Why specific praise at work builds confidence.

One of the things I talk about a lot in confidence conversations is the gap between capability and confidence.

Someone may be perfectly able to do the thing. They may have the skill, the knowledge and the judgement. But their confidence has not caught up yet. So when they are asked to contribute, stretch themselves or try something they are not yet sure about, they do not feel as capable as they actually are.

That is why vague praise often fails.

If you say, “You’re brilliant”, a person who is feeling unsure may reject it immediately. Their brain may say, “No I’m not. What makes you say that?” Very gracious of the brain, as ever.

It can also feel a bit uncomfortable because it is so bound up with identity. “You’re brilliant” asks someone to accept a grand statement about who they are. That is a lot to swallow in the middle of a working day, especially if they were not feeling very sure of themselves to begin with.

Specific praise is different because it gives the person evidence.

Instead of, “You’re great”, try:

“I noticed you made the extra effort on that piece of work and it really paid off.”

Or:

“The way you handled that particular part was effective because you explained it clearly.”

Now the person has something to hold on to. They can connect the praise to their own behaviour. They can see what worked and why it mattered.

That is much harder to dismiss.

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.

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?

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.

Have you ever dithered over making a final decision on something? Perhaps choosing one candidate over another, or what to do about the kitchen cupboards falling apart!

Maybe you said yes to something, then quickly regretted not saying a firm no. Or you held back when you meant to speak up.

Well, all these moments, internal wobbles, are signs you’ve drifted from your values, the things that really matter to you, that make you you.

Or, more likely, you’ve never had an opportunity to pin down your values..

Now , imagine what happens when a whole team is out of step with their own personal values. It’s not just the odd regret or misstep here and there, it’s multiple people being slower to make decisions, second-guessing why they’re going in a certain direction, not really leaning into being themselves and being brave.

Everyone needs a North Star – and that’s why it’s worth doing a values check-in.