When you’re working within a role that requires you to keep positive, one of your most vital traits is to remain confident about your goals and general abilities. Unfortunately, there’s an incredibly thin line between confidence and arrogance; if you’re not careful, you may end up sucked into the latter and become hated because of it.
The chances are, you’re looking at this article because you’ve fallen victim to the accusation of being arrogant, or maybe it’s that self-awareness that’s keeping you from flourishing – Whatever your reason, there are ways you can stop the arrogant rot from setting in.
Talk to your boss or hiring manager
Providing you’ve been smashing your targets on a daily basis, those in a higher position will be more than happy to discuss your attitude with you – take full advantage of this. You don’t need a qualified physiatrist to tell you that talking to others can help with a problem.
Understand more about your potentially perceived arrogance and attempt to address it with those who matter. Talking to your colleagues may help, but your boss or hiring manager will have a much wider understanding of the office’s attitude toward you.
If you share a close relationship with your boss, they may even offer reassurances that they don’t believe you’re arrogant and you can go about your day knowing your confidence is nothing more than just that. However, your problem now is that you know the boss likes your confidence and it may get over your head, turning into arrogance; keep yourself level-headed and keep doing what you were doing if you find yourself in this situation.
On the contrary, if you’ve been struggling with targets, it’s highly likely you’re not arrogant at all and actually need that added injection of confidence, meaning a visit to the office of your boss could still be in order, your purpose will just be different.
Recognise that you’re not the best
Even if you are the best by a country mile, remember that there’s always someone better than you. The key to confidence is knowing that you can be the best, not that you are the best. If you find yourself top of the ladder, look at your performance and compare it to the top person within another organisation – you’ll find someone better than you eventually.
Recognising your achievements is important for confidence, but remembering you can still do better will keep you grounded.
Strip everything down
Evaluating your performance can be beneficial for so many different reasons and this is no different. Think about how you act in and around the office, ask yourself the following:
- Do I interrupt people frequently?
- Do I ever not do something because ‘I’m too good/high up’ for it?
- Am I constantly laughing off competitor achievements?
- Should I have commented on this during that meeting?
- Why is everything I’m accused of someone else’s fault?
If you answer ‘yes’ to the first four, and have an actual answer to the final question, you’re probably arrogant and your colleagues will be happy to see the back of you. Thankfully, if you’re still in the company, you’ll have time to change and a good start is to work on flipping each of your answers to a short and simple ‘no’.
Listen to what people tell you, get involved in any task big or small, appreciate other organisations/individual achievements, recognise your position and accept when you do something wrong.
Who thinks you’re arrogant?
When it boils down, it was either your boss, a colleague, or your own mind that has caused you to question your attitude – perhaps it’s not you after all, was this just a way to knock your confidence?
The nature of this industry is dog-eat-dog and there will always been people trying to get one-up over you. Recognise who thinks you are arrogant; if it’s Tim, the p***k nobody likes who is constantly trying to wind you up, you should just continue with what you were doing before and let Tim continue being a p***k elsewhere.
However, don’t allow yourself to assume it’s all Tim the p***k’s fault, still ask yourself the five questions listed above and investigate the situation further – just be aware and stay cynical, they may be colleagues but they’re also your competitors.
If it’s a self-aware bit of potential arrogance, you’ve already shown that you’re aware, so turning it into confidence will only take you a matter of days!
