Bit Famous in the media - Training Journal

Training Journal – Can you teach self-belief?

Can you teach self-belief? Penny Haslam’s answer is a firm yes, but not by handing people a motivational mug and hoping for the best.

In this article for Training Journal, Penny challenges the idea that confidence is something you either have or you don’t. Confidence moves. It rises and falls depending on the meeting, the audience, the feedback and whether your inner critic has decided to do a full PowerPoint presentation in your head.

Penny opens with a personal story from her BBC days, when a senior manager’s brutal comment knocked her self-belief sideways. It sparked a long-standing interest in how confidence works at work, why it disappears and how people can rebuild it when it takes a hit.

The article then shares research carried out with Northumbria University’s Organisational Psychology Department into Penny’s 90-minute Building Workplace Confidence session. The results showed measurable gains, including a 12% increase in confidence, a 14% rise in job satisfaction and a major shift in people’s ability to challenge limiting self-beliefs. Before the session, only 16.4% of delegates felt able to question negative beliefs about themselves. Afterwards, that figure rose to 89.4%.

But Penny is clear that confidence training only sticks when the right conditions are in place. People need a personal commitment to practise, support from managers and colleagues and regular reminders that keep the learning alive in real work situations.

The piece also shares three practical tools: ICE, which helps people challenge negative self-talk; “yet”, which turns limiting beliefs into possibilities and Val-Yous, a way of using personal values to guide action under pressure.

The big message is simple: confidence is not a fixed personality trait. It is a workplace capability. With the right tools, support and practice, people can build it, use it and pass it on.

Bit Famous in People Management publication

People Management – How can the BBC utilise the ‘outsider advantage’?

When a senior outsider walks into a big leadership job, people don’t always roll out the bunting.

In this article for People Management, Penny Haslam looks at Matt Brittin’s move from Google EMEA to the top job at the BBC and asks a useful question: how can organisations help an external leader land well?

Penny brings two perspectives to the piece. She is a former BBC business journalist, so she knows how protective people can feel about the Beeb. She has also coached Google leaders, so she understands why Brittin’s commercial and tech background could bring real value.

That mix is the heart of the article. Outsiders can see things insiders have stopped noticing. They can ask awkward questions, challenge habits and make bold decisions. But they can also trigger folded arms, rolling eyes and a quiet chorus of “what do they know about us?”

Penny argues that this is where people professionals have a crucial role to play. The outsider advantage does not happen by magic. HR and people leaders need to help the new boss understand the organisation before they start making pronouncements from the top floor.

Her advice is practical. Brief them properly before day one. Not the shiny induction version, but the real one: the tensions, the history, the sensitive issues and the things everyone knows but no one writes down. Then help them listen to employees so they understand how change feels on the ground, not just how it looks in a strategy deck.

Finally, Penny makes the case for regular, honest communication. People need to see and hear from a new leader often, especially when change feels uncomfortable. A weekly update, a few early wins and a bit of genuine personality can go a long way.

The message is simple: outsider leaders can be exactly what an organisation needs, but only if they earn trust before asking people to follow them.

Why do I still doubt myself even though I’m a senior leader?

Why do I still doubt myself even though I’m a senior leader?

Why do I still doubt myself even though I’m a senior leader?

Why self-doubt in senior leadership is more common than you think

Why do I still doubt myself even though I’m a senior leader?

It’s a question I hear more often than you might expect.

I’m talking about capable, experienced, well-regarded people. Senior managers, SLT members, executive team members, board members, managing directors and chief executives. People who have worked hard, proved themselves, earned respect and reached a level where, from the outside, you might assume they feel completely sorted.

Bulletproof, perhaps.

Or, as I sometimes think of it, Teflon-like. Nothing sticks. No nerves. No second-guessing. No awkward little 3am thought loop about whether they said the right thing in that meeting.

Except that’s not what I see.

I come across many senior leaders who carry a low-level discomfort. They question themselves after interactions. They worry about whether they landed their message. They wonder whether they were heard, whether they sounded credible, whether they were engaging enough, or whether everyone else in the room secretly has a stronger grip on things.

