The decision by the Bank of England to reduce interest rates to 0.25% was widely anticipated by the market in the wake of the Brexit vote. What was perhaps not so widely anticipated was the introduction of the Term Funding Scheme which aims to compel lenders to pass on the benefit of the rate cut to both businesses and private borrowers.
The rate cut, together with other measures, has been designed to add a measure of stimulus to the economy. Not that we should need it! After all, figures for the second quarter of the year were stronger than expected. But the Brexit vote gave rise to a level of uncertainty and that in turn, in some sectors at least, led to a loss of confidence.
And in business, when you lose confidence then you start to question both your own judgement and future progress and this in turn can lead to the creation of the very conditions which you were afraid of. This type of self-defeating prophecy isn’t something which is simply confined to business sectors, or indeed in the country as a whole; it is also something which can be seen on a micro scale within individual businesses. When individuals lose confidence it can affect their own performance, when team leaders lose confidence, it can affect the performance of their entire team.
That’s why taking active steps to build confidence and belief is such a vital area of leadership at every level. When your people believe in themselves, when they believe and trust that the leadership are taking them in the right direction then their outlook and their decision-making is naturally more positive.
Build belief and you can build a great future.
