Self-confidence is a quality that can affect almost every part of your life including peer perceptions, decision-making, job performance, and growth opportunities. Learning to feel comfortable in your own skin and believe in yourself can do much more than just improve your well-being, it can directly impact the course of your career. Having low self-confidence can prevent you from accepting challenges that might help you get ahead, stop you from asking for the salary or title you know you deserve, and hamper your journey toward roles of greater leadership and responsibility. Learning to build self-confidence and helping others develop their own self-confidence, can improve you and your team’s prospects for success. Learn how to build confidence in yourself and others with these helpful tips.

• Act like you Belong

If you doubt your own qualifications or question whether you deserve your job, you’re not alone. What you’re feeling is called “imposter syndrome,” and it affects many successful people, from executives to founders, causing them to doubt their abilities no matter how many great accomplishments they have achieved. You have earned your place, and nobody can take away the work it took to get there. Here are a few small steps you can take to start acting like you belong right now: hold your head high, make eye contact when speaking with coworkers, and shake hands firmly. Body language goes a long way toward conveying to coworkers that you belong there, and not only will it build confidence in yourself, it will build others’ confidence in you, as well.

• Know your Stuff

Confident people always seem to know what they’re talking about, and that’s because many confident people maintain a student mentality. They constantly seek out and absorb vital information to strengthen their expertise and provide more value to others. When you know your stuff, you’re prepared for tough questions, and your coworkers and team members will notice. Being an expert in your field holds a lot of credibility, and being knowledgeable helps your team members feel more confident about your leadership and about their own chances for success as part of your team.

• Help Each Other

Mentoring others can help you gain confidence in your abilities. Helping others master critical job skills forces you to hone your own knowledge of those skills, while also improving your ability to communicate essential information to others. Collaboration and coaching also builds confidence in others by helping them feel well prepared and informed to conquer the tasks ahead of them.

• Work Through Mistakes

When someone lacks confidence, even the slightest mistakes can haunt them. When you or members of your team make mistakes, avoid placing blame or dwelling on what went wrong. Instead, work together to develop a strategy to move forward and avoid that same mistake in the future. The process will help boost your confidence as a leader or colleague, and it will help your team member feel supported and reassured that making mistakes is part of the learning process. Knowing that you have their back can make team members and colleagues feel more self-assured and confident about the work environment and their chances of success.

• Recognize the Value in Others

As you work with your team, you’ll see the value each of your team members bring, whether that be a skillset or mindset. Recognize team members’ individual contributions, and they will bring that value more confidently to the table. People love to be recognized for things they do well, and they appreciate being coached to overcome their weaknesses. By recognizing things your team members do well, they’ll do the same for you, helping to build confidence for the entire team.

• Realize is Normal to Doubt Yourself

People don’t like to admit it, but self-doubt is normal. Everyone has doubts and worries about not being the best, the smartest, or the most liked, and even the most confident people struggle to keep those doubts from derailing their goals. Once you recognize that, it levels the playing field. No longer is that keynote speaker an unapproachable business guru, he’s just another person trying to make it, just like you. Remember that your doubts and insecurities are just feelings, and they don’t define you or represent your real potential. Don’t let them stop you from stepping out of your comfort zone or going after your long-term goals and dreams.

Learning how to build confidence starts with just acting the part. Practice using confident body language, even when you’re feeling uncertain inside. Sometimes, the image we present on the outside, helps us begin to feel the part on the inside as well. Use the tips above to bolster your own feelings of self-confidence, and whenever possible, help to support others who may also be feeling uncertain. By focusing on others’ journeys toward growth, you distract from your own self-doubt while helping someone else achieve his or her goals. Throughout that process, you’ll discover that, not only will they become more confident, but you will as well.

Who doesn’t want to be more influential? People who are influential can drive others to accomplish more and achieve goals, they can inspire action, effect change, and transform people and organizations. Influential people are powerful. They command attention and they garner respect. Being influential means that what you say and do matters, because it sets the tone for others who will strive to follow in your footsteps.