And that can feel confusing.

Because surely confidence should rise with seniority, shouldn’t it? Surely by the time someone reaches a senior role, all that uncertainty should have quietly packed its bags and left the building?

Not necessarily.

A few years ago, I worked with a female leader who was moving into a board role. On paper, she was more than ready. She was experienced, knowledgeable about the organisation and had absolutely earned her seat at the table.

But the new role asked something different of her.

It wasn’t just about doing the work anymore. It was about being heard in a more senior space. It was about landing her message, influencing others, communicating with credibility and showing up as a leader in a way that felt clear, confident and authentic.

That’s when the self-doubt started to surface.

Not because she lacked ability. Not because she was suddenly in the wrong room. But because the rules around her had changed.

Let’s look at why this happens—why self-doubt can show up just as you move into a bigger, more visible, or more strategic role. And, just as importantly, what might help when it starts getting in the way of how you feel, lead, or communicate at work.

Because self-doubt at a senior level does not mean you are failing.

Very often, it means you are stretching.

How to gather insights into confidence and communication skills in my organisation

How to gather insights into confidence and communication skills in my organisation

Bit Famous 360 is our online 360-degree feedback tool built to help organisations understand and benchmark their people’s confidence and communication skills.

It makes gathering 360-degree feedback in a simpler, more useful, and far less intimidating way — giving individuals and organisations actionable insights they can actually use.

The tool helps colleagues compare how they see themselves with how others actually experience them:

The effectiveness and impact of their communication skills
Their ability to connect with audiences with clarity
How they represent your organisation
Giving feedback, decision-making and how someone handles a challenge.
If these are blind spots for some of your colleagues, our 360 process will help bring them into view.

The aim isn’t to label people or catch them out. It’s to help them reflect, spot their strengths and find a few areas where small changes could make a real difference.

The tool is also flexible. Question sets can be fully tailored to reflect your organisation, your values and the behaviours that matter most in your world. It can be used with one colleague or several hundred.

Gender pay gap action plans – what does meaningful action look like?

Gender pay gap action plans – what does meaningful action look like?

In this episode, I chat with Gillie Fairbrother, Global Responsible Business Officer at Davies, about what a gender pay gap action plan actually looks like in practice — and why employers really do need to get on with it.

She oversees ESG at Davies, a global professional services and technology business, and brings a really grounded, commercial perspective to everything she discusses.

Employers with 250 or more staff are being encouraged to explain what they are actually doing to close their gender pay gap and support employees experiencing menopause. We discuss what meaningful action looks like in practice — and how organisations can finally move beyond just publishing the numbers.

For Gillie, the timing really matters. She told me it is about asking harder questions and getting much more specific about what will actually change things.

As she put it in our chat, “People will no longer be able to get away with saying things like, ‘we will consider’ and ‘we aim to’. It’s now about: how are you going to do it, and how is that going to impact?”

Why gender pay gap action plans matter for employers, investors and clients

She makes the point that many employers have been publishing gender pay gap figures for years — but just putting the numbers out there is no longer enough. The real question, she said, is whether leaders actually understand what is behind those figures and are willing to act on them.

In her words, “I think what the government is looking for are those key drivers that explain the gender pay gap. What do these numbers really mean, and why are they where they are?”

She also points to the commercial pressure building here, particularly from clients, investors, and ESG assessors. As she put it, this is not just the right thing to do anymore — it is becoming a business issue.

In short, gender pay gap reporting is showing up everywhere organisations are assessed — and people are starting to notice.

What a stronger gender pay gap action plan should look like

She is pretty direct about this: vague promises and one-off initiatives won’t cut it. Companies need to take their data seriously, own the decisions and follow through.

She tells me she would love to see businesses use this moment to properly understand where the issues actually sit — whether that is in specific teams, grades or divisions — and then respond in a much more targeted way.

She’s clear on this point: “So instead of just pumping out the numbers, it’s about understanding those numbers and then making really strategic decisions about how you might change.”

