Accidental managers. My pet subject, confidence and self-belief for women leaders and managers, is back in the news this month (Oct 2023). There are some troubling stats about female managers that may not surprise you - their confidence is at rock bottom. But in my opinion, the individual employees are not to blame.
The study, by CMI and YouGov Taking responsibility,- Why UK PLCT needs better managers, suggests that female managers are less likely than their male counterparts to feel fully confident in their managerial roles.
The key indicator for this is that only 15% of female managers claim, “…they've already learned enough and don't need further professional development."
To me, this reveals two things: women are rarely overly confident or arrogant, and they possess a perpetual willingness to learn.
The report continues: More than half of women managers (55%) are carrying out their work with no management qualifications whatsoever!
And who's fault is this? Apparently, it's an accident!
Bit Famous works with businesses and organisations to help them communicate with confidence.
By Penny Haslam
MD and Founder - Bit Famous
Helping accidental managers, confidence comes first
The CMI is calling for, "high-quality, trained management to improve efficiency, boost team loyalty, and handle change effectively.”.
But I think there's more work to be done first to boost engagement and retain valuable cohorts of women leaders. The challenges businesses face with mid-tier leadership go beyond just their management skillset.
Our group executive coaching for women can help.
Are you seeing fewer women in your organisation who have real impact and influence?
The Impact, Influence, and Confidence Programme is designed with your women in mind - to engage, inspire and build self-belief.
In the programmes I run, we aim to boost the impact, influence and confidence of women leaders and managers. Self-doubt is rife in our discussions, fuelled by a lack of support from their organisation. So, our take on progressing these talented individuals is to build confidence.
Confidence comes first as a foundation stone for high performance. It trumps resilience, happiness, success, performance and ambition. That's because, once you have confidence, you can achieve all those other things.
Good management that displays impact, influence and confidence is essential for a motivated and stable workforce. If UK PLC is going to find the growth it needs to secure success, all sectors need to focus on retaining and progressing their valuable women leaders by offering them more support.