Most organisations invest significant effort in measuring performance, yet one of the most overlooked drivers of performance is surprisingly simple:

People need to know where they stand.

When expectations are unclear, feedback is inconsistent, or success is poorly defined, uncertainty begins to fill the gaps. And uncertainty has a habit of becoming something else entirely: self-doubt.

While a degree of self-reflection can be healthy, prolonged uncertainty about performance often creates a cycle that can undermine confidence, decision-making, wellbeing and ultimately results.

When Uncertainty Becomes Self-Doubt

Human beings are wired to seek information that helps them understand their environment and their place within it. In the workplace, feedback provides that reference point.

Without it, people are left to make assumptions.

For some, those assumptions are optimistic. For many others, they are not.

Questions begin to emerge:

• Am I doing enough?
• Is my work valued?
• Have I missed something?
• Am I meeting expectations?

Over time, these unanswered questions can become a persistent source of cognitive load. Rather than directing energy toward meaningful work, people expend mental resources trying to interpret signals, read between the lines, and assess their standing.

This uncertainty doesn’t simply affect confidence. It consumes capacity.

The Performance Paradox

Ironically, self-doubt often creates the very performance issues people are trying to avoid.

Research on self-efficacy, pioneered by psychologist Albert Bandura, found that an individual’s belief in their ability to perform a task significantly influences their motivation, persistence and performance. When confidence declines, effort, resilience and problem-solving often decline with it.

Similarly, research into psychological safety by Amy Edmondson demonstrates that people perform better when they feel safe to ask questions, seek feedback and clarify expectations. In environments where individuals are unsure of how they are performing, they are less likely to take interpersonal risks and more likely to remain silent.

The result is a cycle:

Uncertainty → Self-Doubt → Reduced Confidence → Lower Performance → More Self-Doubt

What may have started as a lack of clarity gradually becomes a self-reinforcing loop.

Capacity Is More Than Workload

When organisations think about capacity, they often focus on workload, resources or time.

Yet capacity is also influenced by the mental and emotional demands placed on people.

Constantly wondering whether you’re performing adequately requires effort. Monitoring yourself, second-guessing decisions and searching for reassurance all consume cognitive resources.

This phenomenon is supported by research into cognitive load theory, which suggests that our working memory is limited. The more mental energy spent managing uncertainty, the less capacity remains for learning, creativity, decision-making and complex problem solving.

In other words, uncertainty doesn’t just affect how people feel.

It affects what they are able to do.

The Organisational Responsibility

It can be tempting to view self-doubt as an individual confidence issue.

Often, it is not.

Many capable, experienced and high-performing people experience self-doubt when the systems around them fail to provide sufficient clarity.

Questions worth asking include:

• Are expectations clear?
• Do people understand what success looks like?
• Is feedback timely and meaningful?
• Do leaders create opportunities for regular performance conversations?
• Are employees receiving enough information to accurately assess their contribution?

These are organisational conditions, not individual shortcomings.

When organisations strengthen these conditions, they reduce unnecessary uncertainty and free people to focus on performance rather than interpretation.

Creating Conditions for Confidence

Confidence is not built through motivation alone.

It is built through evidence.

People gain confidence when they have clear expectations, meaningful feedback, visible progress and opportunities to learn.

The most effective organisations recognise that confidence and performance are deeply connected. Rather than waiting for self-doubt to emerge, they create environments where people know where they stand, understand what matters, and have confidence in their ability to contribute.

Because when people stop questioning their place, they gain the capacity to focus on their work.

And that is where performance begins to thrive.

~ Vantage Proof Consulting, June 2026.

References

Bandura, A. (1997). Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control.

Edmondson, A. (2018). The Fearless Organization.

Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive Load During Problem Solving: Effects on Learning.

Gallup Workplace Research (multiple studies) consistently shows that employees who receive meaningful feedback and know what is expected of them are more engaged, productive and less likely to experience burnout.