Menopause, management and workplace culture

We also get into menopause support, and Gillie is pretty passionate about this one. It should not be a niche or awkward topic — and organisations need to be bring managers and leaders into these conversations, not just women.

“How can we upskill team leaders and managers, including male managers, so they feel less frightened of this topic?” And she made a great point — hybrid working has already proved that organisations can adapt when people need flexibility.

“We know it works, so why should it be any different here?”

Why gender pay gap action is everyone’s job

Something that kept coming up in our conversation was the idea that this work cannot just live in one team or one report. Gillie is really clear on it: you do not get culture change unless more people feel like it is their problem to solve.

As she explained it to me, “We don’t want to be a business that has a sustainability team or a business that has a culture team working over here on a culture initiative. We want to be a diversely cultured business that is sustainable.”

She told me that the same thinking applies directly to gender pay gap action. This is not just an HR issue. It is for leaders, managers, and, honestly, anyone who wants to play a part in shaping a fairer workplace.

Her challenge to everyone listening: “Even if you don’t think this is your job, is there some way you could make an impact?”

Gender pay gap action plans

Gender pay gap action plans: why visibility and strategic confidence are key to success

Gender pay gap action plans: why visibility and strategic confidence are key to success.

Early in my career as a business journalist, I noticed something odd.

If you looked at the guests we booked for TV and radio business programmes, you could be forgiven for thinking women did not work in business at all.

The contributors were overwhelmingly male. Male chief executives, male finance directors, male marketing directors, male authors, male experts. My little black book of contacts was full of them. And I remember thinking, surely there are women in business. Where are they?

At the time, I drew the wrong conclusion. I assumed maybe women just did not like doing this sort of thing. Maybe they were less interested. Maybe they did not want to put themselves forward.

Of course, that was not the truth. The truth was far more revealing. Women were there. They just were not visible. And if you cannot see someone, it becomes surprisingly easy to leave them out of the room when it matters.

Why does my team go quiet when I walk into the room?

Why does my team go quiet when I walk into the room?

Why does my team go quiet when I walk into the room?

It’s one of those questions that rarely gets asked out loud, but it sits there quietly in the background for a lot of leaders. You might not phrase it exactly like that, of course. It often shows up as a feeling instead. A slight shift in the room that you can’t quite explain, or a sense that something isn’t landing in the way you expected.

You walk into a meeting and, just before you arrive, there’s a bit of chatter, a few laughs, people settling into their seats. Then you join, and the atmosphere changes. It’s subtle, but noticeable. People sit up straighter, the conversation tails off, and suddenly the room feels more serious than it did a moment ago.

Or perhaps you’ve just delivered your update in a town hall. You’ve been clear, concise, maybe even engaging. You finish, open it up, and… nothing. No questions, no comments, no challenge. People are listening, but they’re not interacting, and that lack of response can feel a bit baffling.

Why silence is rarely a good sign

It’s tempting to interpret that silence as agreement, or even as a sign that everything is running smoothly. But in reality, silence rarely means everything is fine. More often, it’s a response to you. Not just to what you’ve said, but to how you show up.

That’s the part that can feel uncomfortable, because most leaders don’t set out to create this kind of reaction. In fact, many are working hard to be authentic, consistent and “themselves” at work. The challenge is that your team doesn’t experience your intention, they experience your behaviour. And when that behaviour shifts, even slightly, depending on the situation, the pressure you’re under, or the people in front of you, others start trying to interpret what that means.

How to host a meeting that will set you apart and progress your career

We delve into the art of hosting a meeting, a crucial skill that can significantly impact your career progression. We discuss the difference between just holding a meeting and truly hosting one, and explore various strategies to engage attendees, manage time effectively, and drive productive discussions. This guide will arm you with the tools you need to turn any meeting into a platform for meaningful communication and collaboration.

How low confidence shows up as underperformance at work

How low confidence shows up as underperformance at work

How low confidence shows up as underperformance at work.

Why do capable employees underperform despite having the right skills?

