“Be more confident” is common career advice, but what does confidence at work actually look like? It’s easy to associate confidence with being outspoken, having all the answers or appearing completely at ease. In reality, confidence can be much more practical. It might mean managing your emotions during a difficult conversation, communicating clearly, asking thoughtful questions or being comfortable acknowledging when you don’t know something. Seen this way, confidence isn’t simply a personality trait. It’s a collection of capabilities that can be developed, including emotional intelligence, self-awareness, communication, authenticity and the ability to build trust. For financial services professionals, these skills can be particularly valuable. Technical knowledge is fundamental, but so’s the ability to understand people and establish trusted relationships. Building confidence therefore isn’t necessarily about learning to appear more confident. It’s about developing the capabilities that give you confidence in what you do. What does confidence at work actually look like? Rather than asking whether you feel confident, consider what confidence allows you to do. It might mean sharing an idea when others may disagree, staying composed during a difficult client conversation, receiving constructive feedback or saying, “I don’t know, but I’ll find out.” These are tangible behaviours that provide something concrete to work on. Confidence can also vary by situation, so the goal doesn’t need to be becoming a universally ‘confident person’. Instead, focus on developing the skills to better navigate the situations that currently test your confidence. Develop confidence through emotional intelligence One foundation of professional confidence is understanding how you respond under pressure. You might become quieter, rush to fill silences, become defensive when challenged or second-guess yourself afterwards. Emotional intelligence can help you recognise and manage these responses. Self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, active listening and resilience can help you understand your own emotions while responding effectively to others. Kaplan Professional’s Personal Development Strategies to Grow Your Emotional Intelligence topic explores strategies to support authentic engagement, self-regulation and professional development, including the role of emotional intelligence alongside the growing influence of artificial intelligence (AI). After a challenging interaction, consider what you were feeling, how it influenced your behaviour and what you could do differently next time. Over time, this reflection can create experience and self-awareness to draw on in similar situations. Build confidence through better conversations Confidence is often associated with speaking, but listening and asking good questions can be just as important. For financial advisers, a client’s financial circumstances are only part of the conversation. Their goals, concerns, experiences and expectations can all influence what they need. Being confident doesn’t mean dominating the conversation or demonstrating everything you know. It can mean listening carefully, asking thoughtful questions and giving clients space to explain what matters to them. There can also be pressure to have an immediate answer to every question. However, confidence and certainty aren’t the same thing. Being comfortable saying that you need to confirm something before responding can demonstrate greater professional confidence than attempting to answer something you’re unsure about. Focus on authenticity and trust Trying too hard to appear confident can make it harder to have a genuine conversation. A more useful goal can be authenticity: communicating in a way that is credible and genuine while remaining responsive to the person in front of you. Kaplan Professional’s Techniques for Building Authenticity and Trust with Clients topic explores techniques for establishing trust, communicating value with confidence and strengthening client relationships through ethical, inclusive and technology-enabled engagement. This offers a different way to approach confidence. Instead of thinking about how you can impress someone, focus on creating a conversation in which they feel heard, understood and able to trust the relationship. Build confidence through practice Confidence often develops through action and experience. Having a difficult conversation, contributing an idea, asking a client a better question or acting on constructive feedback can all provide opportunities to build it. Instead of setting the broad goal of becoming more confident”, identify one behaviour you want to strengthen. You might contribute more regularly in meetings, ask for feedback or prepare more deliberately for challenging conversations. Each experience gives you something to learn from and evidence that you can navigate similar situations again. Confidence in an AI-enabled workplace As AI becomes increasingly embedded in the workplace, human capabilities such as self-awareness, empathy, judgement, active listening and authentic communication remain important to how we work with others. For financial advisers, technology can support many aspects of work, but strong client relationships still require an understanding of individual needs, effective communication and trust. Developing these capabilities alongside technical expertise can create a more useful form of professional confidence: not believing you know everything, but knowing you have the skills to respond when you don’t. Turn confidence into capability ‘Be more confident’ is easy advice to give. A more useful question is: which capability would help you become more confident? If difficult conversations test your confidence, work on emotional awareness and self-regulation. If you second-guess yourself in client meetings, strengthen your listening and questioning skills. If establishing credibility feels challenging, focus on authenticity, communication and trust. Confidence doesn’t have to be something you either have or don’t have. By breaking it down into tangible capabilities, it becomes something you can practise and develop. Explore Kaplan Professional’s Personal Development Strategies to Grow Your Emotional Intelligence and Techniques for Building Authenticity and Trust with Clients to develop practical skills that can support stronger communication, client relationships and professional confidence. Confidence is built, not assumed Workplace confidence isn’t about having all the answers or being the loudest person in the room. It’s about developing the self-awareness, communication skills and judgement to navigate challenges, build trust and engage effectively with others. For financial services professionals, these capabilities are essential to building strong relationships with clients and colleagues. And while confidence doesn’t develop overnight, it grows through deliberate practice, reflection and experience. The more you strengthen the skills behind confidence, the more naturally it becomes part of how you work.