This week at work, my manager decided that the four of us should all do SWOT's (Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and Threats) on each other and then share what we have put. She has asked us to be very honest and open with each other....not the easiest thing to do when we have to all carry on working with each other. And if one person takes things especially personally and gets hurt by them, how will that affect the sensitive environment which is our work place?

The discussions that i have had within these SWOT's have been alright. Everything i pretty much agree with and i don't feel overly hurt or upset by things.  However, there was a definite theme that came out within my SWOT's - a lack of confidence.

Now I will be the first person to put my hands up and say "Yes, I could definitely work on my confidence" but here are my concerns and questions around that.

My weight plays a major role in my lack of confidence in my personal life, and i think that spills over into my work life. I am currently doing a lot of work in this area and 2012 is going to be a year of wholeness for me in this area.

A few months ago I took on a new role at work. A managers position - one that I have never done before and one that i have found very challenging.  I think that a person's confidence is always lower when taking on a new position, at least until they feel like they have got their feet comfortably on the ground.  I am not sure how long it will take me to feel like that, I do however know that i am more confident today than i was three months ago, and i hope i will be even more confident in seven weeks time when i possibly come to the end of managers position. 

Being the one on the team with the least amount of experience fuels my lack of confidence. I understand that experience comes with time and i can see that in my own journey, but honestly speaking, working with someone who has eight years experience can be very daunting - especially when they insist on taking every opportunity to remind me of my "fresh take" and therefore "less than adequate" approach to things.

And then there is my Senior, senior manager. The guy who twelve months ago said to me that he does not see me as a manager and that i would never be a successful one.  Lately I have been feeling more and more confident in my ability as a manager, i have tried new things with my team which have been successful. BUT, whenever this manager comes over or is in the area, my confidence plummets to an all time low.  This is one of my biggest annoyances.

So, at the moment, i am trying to find ways to work on this.  To figure out how to not only build my confidence in the work place but how to prevent it dropping when confronted by certain people. 

How would you tackle this?  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.