand, crossing your arms whilst talking, seeming distracted, looking away a lot whilst talking, or facing away from someone whilst talking can all be perceived negatively and show a lack of confidence and communication skills. Try and be more conscious of your body language whilst talking to help find ways in which you can improve it in the future.
Active Listening
An important part of improving your communication skills is addressing the need for active listening when talking to others. Active listening shows the person you’re talking to that you’re paying attention to them, and you’re interested in what they’re saying. This helps to build better relationships with other people, whether it’s your partner, family, or a work colleague. Active listening is particularly important in moments when someone is telling you something important to them or telling you how they feel. For example, if your partner is struggling with something or feeling low, or if a work colleague is addressing an important work-related issue. Signs of active listening include maintaining eye contact, nodding, and shaking your head in response to the conversation, and assuring the speaker that you’re listening throughout the conversation. Active listening skills can be especially important to help resolve conflicts or deal with difficult conversations as it can show someone who might be upset that you’re interested in what they’re saying and that you want to resolve the issue by listening to their viewpoint.
Treating Social Anxiety
A big factor that can help with improving people skills and confidence is treating social anxiety. Signs you might have social anxiety include traits such as avoiding social settings, finding it difficult to talk to new people, or difficulty speaking in front of others. You might also experience a racing heart, sweating, or shaking when facing a social scenario, you feel nervous about. It’s common to face social anxiety in workplace settings, but it can affect any area of your life that involves socializing. Methods to help treat social anxiety include therapy sessions, medication, and gradually introducing yourself to new social situations. Your GP or a professional counselor can advise you on the best steps to take to treat your social anxiety in a way that works best for you.
Join New Groups
To help build your confidence and people skills, consider joining a new group to help you meet new people and find new opportunities for practicing communication skills. For example, you could find a local hobby group in your area or take up a new group sport. Groups such as book clubs can be great for helping to boost communication skills as they involve discussing topics with others and sharing opinions. Group sports can be great to build your people skills as they involve high levels of teamwork as well as communication. Ask friends or colleagues for advice on the best local groups to join or if you can join them in a group they’re already in.
Networking Professionally
To build your confidence in the workplace, networking can be one of the best tools you can use. Not only does it allow you to practice communication and people skills, but it also helps to build your professional network and contacts, boosting your career success. Attending conferences or training groups can be a good opportunity to network with others in your field and meet new business partners. Perhaps when you’ve built enough confidence, you could even consider speaking at a professional conference or event to help boost your confidence and speaking skills further.
Training And Building Workplace Skills
Training can be a good opportunity to improve important skills if you want to improve your confidence and people skills in the workplace. Find out through your manager or workplace if there are any training opportunities you can benefit from, and how they could help boost your professional skills. This can be hugely beneficial not only for your confidence but also to help with improving productivity and increasing your chances of promotions or pay rises in the future. Some of the best training courses involve topics such as management skills, communications skills, and project management courses. Perhaps ask your boss what kind of training they feel you could best benefit from, and whether or not your employer could help fund training for you. Asking your colleagues to also take part in training can help with encouraging your employer to invest in training or highlight how you feel the training would benefit the company.
Seek Feedback From Colleagues And Friends
Asking for feedback from your employer, colleagues, family, or friends on how they feel you could improve your communication skills can be a great way to learn more about what you can do to improve your people skills. Whether they feel you need to be better at listening, or whether you could be more confident when speaking in front of groups of people, other people’s viewpoints can be invaluable in improving your confidence and people skills. Remember to take constructive criticism well, and don’t take it too personally if people have a certain opinion of how you communicate. Try to use it as an opportunity to learn more about yourself rather than becoming defensive.
