How to help build, boost, and develop self-confidence and assertiveness
Being assertive is not what many people often think of as a “milder form of aggression” to get your own way.
Assertive behaviour is based on your Intent and can be defined as follows:
“Assertiveness is Open, Two-Way Communication aimed to achieve an Honest Expression of Ideas and Feelings which is Constructive to all parties, is Socially Acceptable and ensures that individuals maintain Mutual Respect for one another as well as protecting their own and others Human Rights!”
Becoming assertive and building self-confidence is easier than you think and is not dependent on the type of personality you have or the experiences you have gone through in your past. Assertiveness is a behavioural choice you make and it can be learned, developed and become integrated as ‘the way I do things”. Many people are non-assertive or submissive and do not want to become dominant or the centre of attention. All that they generally want is the following:
How can I feel better about interactions I have with others and not get down on myself and think of ‘what I should have said”
‘How can I exert and feel a bit more control in situations that are important to me?
‘How will I be more able to resist the pressures of very dominant people or bullies?’
Assertiveness training focuses on you learning and integrating new behaviour over time and is therefore presented as 4 sessions of 3- 4 hr format, spaced over 3 months, with candidates having to work on specific skills both at work, at home and in society between the development sessions.
(Underneath are some excerpts from course feedback sheets )
‘This course has been life-changing in helping me cope better at work and at home’
‘The feedback sheet only goes up to 5 but I had to give you a 6’
‘All managers at HC need to go through this if we want to change the Culture’
‘Assertiveness has helped me find my voice in meetings and see that others value my input.’