Confidence Comes Before Capability

One of the biggest things that can hold someone back from stepping into advisory isn't their technical knowledge. It's confidence. You can have someone in your team who understands the numbers, knows the client and has great ideas — but put them into an advisory conversation and suddenly they doubt themselves. What if I say the wrong thing? What if the client asks me something I can't answer? Am I experienced enough to have this conversation? In this episode of Advisory Secrets, I talk about why I don't believe confidence is something you either have or you don't. Confidence can be developed. And one of the best ways to develop it is through experience. Bring team members into client meetings. Let them observe. Then give them a small part of the conversation to lead. Ask for their opinion. Give them feedback afterwards. And gradually increase their involvement as their confidence grows. Because we can't keep someone behind the scenes and then expect them to suddenly feel confident sitting in front of a client. We have to give them opportunities to practise. And different people will need different levels of support. That's also why, at APX Training, we've partnered with Hetty Verney. Hetty isn't only an accountant with around 30 years' experience; she's also a Belief Coding® specialist, working with people on some of the beliefs and confidence issues that can hold them back. Because sometimes someone has the knowledge and the ability. The thing getting in the way is what they believe about their own ability to do it. So perhaps the question isn't: "Why isn't this person confident enough to do advisory?" Perhaps it's: "What opportunities are we giving them to become confident?" Takeaways Technical knowledge alone doesn't automatically create a confident advisor. Confidence can be developed through experience, practice and the right support. Don't expect someone who's always worked behind the scenes to suddenly feel comfortable leading client conversations. Start small — observation, contributing one point, asking a question or leading one part of a meeting. Give feedback afterwards and help people recognise what they did well, as well as what they can develop. Different team members may need different kinds of support to build their confidence. Sometimes the barrier isn't capability at all — it can be the person's belief in their own capability. Before deciding someone "isn't confident enough for advisory", ask whether they've actually been given enough opportunities to develop that confidence. Find Out More At APX Training, we've partnered with Hetty Verney to support the confidence and belief side of developing advisory professionals. You can find out more about Hetty and our approach on the APX website. You can also join our free Advisory Teams Facebook community for more conversations around developing advisory capability across your team.