New to HR? Confidence vs. Arrogance
| By Jazmine Wilkes | Career, Entry, HR
In every career field, having confidence in oneself and one’s abilities is crucial. At all times, you should strive to be the best at what you’re doing. As an HR Newbie, there will be a lot of challenges while you’re learning the job, the workforce, the company, and upgrading your skills.
It can be intimidating to enter a new company knowing nothing, especially if you’re a high achiever. Yes, in our job, how you come across to people is quite essential, therefore you must realize and acknowledge that. It might not be the best idea for an HR professional to say, “Take me as I am,” while beginning a new relationship. Although having knowledge about your job is excellent, it does not elevate you beyond other employees.
When you are confident in yourself, others will be more confident in you. It is having the confidence to avoid alienating people or acting egotistically while being the finest employee in the building. The HR department will advance if there is trust throughout the company, especially if you work with additional people outside of the CEO.
Confidence vs. Arrogance
Being haughty at work will turn everyone in the company against you. When pride takes over, it ruins the effort you’ve done. Although being new to the company does not automatically imply lack of knowledge, there is still much to learn and much more to take into account. If there are too many arrogant people in the organization and no one wants to cooperate as a team, arrogance will destroy the company’s culture.
Even when you’re attempting to project confidence, it’s quite simple to come off as conceited. The same holds true for learning how to hold a conversation in which you might not agree with all of the points being made. When you first join a company, you want to demonstrate your value to the group. Yes, you will occasionally have to deal with that at work. If you’re not careful, it might be interpreted incorrectly. You are free to express your opinions; I’m not telling you to hide who you are as a person; rather, I’m trying to teach you how to communicate with others.
In this case, listening is crucial. Knowing a lot about something doesn’t necessary make you arrogant or wrong; nevertheless, how you convey that knowledge makes a significant difference. If someone approaches you and you are unable to take the time to hear what they have to say, you are demonstrating to both that person and your employer that you are unwilling to learn. Additionally, this makes it very difficult for other people to approach you with a problem or an idea.
It’s lovely to have self-assurance in your work; you should be proud of all you’ve learned and eager to impart it to others. Take the time to be a better person and a better leader.
Your theme for this post is so important – how to walk that fine line between non-assertiveness and assertiveness. And as you say its in the way that you approach something. A subtle change of tone, body language or stance can often denote which side of the line you walk. Along with listening, the right sort of question is vital. Use open questions to get other people’s opinions, learn how they think and then use this knowledge to strengthen the relationship before you go in with your thoughts and ideas.