When leaders talk about “low performance”, the conversation often drifts quickly towards capability, motivation or even discipline.

But there’s an alternative explanation that rarely gets named.

Sometimes performance dips not because someone lacks skill, nor because they don’t care, but because their confidence has slipped. It creeps in slowly. It hides behind busyness. It disguises itself as personality. And because it isn’t openly discussed, it’s easy to miss.

A lack of self-belief is a hidden and quiet problem affecting performance. Leaders feel frustrated. They can see that someone is not delivering as well as they could. They know the potential is there. But they’re at a loss as to how to remedy it.

This is where confidence becomes relevant.

Low confidence does not always look fragile. In fact, it often looks the opposite.

It can look like:

* Independence.
* Self-sufficiency.
* Quietness.
* Intensity.
* Reluctance to collaborate.
* Even arrogance.

Take the example of the senior leader who arrived every morning, went straight to their office, shut the door and barely interacted with anyone. The team interpreted that behaviour as aloofness and disinterest. Stories filled the gaps.

In reality, this person was shy. Informal interactions triggered anxiety. Their well-being was low. They dreaded the small talk and unscripted conversations. So they withdrew.

That withdrawal had consequences.

Low visibility meant low influence.
Low influence meant lower engagement.
Lower engagement meant weaker organisational performance.

Confidence and performance are closely linked because confidence affects how visible, collaborative and decisive someone feels able to be.

And when someone’s self-belief drops, you often see a cluster of behaviours emerge. They avoid exposure. They hesitate. They second-guess. They isolate. Decisions slow down. Work requires more redoing. Deadlines start to wobble.

None of this necessarily means someone is incapable.

It may simply mean their self-belief has taken a knock.

Before jumping to conclusions about attitude or ability, it’s worth asking a more curious question:

Could this be confidence showing up as underperformance?

Workplace Confidence Podcast

Belonging, burnout and building culture from scratch – Sisa Sibanda

In this episode, I talk to Sisa Sibanda, Head of People, Culture and Wellbeing at Climate Asset Management (CAM). We explore how HR leaders can create belonging, support wellbeing, and shape culture in fast-moving, purpose-driven businesses.

Sisa joined CAM when the organisation was just three years old, with 30 employees scattered across the world. At the time of recording, the team had grown to 50 and while that’s still small, it’s global, diverse and ambitious.

From day one, she saw the opportunity to shape the culture from the ground up. “I wanted to find a home where I could really make an impact,” she explains. “This is a people business, and culture has to be intentional from the start.”

Effective leadership conversations

Communicating upwards: why won’t my message land?

If you’ve ever walked out of a senior meeting thinking “Well… that went nowhere”, you’re not alone. This is the frustration that sits underneath many executive and board conversations.

On paper, these meetings should be decisive. The people in the room are experienced, intelligent and trusted to steer the organisation. Yet in practice, the opposite often happens. Meetings run long. Decisions drift. Conversations get bogged down in updates rather than outcomes.

What should be a focused, decision-shaping discussion quietly turns into a reporting session.

You can almost feel the energy leak out of the room.

Senior teams are rarely short of information. If anything, they’re overwhelmed by it. What they’re short of is clarity. They want to know: What’s the issue? Why does it matter? What do you need from us?

When those questions aren’t answered early and explicitly, meetings stall. Slides multiply. Explanations lengthen. And this is the crucial point. Conversations don’t unravel because the person presenting lacks ability. They unravel because the conversation hasn’t been framed for decision-making.

This is often the moment when confidence wobbles. Someone gets challenged, becomes defensive or retreats into detail. The room loses focus. Clarity disappears.

When information is moved around the room but thinking doesn’t move forward, the cost is real.

Slow decisions sap momentum. Unclear decisions increase risk. Repeated conversations waste time and quietly erode trust. Over time, senior teams lose confidence not in the data but in the communication.

The good news is this doesn’t require you to become slicker, louder or more polished. It requires you to communicate differently.

And that starts with understanding what senior conversations are actually for.

Why doesn’t my team remember what I say?

