Coach and leadership trainer Brian Lumsdon shares some of his experience, knowledge and a technique in today’s guest post.
The two-minute confidence boost
A few years ago I was blessed to study performance coaching with a brilliant trainer who I still model to this day and there was one aspect of his approach I enjoyed above everything else. On many occasions, after we covered a new topic thoroughly, he would smile wryly and say “Or you could just do this” and provide the group with a wonderfully skillful shortcut or fast-track to achieve the same outcome.
I’m always on the look out for similar approaches and so I was excited to discover Amy Cuddy’s insightful TED talk Your body language shapes who you are. This talk is in the top 30 most viewed Ted talks and Cuddy is listed number 1 in Time magazine’s Game Changers series.
In this talk Amy Cuddy shares some of her Harvard research where she shows how we can increase our levels of confidence significantly by simply adopting a power pose for just two minutes.
Swabs are taken before and after participants adopt their favourite power pose and analysis demonstrates an increase in levels of testosterone as a result. There is also a decrease in levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) and participants demonstrated higher levels of optimism in a subsequent games of chance.
Videos of participants were then shown to professional recruiters, who highlighted those who had adopted the two-minute power pose as more confident and credible candidates. So following this process also influences the perception other people have of us.
Over the last few weeks I have adapted my own power pose, a combination of two well known sports stars and myself from a specific event where I felt particularly confident. I have also added a phrase I find particularly resourceful that I will repeat during these day minutes.
After practising every day and becoming comfortable with recreating a state of confidence, I now use this technique whenever I feel the additional boost of confidence will be really useful.
There are still times in my work with successful leaders and managers when I’m surprised by some revealing they are not be as confident as they may first appear. And so during our work together achieving their goals I will often find myself saying “And you can also do this!”
About the Author/Further Resources
Brian Lumsdon is a leadership trainer and coach with TwentyOne Leadership and has created lasting change in diverse organisations over the last 15 years.
Brian specialises in creating high-performing coaching cultures and helping leaders connect employees to their vision and values. You can contact Brian via e-mail (br***@tw*****************.com) or connect via LinkedIn.