Are you a confident worker who always seems to push through and accomplish your goals?

Or do you identify with the self-conscious employee that always seems to feel they fall short?

How you feel about yourself can have a lot to do with your workplace performance and vice versa.

Below, we’ll examine the relationship between self-esteem and performance.

Then, we’ll discuss how you can increase your self-esteem through an objective evaluation of workplace performance.

We’ll use a resume with KPI sample for guidance on what things can be measured and how.

Later, we’ll consider how you can improve self-esteem by filling skill gaps, as well as what employers and managers can do to help.

How Self-Esteem Affects Workplace Performance

Self-esteem is closely related to confidence and a feeling of security. In fact, in the well-known Hierarchy of Needs devised by psychologist Abraham Maslow, esteem must be realized before self-actualization, the “desire to become the most that one can be.”

This is true in life as in the workplace. Workers with low self-esteem tend not to reach out to do more, learn more, and achieve more.

Workers with higher self-esteem, on the other hand, are often highly motivated. This translates to increased performance in the workplace.

It also creates a healthy overall work environment as team members help each other deal with challenges and offer support during stressful times.

Really, self-esteem and workplace performance have a cyclical relationship. According to a study analysis published in the European Journal of Personality, “people’s work experiences influence their self-esteem and, vice versa, that self-esteem influences work experiences.”

Good experiences lead to feelings of esteem and more good experiences; poor self-esteem may lead to poor outcomes and a further decrease in self-confidence.

For this reason, it is important for both individuals and company leaders to foster employee self-esteem. We’ll discuss three ways below.

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An Objective Self-Evaluation Can Build Self-Esteem

Sometimes, it is difficult to view ourselves objectively. We tend to focus on the negative while minimizing the positive. But when you update your resume with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), you may see yourself in a new, more positive light.

To identify your KPIs, ask yourself the following questions:

1.) How Did I Aid Company Growth?

This may include boosts in sales or production during your time working there, percentile growth, breaking into new markets, or finding new revenue streams.

2.) How Much Money Or Time Did I Save The Company?

What tasks take less time than they used to? How have you helped the company meet deadlines or stay within project budgets?

3.) Who Have I Benefited?

This can include customers served or coworkers assisted. Think of these in terms of people per year, month, week, day, or hour.

4.) How Many Tasks Or Projects Did I Complete?

This can range from your entire time with the company or a date range of your choosing.

This honest consideration will prove that you have made accomplishments at work.

Once you’ve answered these questions for yourself, don’t forget to work them into the bulleted job descriptions on your resume!

Building Self-Esteem While Building Skills

Maybe, though, you feel like you could have done better. If so, don’t let this weaken your self-confidence. .

Instead, identify your strengths and weaknesses associated with a specific task or aspect of your work.

Then, strengthen your skills where needed. How? Ask for help. Take a class. Watch a YouTube video. Read a book.

Ask about company-sponsored training opportunities. Practice what you’ve learned to solidify it in your memory.

When you grasp a new concept or put a new skill in action, your confidence will grow.

Tip: Don’t forget to add new skills to your resume! Knowing you have a strong resume should an opportunity arise can also bolster your confidence.

How Management Can Build Employee Self-Esteem

Self-esteem also involves feeling respected, having status, gaining recognition, and having reasonable freedoms.

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Employers and managers can help boost employee confidence by focusing on employee strengths.

When faced with challenges, leaders can guide and support team members, helping them transfer their strengths from familiar to unfamiliar tasks.

Company leadership should also show appreciation in the form of positive feedback.

Other tips for boosting employee confidence include investing in continuing education – whether in the form of classes, industry events, or on-the-job training – clearly communicating the company’s goals and vision, and outlining unambiguous pathways for advancement or promotion.

Key Takeaways

Self-esteem and workplace performance are linked. When one increases or decreases, so will the other.

When you examine your KPIs, your self-esteem will likely grow. This is because outlining KPIs will help you see, in concrete terms, what you have accomplished in the workplace.

In so doing, you may also identify areas in which your skills need to be strengthened. When you learn, and then put to use what you have learned, your confidence will grow more still.

Employers and company leadership also have the responsibility to boost employee self-confidence by offering support, appreciation, and clear communication of roles and values.