Great Leadership Begins With Self-Leadership
Coaching is the new approach to leadership. It is the method forward-thinking leaders have adopted to create a more engaged, committed and empowered workforce. It allows for inclusion, participation, self-direction, personal development and self-actualization with a tremendous bonus of increased productivity and profitability for the organization.
As a result, Managers on every level have found themselves in a position of having to learn and re-learn what it means to lead because the bottom line now includes a happy workforce and the workplace can now be a place for people to work and grow.
Many managers struggle with this new responsibility of leading their teams, having never been trained in the art and skill of leadership. This is why organizations should invest in coaching programmes for their Management teams; to help them develop the skills necessary to effectively guide their teams to realizing their value in the workspace as well as in their lives.
Put on Your Own Oxygen Mask First
Ever considered why flight attendants tell us to put on our own oxygen masks first in an emergency, before we attempt to render aid to fellow passengers? It’s because you need to first take care of yourself and only then are you in a position to help someone else. The same applies in the workplace, particularly in leadership.
Leadership, in its simplest form, is defined as the act of guiding. Today, the workforce demands a more participatory approach from their leaders. American Poet, Maya Angelou, said “people would eventually forget what you said or did but they would never forget how you made them feel”. Like the oxygen mask, it is mission critical to develop the abilities to lead (increase self-awareness and consciousness, reduce judgement and ego), lead yourself and then lead others. Too many of our workforce are disgruntled, living for Fridays and dreading Mondays. Let’s commit to changing this and instead create an environment for people to work and grow.
Self-Leadership Makes the Difference
Self-Leadership is the practice of establishing deliberate influence over your own thinking, feeling and behaviours to achieve your objectives.
It means understanding that you don’t have to believe everything you think. Especially when those thoughts derail you from keeping your commitments to yourself. It means coming to terms with your ego and the many opportunities you miss because you want to be “right”. It means an end to the “blame game” and instead, seeing everything as an opportunity for growth.
Successful self-Leadership is an on-going exercise in awareness, appreciating the impact that both our actions and inactions have on ourselves and on the people around us. The Leader who commits to personal development will, undoubtedly, make the transition from good to great.
How does one begin to practice Self-Leadership? It begins with a commitment and a new mind-set. It means getting to know yourself and being prepared to prove yourself wrong. It requires you to be courageous. Ask yourself what are your 3 most important values and why (what is the feeling you want to have? Is it safety, freedom etc.), how do you demonstrate these values every day? Look at the actions, you do demonstrate, and determine if it aligns with your life objective.
Cheers to an amazing first step in self-discovery, self-leadership and self-actualization.
Nadine Burrowes-Seaga is a certified Life and Leadership Coach, Founder & Chief Energy Officer (CEO) of People Development Consultants