Confidence is at the heart of our work. Whether that is supporting a new disability ERG / Network leader or one that has been in the role for a long time.

But what is confidence?

Since 2019 PurpleSpace has been researching the best ways of framing and building confidence. For us, we define confidence as a strong expectation of a positive outcome. That may be a task or a conversation or an ask.

Confidence is more than a ‘feeling.’ It is not a personality trait. Confidence is not a simple ‘fact’ i.e., you don’t just ‘have it’ or ‘not have it’. And while we have all experienced situations where we have felt the need to mask what is going on for us or put on an ‘act’ we do not believe that amounts to ‘confidence.’

Confidence is a personal assessment of a situation that activates our motivation to do something successfully.

If we are confident, we choose to invest the time and our personal resources, and to persist in reaching our goals. It is not confidence alone that produces success; it’s the investment and the effort we make to do something successfully. Without enough confidence, it’s too easy to give up prematurely or not get started at all.

This month we dive head-first into the world of inner-confidence. We explore:

• What confidence means in terms of the disability ERG / Network role
• What confidence means to employees with disabilities
• What confidence means to employers, as they support their people to bring their authentic selves to work.

Later this month we launch the first 10 of our ‘Confident Conversation’ series, thanks to GSK and other sponsors. These guides, available exclusively for members, will help employees understand the six fundamental lessons in building inner confidence and the six hurdles to avoid.

Listen to Kate talk about confidence and what it means to some of the change-makers working in the healthcare sector: 

Listen to the audio description version here

Peer Leadership Roundtables

One of the most valuable aspects of PurpleSpace membership is the opportunity to build your leadership capacity via quality conversation with other disability ERG/Network leaders.

Each month we convene groups of disability ERG/Network leaders to stimulate discussion on the issues that matter most to our members.

Connect with your peers during these interactive one-hour sessions for disability ERG/Network leaders. These sessions are a great way to share good practice and challenges, swap ideas and build your ERG/Network leadership capacity. 

We have two sessions to choose from to explore how you can support colleagues to build their inner confidence:

• 24 January 08:00 – 09:00 GMT (19:00 – 20:00 ACT)

• 25 January 16:00 – 17:00 GMT (11:00 – 12:00 EST)

Resources and Recommendations 

Tap into our PurpleSpace know-how and check out some of the external learning that relates to this leadership lesson:

• Building Inner Confidence and Progressing Your Career – Q&A session with Kate Nash OBE, Sophie Morgan disability advocate and Channel 4 presenter, Lesa Bradshaw, disability inclusion consultant and transformation expert, Sumaira Latif of Proctor & Gamble and Annabel Jones of Barclays. 
• Coaching the Basics – Business coach Kay Allen OBE shares her top tips for becoming a confident coach to enable you to allow others to use their skills and experience to deliver different initiatives
• To Overcome Challenges, Stop Comparing Yourself to Others – TED Talk from wheelchair athlete Dean Furness on redefining his ‘personal average’.