Confidence & Impostor Syndrome
Confidence patterns, self-doubt loops, and impostor experiences at work.
Assertiveness for Professionals
Practical guide for professionals on speaking up clearly and respectfully at work—how it looks, common causes, triggers, and step-by-step ways to practice assertiveness.
Building Public Speaking Confidence
Practical ways to build public speaking confidence at work, how it shows up on teams, common triggers, and manager-focused steps to create safe practice and feedback routines.
Claiming credit gracefully
Practical guidance for leaders on recognizing and shaping balanced credit-taking at work: clear attribution, meeting norms, documentation, and coaching to protect trust and fairness.
comparison trap at work
How the comparison trap at work skews evaluations and team dynamics — signs, causes, triggers, and practical steps to assess people by context and outcomes.
Competence Camouflage
Competence Camouflage is when employees mask skill gaps with polished signals; it leads to hidden risks, poor planning, and mistrust. Learn observable signs and manager-focused ways to reduce it.
Competence-confidence gap
Mismatch between actual skill and expressed confidence at work; affects who speaks up, who gets promoted, and how teams allocate responsibility.
Competence-humility balance
How leaders recognize and manage the mix of visible skill and teachable modesty so teams make better decisions and learn faster.
Confidence After Career Setbacks
Practical guidance for recognizing and helping team members rebuild confidence after job setbacks, with signs, triggers, and actionable support strategies.
Confidence During Promotions and Raises
How confidence shifts when you're offered promotions or raises, what triggers self-doubt at work, how it looks in behavior, and practical steps to manage it.
Confidence Gaps in Negotiations
Confidence gaps in negotiations occur when capable employees under-ask or concede during bargaining, lowering outcomes; spotable via hedging, quick concessions, and avoidance in meetings.
Credit claim anxiety
Credit claim anxiety is hesitation to accept visible credit at work; it hides contributions, skews recognition, and can be managed with clear processes, modeling, and documented attribution.
Developing a Competence Narrative
How employees construct and present a consistent story of skills and impact at work, how it appears in behavior, and practical steps leaders can use to align stories with evidence.
Dunning-Kruger effects in peer review
How overconfidence or poor calibration in peer reviews skews decisions at work, with practical steps to detect, reduce, and manage mismatched reviewer confidence.
Fear of visibility at work
Fear of visibility at work is avoiding public exposure—like presenting or leading—often due to judgment worries; it reduces participation, career growth, and team learning.
Handling Criticism Without Losing Confidence
Practical guidance to receive workplace criticism, stay focused, and act constructively so feedback improves work without undermining confidence.
Impostor moments before presentations
Situational self-doubt before workplace presentations that shows up as last-minute edits, repeated apologies and avoidance; practical steps help support presenters and reduce disruption.
Impostor Syndrome at Work
How workplace impostor feelings show up, why they matter for teams, and practical, leader-focused steps to reduce self-doubt and support capable employees.
Micro-affirmations to Boost Confidence
Small, repeatable signals—like a nod, invite to speak, or brief follow-up—that build workplace confidence and increase participation over time.
Microsuccess logging to overcome impostor feelings
A manager-focused guide to using short, frequent records of small wins to reduce impostor feelings at work and improve coaching, reviews, and team visibility.
New-manager self-doubt
When newly promoted managers hesitate, second-guess, or avoid decisive actions—signs, workplace triggers, and practical steps leaders can use to support them.
New-role confidence building
Practical guidance for leaders on supporting employees as they gain competence and assurance after moving into new roles, with signs, triggers and actionable manager steps.
Norm adherence pressure among high performers
When top performers feel pressured to match team norms, they hide uncertainty and avoid risky ideas. Learn how to spot signs and practical steps leaders can use to reduce that pressure.
Overcoming Self-Doubt Professionally
Practical, manager-focused guidance to spot and reduce self-doubt at work—observable signs, common triggers, and actionable steps leaders can use to build employees' confidence.
Perfectionism's Impact on Self-Worth
How perfectionism ties self-worth to flawless work, how it appears in employee behavior and team outcomes, and practical steps leaders can use to reduce identity-driven pressure.
Performance Anxiety Before Presentations
Performance anxiety before presentations is the workplace worry and tension that disrupts clarity and delivery; it shows in last-minute changes, script dependence, and avoidance.
Post-success self-doubt
Post-success self-doubt is the drop in confidence some people feel after a win; it shows as hesitation, over-justification, and excessive validation-seeking that leaders can spot and address.
Preparation paradox: overpreparing to avoid looking incompetent
When fear of looking incompetent drives excessive prep, work slows, decisions stall, and teams lose learning—practical signs and manager-level fixes to reduce overpreparation.
Preparing for high-stakes presentations without overthinking
Leader-focused guidance to spot and reduce counterproductive overthinking before high-stakes presentations: signs, causes, triggers, and manager-led practical steps.
Recognizing Competence in Yourself
Practical guidance on noticing and validating your job skills—how to match self-view to evidence, spot workplace signs, and use feedback and records to strengthen accurate self-recognition.
Risk aversion and self-belief
How workplace risk aversion and low self-belief shape who speaks up, who takes stretch assignments, and practical steps to encourage safe experimentation and growth.
Self-Efficacy for Career Advancement
Belief in one’s ability to win promotions and new roles—how it appears in project choices, feedback response, and visibility, and practical steps to strengthen it at work.
Self-sabotage patterns at work
Guidance for leaders to spot and address recurring self-sabotage at work—patterns, triggers, practical manager-focused steps, and when to seek outside support.
Skill-based self-doubt
Skill-based self-doubt is task-specific uncertainty about abilities at work; learn signs, triggers, and manager-focused steps to support development and keep projects moving.
Social Comparison and Self-Esteem at Work
How workplace social comparison affects employees' self-esteem, where it shows up, common triggers, and manager-focused steps to reduce harmful comparisons and support fair recognition.
Speaking up anxiety in meetings
Speaking up anxiety in meetings is hesitation or fear about contributing in group discussions. It reduces idea flow and decision quality; practical meeting-design steps can open space for more voices.