Why doesn’t my team remember what I say?

Why doesn’t my team remember what I say? The familiar leadership frustration

You say the thing.
You explain it clearly.
You answer the questions.
You leave the room thinking, right, that’s done.

And then… a week later… It’s as if none of it ever happened.

Someone asks a question you’re sure you already covered. You find yourself repeating the same message again, slightly louder this time, wondering whether you’re going mad or whether everyone else has collectively forgotten.

This is one of the most frustrating experiences in leadership. Especially when the message matters. A change in direction. A new way of working. The start of something important you genuinely care about. You’ve been thinking about it for weeks, maybe months. You’re invested. You’re clear. You’re ready to go.

And yet the energy you felt when you shared it doesn’t seem to last. Engagement fades. Momentum stalls. You start to question whether people were ever really listening in the first place.

At this point, many leaders tend to turn their frustration inward. Am I not clear enough? Am I boring? Am I expecting too much? Or they turn it outward. Why can’t people just remember? Why do I have to keep repeating myself?

colleague-led learning

Measuring Workplace Confidence – What happens when you teach self-belief?

Does workplace confidence training genuinely change how people feel and work, or does the impact fade the moment the session ends? That’s the question Northumbria University set out to answer when it evaluated the Workplace Confidence Training delivered by Bit Famous to the College of Policing.

To understand what really happens after a session like this, the researchers followed participants over time. They gathered data before the workshop, immediately afterwards and again three months later. This gave them something rare in workplace training: a clear view of both the immediate uplift and the longer-term effects.

The survey results showed measurable shifts in confidence, job satisfaction, peer support and people’s understanding of the tools they’d learned.

The study blended two types of evidence. Alongside the numbers were written comments from participants. These qualitative reflections revealed the human side of the experience: what people remembered, how they used the ideas and what difference it made in day-to-day policing roles.

The simple goal setting tool that sets your team up for success

The simple goal setting tool that sets your team up for success

The simple goal setting tool that sets your team up for success. When I talk to leaders about confidence, I’m always drawn back to something simple: people feel better about themselves when they achieve things. It sounds almost too obvious, doesn’t it? But in the day-to-day rush of work – the meetings, the emails, the urgent stuff piling up in corners – it’s astonishing how often this basic truth gets overlooked. We forget that momentum builds confidence, and confidence fuels performance.

What I’ve noticed, over and over again, is that achievement doesn’t have to be spectacular to be powerful. In fact, the big, dramatic wins tend to arrive only after a long stretch of small, steady steps. But in workplaces, we rarely pause long enough to notice those steps, never mind celebrate them.

And that’s a problem, because when people stop recognising their own progress, their confidence starts to dip. You see it in the colleague who used to be full of ideas but has grown quiet. You see it in the bright new hire who arrived bursting with energy, only to lose their shine a few months in. You see it in people who’ve always been capable but have started doubting themselves, often without anyone realising. As I say in the podcast, life happens – people go through things, confidence gets knocked, and achievement starts to feel harder than it should.

Mastermind groups in police leadership

Inside the study: what we’ve learned from mastermind groups in police leadership

Inside the study: what we’ve learned from mastermind groups in police leadership.

Study into the success of mastermind groups and peer-led learning. At Bit Famous, we’ve seen first-hand how powerful peer learning can be. When colleagues come together to talk openly about their challenges, swap ideas and hold each other accountable, something clicks. Confidence grows. Problems get solved. People stop waiting for permission and start making things happen.

In May 2025, our award-nominated training with the College of Policing (Finalists: Personnel Today Learning and Development Supplier of the Year 2025) became the focus of an independent evaluation by Northumbria University. The study explored the impact of our Workplace Mastermind Groups programme, which introduces leaders to a practical, peer-led approach to problem-solving and professional development.

The research ran for six months, tracking more than 80 senior police leaders across England and Wales before their training, immediately after, and again three months later.

