Just do good work and you will be rewarded…right? Think again.

Quietly plugging away at the computer and not getting out there and confidently telling people about what you are doing does not get you the recognition and reward you deserve.

When it comes to introducing yourself to others, when asked the age old question ‘what do you do’, what do you say?

It is something that we often don’t stop to think about and what I often hear from women when I ask them this question is, ‘I am just a (insert title here)’.

How we articulate what we do, why we do it and why others should care is important. It makes a real difference to how we are viewed by others and how confident we appear.

At our last Women of Influence Speaker Series event on 8 November what all the speakers agreed on is that confidence is important when it comes to success.

However, evidence shows that women are less self-assured than men. There is a confidence gap between men and women when it comes to our careers. We also know that men initiate salary negotiations 4 times as often as women do and that when women do negotiate, we ask for 30% less than men do (Carnegie Mellon University). A Hewett Packard study from several years ago discovered women applied for a position when they met 100% of the qualifications listed for the job, whereas men applied when they met 60%.

So both women and men doubt themselves, the difference seems to be that women let that doubt stop them more often.

How can women create greater self-belief that is genuine? Here are some tips from our speakers:

– Drop the ‘im JUST a…’

– Crediting yourself when you are responsible, rather than crediting circumstances or others

– Growing your resilience muscle. When faced with challenge or failure recognise the role of external factors (as well as your role) in the outcome, not just blaming yourself

– Letting go of perfectionism and having view, ‘done is better than perfect’

– Embrace risk

– Stop thinking so much and just ACT – it is simple and has lasting effects – if we keep doing this we create new neural pathways and can make our brains more confidence prone – we can choose to change the way we think, which in turn changes the way we feel and act!

– Look at your character and values as part of your skill set, what makes you authentic and gives you integrity

Remember, it’s not enough to keep your head down and plug away, checking off you’re to do list. Talent means having competence and the confidence to get out there and tell people about what you do and why it is important so invest in yourself and think about how you can develop greater confidence in yourself.