Cameron Herold's short coaching video advises CEOs to grow both employees' competence (skills) and confidence simultaneously, using the metaphor of two ladders—one for skills and one for confidence. The CEO's role is to support upward movement on both ladders (praising, avoiding undermining), since skills and confidence reinforce each other.
Chapters
One of the core things we have to remember in growing our people is we have to grow two things. We have to grow their skills and their confidence. So it's their competence and confidence. And almost as if they're climbing up two ladders. One foot is climbing up the skills ladder, the other foot is climbing up the confidence ladder. Your job is to help each foot go up those ladders. But if you're shaking their confidence, if you get upset with them, you get mad at them or you don't praise them enough, you're shaking one of those ladders. So while their skills are trying to get stronger, you're shaking their confidence ladder. So the job of the CEO is to always be looking to grow the skills and the confidence and then the skills and the confidence. As the confidence goes up, their skills will go up. As their skills go up, the confidence go up. So picture yourself growing people and helping them climb up two ladders. It could be really huge for you.