The findings are fascinating. Participants showed big jumps in understanding how to set up and run mastermind groups, and most felt better supported by colleagues and managers. Job satisfaction and collaboration improved too. Confidence stayed consistently high, suggesting these sessions help people put their self-belief to work rather than simply talk about it.

In short, the research confirms what we’ve always known from experience: when people are given space to learn from each other, they don’t just gain knowledge — they build stronger, more confident workplaces.

Let’s take a look at what the data tells us.

colleague-led learning

The power of colleague-led learning

Colleague-led learning. What if I told you some of the best learning and development in your workplace doesn’t need a big budget, a slick platform or an outside trainer on speed dial?
Sounds unlikely, right? But it’s happening. I’ve just been working with a group at Beazley, a global insurance firm. They didn’t wait around for the “perfect” training course on presentations. Instead, they built their own. A colleague-led club, now 100 members strong, where people practise speaking, swap feedback and support each other to go from “just about okay” to truly compelling.

A beginner’s guide to difficult conversations at work

A beginner’s guide to difficult conversations at work

A beginner’s guide to difficult conversations at work. Difficult conversations are a leadership challenge; this guide is here to make them easier.

You’ll find out why people avoid them, what happens when we stay silent and practical ways to deal with the most common situations. From giving quick feedback in the moment to tackling repeated performance issues and even speaking up to senior colleagues, you’ll get straightforward advice you can start using right away.

To bring this to life, we’ve drawn on the expertise of Bit Famous associate and leadership coach Heather Wright. Heather has years of experience working with organisations on culture, performance and leadership. She knows first-hand how much confidence grows when people learn to handle these conversations well. Her insights and practical tools run through this beginner’s guide.

An introduction to difficult conversations at work

An introduction to difficult conversations at work. I’m joined by leadership coach Heather Wright to explore why we so often avoid difficult conversations at work. Heather tells me that fear is usually at the root – fear of saying the wrong thing, fear of being seen as a bully, or fear of conflict itself. Yet conflict, when it’s handled well, is not destructive at all. In fact, it’s essential for building trust and creating high-performing teams.

Heather explains that many of us simply don’t have good role models for how to do this. We see conflict on TV or in arguments that escalate, but rarely do we see a tricky conversation that goes well. That’s why she encourages leaders to set the tone early, having “conversations about conversations” before issues arise. When teams know that disagreement isn’t personal, they feel safe to speak up and work better together.

The cost of avoidance, Heather warns, is huge. It damages culture, drives up staff turnover and crushes creativity. But when leaders embrace difficult conversations, they unlock motivation, innovation and collaboration. As Heather puts it: “There are two things people want at work – to be seen and to be understood.” If we can give our teams that, the results speak for themselves.

How to build confidence when you don’t have the answers

How to build confidence when you don’t have the answers

How to build confidence when you don’t have the answers.

Have you ever been dropped into a situation where everyone’s looking to you… And you’ve got no idea what to do?

Not because you’re unprepared or not up to it, but because the answer just isn’t clear. There’s no obvious right move. Just pressure, people and the uncomfortable weight of not knowing.

That feeling? It’s common. Especially if you lead others.

And it’s exactly why building confidence without certainty is a skill worth practising.

Bit Famous named as finalist in Personnel Today Awards 2025 for L&D Supplier of the Year

Bit Famous – Finalist, Learning and Development Supplier of the Year 2025

Bit Famous named as finalist in Personnel Today Awards 2025 for L&D Supplier of the Year.
We’re delighted to share that Bit Famous, in partnership with the College of Policing, has been shortlisted as a Finalist in the Personnel Today Awards 2025 in the Learning & Development Supplier of the Year category – for the second consecutive year.
This recognition highlights our impactful work supporting senior police leaders from underrepresented backgrounds to develop confidence, communication skills and career momentum. Here’s a closer look at what made the programme stand out.
Supporting diverse police leadership through workplace confidence training
The College of Policing asked Bit Famous to help develop the next generation of executive police leaders. The aim? To better reflect society by encouraging Superintendents and Chief Superintendents from underrepresented groups to see executive leadership as a positive and achievable career path.