What do you do if your boss doubts your abilities?

If your boss doubts your abilities, the first step is to assess honestly. Take a critical look at your work performance and identify any areas where you might genuinely need improvement. Self-reflection can help you understand whether the doubts have any basis and if there are gaps in your skills or knowledge that need addressing. This honest assessment allows you to pinpoint specific areas to work on, which can form the foundation for the conversation with your boss.

To address any concerns your boss may have regarding your abilities, you can develop a growth mindset, focusing on continuous improvement and staying up to date with trends and technologies. Knowing that there is always room for improvement will demonstrate your self-awareness of your abilities and that you're also committed to your personal growth and further development of your professional skills. By doing this regularly, you can ensure that your manager knows you're competent in your role and you can handle your tasks efficiently.

From my perspective, this doesn't change much with Web3 from other industries if you have been honest about your abilities coming in. I've been on both sides. In my experience, a lot of disconnect comes from expectations. I once thought my job in a high-growth startup was to ensure we could pay our monthly bills. I learned the hard way that it was more nuanced than that. If you can have an open and honest dialogue about expectations with your peers, boss, and reports, you will be in a much better position.

Next, initiate an open dialogue with your boss. Approach the situation with a positive and proactive attitude, seeking to understand their concerns fully. Schedule a meeting to discuss their perceptions and ask for specific feedback on areas they believe need improvement. Listen carefully and avoid becoming defensive; instead, express your commitment to improving and ask for constructive suggestions on how you can better meet their expectations. This conversation should aim to build mutual understanding and set the stage for collaborative problem-solving.

When discussing your abilities with your manager, make sure you communicate clearly using an open dialogue to clear up any misunderstandings around any projects you have been a part of, or any concerns there may be for future projects. You should be able to clearly identify your strengths and weaknesses, maximising your abilities in the areas you're competent in and improving any skills that need developing. By doing so you can foster mutual respect between you and your manager, making sure you both have a good understanding of what is expected.

Finally, work together to set goals. Once you have clarity on the areas needing improvement, propose a plan that outlines specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals. These goals should address the concerns raised by your boss and provide clear benchmarks for your progress. Regular check-ins with your boss to review these goals and discuss your progress can help rebuild their confidence in your abilities and demonstrate your dedication to professional growth. By taking these steps, you can turn a challenging situation into an opportunity for development and strengthened trust with your boss.

If your boss is having concerns about your abilities, you can ask to have a meeting and set out a learning plan where you will learn new skills, technologies or languages through self-study or certified courses. If you manage to come to an agreement and set goals for yourself with your manager, you should check in regularly and update them on your progress. By doing so you're showing your competence and commitment to continuous learning, which also increases your skillset and boosts your managers confidence in you.

Answer written by a person, not AI:) If your boss doubts your abilities in web3 or any sector for that matter, use the help of trusted intermediaries or colleagues to leverage 'borrowed trust' and help the boss shape a more positive impression of you. For example the boss may not have had enough first-hand visibility of what you are capable of. But someone the boss trusts may have seen you in action and given you a thumbs-up. Ask them to share a positive word about you to the boss. But please don't fake things! If you want your boss to think highly of you without you putting in effort or being good at what your job is, I cant help you...

Reflecting on your growth is a vital part of developing new skills, without doing so you are putting your knowledge on the backfoot and not fully leveraging it. Once you have learned a new skill, for example you could have just finished learning React, you must put those skills to use and keep your brain engaged. Otherwise, your knowledge can become stagnant, which may even find you starting over again from square one.