1. Improve your Skills: To build influence with others, you must first master your own skills. People want to learn from people they believe have expertise, experience, and valuable knowledge to impart. Wielding influence requires an ongoing focus on self-improvement, growth, and polish. It’s not enough to just be good at what you do; those with the most influence are great.
2. Take on a Challenge: Consider taking a leadership role at a non-profit, where employees are working on a volunteer basis. If you can motivate and get results from people who aren’t driven by the promise of money or success, then you are truly a strong leader.
3. Become a Great Listener: Being influential isn’t just about speaking; listening matters too. People get excited about leaders who take a genuine interest in them, make them feel important, and who support their goals. Show those you hope to influence that they matter, and they will be more likely to care what you have to say.
4. Build your Reputation: There’s no shortcut to achieving consistent results, but if you want to be able to influence people, you’ll have to establish a proven track record of success. Model the behavior you hope to encourage in others to boost your own credibility as a leader.
5. Learn How to Paint a Picture: To communicate in a way that moves others to action, you’ll have to find a way to make your message easily understandable for all. Use descriptive language and clear examples that help your audience fully understand why what you’re saying is true. Start with a story that engages your audience. Use metaphors, analogies, and real-life anecdotes to help to support your argument and drive home your point.
6. Amp up your Energy: People are like mirrors. We often match our own energy, attitude, and enthusiasm to that of the person we’re communicating with. When attempting to influence people, get yourself psyched up and sell every statement you make like it’s the most important point anybody has ever heard. If you don’t seem excited about it, why should your audience be?
7. Learn how to Build Bridges: People come from a vast variety of backgrounds and sometimes incompatible belief systems. Being influential and bringing about change requires the ability to connect with a diverse audience and encourage open communication and collaboration between divergent groups and individuals. Sometimes, influencing people is about helping to change their way of thinking to facilitate collaboration between individuals with conflicting views.
8. Be Confident: If you don’t believe in yourself, you can’t possibly expect to make others believe in you. Portraying confidence is key to giving the impression that you are someone worth listening to. It’s normal to doubt yourself sometimes, but if your goal is to become more influential, it’s important to never let them see you sweat. Come to speaking events well-prepared, and practice breathing techniques to sooth your nerves. People who convey self-confidence naturally give the impression of being knowledgeable, authoritative, and competent.

You don’t have to be a billionaire or a genius to influence others. Influence is about moving and motivating others through effective communication. Anyone can build influence by focusing on the way they present themselves and how they deliver their message.  Becoming an influential leader is about much more than getting your way. It can make you an invaluable asset to a business by helping to unite teams, get employees on board with new projects, earn investments, realign thinking, and strengthen partnerships. By practicing the tips above, you may be surprised by your own power to move others to action, and no matter your goals, being more influential is a critical step toward becoming an effective leader and getting things done through and with others.

Building great teams starts with great leadership. As a manager, your job is about more than just delivering results. Your team members depend on you to help them keep their eyes on the prize. They look to you for support, encouragement, and most of all, for the motivation to deliver more than what is expected of them. Your passion for the work will inspire theirs, and by helping your team stay energized, positive, and driven toward your shared goals, you can position yourself and your team members for unprecedented success.

Here are 10 easy ways to motivate your team:

1.  Listen Up: It’s easy to make assumptions about what employees want and who they are, but to truly motivate your employees, you’ll have to start listening. Spend one-on-one time with each team member to learn more about their goals, dreams, and challenges. Take a pause before responding with your own ideas to ensure you’ve fully absorbed what they’ve told you.

2.  Ask Questions: Ask team members questions to help figure out what motivates them and what is holding them back. Instead of telling them why they should care, help them discover for themselves what drives them.

3.  Create a Positive Work Environment: It’s simple. Happy employees are motivated employees, and unhappy employees find it challenging to stay engaged. Examine the culture at your office, and ask yourself if you were a team member, would you feel supported and excited to come to work? If the answer is no, start brainstorming ways you might be able to change things. If you get stuck, enlist the help of your employees. The simple act of including them in the process may motivate employees to work even harder.

4.   Take a Personalized Approach: One size does not fit all when it comes to motivation. Relate to your employees on an individual level and adjust your leadership approaches according to what works best for each of them.

5.   Set High Expectations: It’s hard to feel motivated when your supervisor does not seem to believe in you and expects you to fail. Instead of focusing on what the employee is doing wrong, reassure your team member that you know he or she can blow it out of the water.

6.   Earn their Trust: Employees need to believe you when you say you have their interests at heart. Managers who expect employees to work hard just because it makes them look good, quickly foster resentment that can infect and demotivate the whole team. Make it clear that you want them to succeed, not for your benefit, but for theirs.

7.   Offer to Help: Setting clear expectations is great, but employees also like to know that their managers have their backs. Let employees know you’re there to support them in any way they need.

8.   Focus on Growth: Studies have shown that money alone, is not an effective incentive to drive performance. While it may seem counterintuitive, employees are far more motivated by autonomy, mastery, and purpose. To get your employees charged up, talk about their hopes and dreams for the future, recognize their improvements, and rally around your purpose as an organization.

9.   Check in Often: Motivation is not something you can set and forget. Let employees know you’re paying attention. Acknowledge progress, praise accomplishments, and help team members look for potential solutions to their challenges.

10.   Be a Good Example: Wanting your team to perform is a no brainer, but are you leading by example? You can’t expect your employees to feel motivated if you’re not fully invested too. Give employees something to aspire to by maintaining a positive attitude and by constantly looking for ways to go above and beyond.

Remember that high-performing, motivated teams start with great leaders. Most employees want to do well. They just need good managers who can help them keep their eye on the things that matter. Following these simple steps can help fuel your team members’ drive to succeed.