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This article highlights insights from an episode of Kara Connect featuring Tobba Vigfusdottir and guest Kirsty Baggs-Morgan, an accomplished HR leader and coach. Kirsty’s career spans more than 25 years across the globe, with her recent work focused on empowering senior HR professionals and developing practical frameworks for building confidence. In this conversation, she discusses her new book, The HR Confidence Playbook, and shares advice on fostering genuine confidence, both for individual wellbeing and healthier workplaces.
Here are five key takeaways from Kirsty Baggs-Morgan’s approach to making confidence a foundation for both personal effectiveness and positive organisational culture.
1. Confidence is not about being loud or extroverted
“We quite often think that the loud people and the extroverted people must be very confident, but not necessarily. Sometimes they are just loud and not necessarily confident.”
Kirsty Baggs-Morgan highlights a common misconception: real confidence isn’t about dominating a room. Some of the most vocal people aren’t confident at all—they’re just good at being heard. Confidence, for Kirsty, is about having the courage to speak up with respect, even if you dislike being the center of attention. This resonates especially with those who worry about being “rude” or “pushy”—you don’t have to shout to show confidence.
2. Fear – of failure, rejection, or being judged – holds people back far more than reality
“What we think in our heads, failure, rejection, and judgment look like nearly always are not going to happen to the extent that we think they will… we convince ourselves that so much is at stake, that if we get this wrong, then we’re, you know, we’re an absolute failure. But nothing ever happens that’s as bad as we think it’s going to be.”
Fear is at the core of low confidence, especially in HR. Kirsty Baggs-Morgan names classic “confidence killers” like fear of failure, rejection, and judgment by others. She points out that these worries are nearly always blown out of proportion and rarely come true. Helping HR professionals reality-check their fears is a vital step to unlocking potential.
3. Difficult people – not just workload – shape the culture and challenge our confidence
“People pleasing and imposter syndrome… you can work on those yourself. You can learn to work with difficult people… but you can’t change them because that’s not within your control.”
When asked which “confidence killer” most shapes workplace culture, Kirsty Baggs-Morgan points to “difficult people” – the challenging personalities whose behaviour (like shouting or negativity) can undermine not just individuals, but whole teams. While chronic overload matters, she’s found that learning to handle (not change) these personalities – setting boundaries, speaking up, and refusing to accept unacceptable behaviour – often makes the most difference for culture-wide wellbeing.
4. Wellbeing initiatives work best when they address real business issues
“My first step now… is to establish where there’s a gap or where there’s a problem that is being caused by a lack of wellbeing… everything I do in the HR space is geared towards solving problems that the business has.”
For those hoping to build more wellbeing into workplace culture, especially via management buy-in, Kirsty Baggs-Morgan advocates linking wellbeing strategies to concrete, measurable business outcomes. Whether it’s tackling high turnover or absenteeism, starting with evidence of a real problem helps HR make the case for investment. Demonstrating return, not just in finances but in productivity and morale, gets leaders on board.
5. Reconnect with your core values—inside and outside work
“A big part of it has been working out who on earth I am. That comes under the reconnect element of the six R’s… my values are the same in work and out of work. And the biggest one for me was authenticity.”
True confidence isn’t only about what we do at work; it starts with knowing who we are. Kirsty Baggs-Morgan recommends HR leaders reflect on personal values and how those show up in day-to-day life. For her, authenticity has been key—letting her show up as herself, not trying to force fit into roles or workplaces that don’t align. This self-knowledge allows for stronger boundaries, resilience, and, ultimately, greater wellbeing.
Conclusion
Building confidence in HR, as Kirsty Baggs-Morgan describes, requires more than just self-help advice – it’s about confronting fears, handling difficult people, linking wellbeing to real business needs, and, importantly, embracing authenticity. By working through her six Rs model and drawing on personal experience, she gives HR leaders practical first steps to create healthier, more confident workplaces.
Want to hear more? Listen to the full episode of Can We Have a Word with Tobba Vigfusdottir and Kirsty Baggs-Morgan.
If you work in HR, leadership, or wellbeing, this episode has tools worth using – and sharing.
