Self Leadership Coaching Blog

Do you ever wonder why people behave the way they do? Are you curious about whether someone is a right fit for a job or a team?

All will become clear when you understand the psychological background of personality.

The word personality comes from the Latin persona, which refers to the masks once worn by actors to give clues as to the emotions driving their behaviour. Today the term personality refers to the sets of predictable behaviours by which we profile a person. These sets of behaviours are known as types or traits and profiling tools are known as psychometric tests. Continue Reading »

“It’s not our abilities that show us what we truly are; it’s our choices.”

These words, spoken  by Professor Dumbledore to Harry Potter, are a profound reminder that leaders require self leadership.

Viktor Frankl, the Nazi death camp survivor and founder of logo therapy, said it this way, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

Interestingly we do not always get the best education in making choices. I recently spoke to a father who told me that he was having difficulty disciplining his teenage son; he had said to the boy, “Whilst under my roof, you have no choice.” With some empathy I shared a perspective that he might be handicapping his son’s abilities to learn to choose. Our choices have consequences and perhaps we need a gradient of consequences as we learn the power of choice?

As Self Leadership International we take this approach with our staff, we give them tasks that require them to make choices. With new interns or employees we limit the consequenses of those choices away from business critical areas, but as they grow in confidence we give them more and more rope ( but not enough to hang themselves!).

I have been involved in training leadership for managers for many years and this concept of empowerment is one that they often struggle with. I think it might be linked to a lack of permission (as with the teenage son) to make choices for themselves that prevents them from allowing others to make choices.

Here is a simple self leadership approach to making choices:

1. Own your right to choose. You have a birthright to make choices independent of your family and culture.
2. Choices have consequences. You must take responsibility for your choices good or bad.
3. Analyse your choices before you make them. “Do I have all the facts?  Will this choice benefit me/others, in the short/long term?”
4. Get input on your choices. With a major choice do not be afraid to get input from others but remain in control.
5. Get feedback on your choices. Notice the effects of your choices and make adjustments as necessary.

It takes a high degree of self awareness to run through this process and we make many choices by ‘gut feel’ but gut feel is our unconscious processing of choices. Leaders train their gut feel or intuition by paying attention the results of their choices and the choices of others.

May you make good choices this year.

(copyright Andrew Bryant – no reproduction without permission)

Self Leadership is all about getting ideas into action and New Year is a time when many choose to make a commitment to start a new behaviour or stop an old habit.

In 2009 I will be writing on this blog about how to turn thoughts into actions and actions into results, so what I want to know from YOU is…

What are your resolutions for 2009?

Please respond by clicking on comments below… thanks, Andrew
Oh and have a Happy New Year!

Have you ever said something or done something that you later regretted?

You have! Wow that’s good I thought it was just me

To make error is human, we all screw up or we are not living.

As I write this blog I can still feel the fresh emotion of embarrasment from a recent mistake. Continue Reading »

It’s the day after Christmas and many are nursing sore heads and swollen stomachs whilst clearing away the debris of the day.

Later there may be further indigestion as we receive credit card bills that reflect our genorisity to ourselves and others.

Whether we are happy or sad this boxing day morning depends not on the quality of the presents or the size of the hangover but on the quality of the relationships we enjoy. Continue Reading »

Self leadership is the modern version of Socrates command to “Know thyself”.  Self leadership is Neo taking the red pill and exercising choice rather than being controlled by the matrix.

I have defined Self leadership as having a developed sense of who you are, what you can do, where you are going coupled with the ability to manage your communication,  emotions and behaviour on the way to getting there.

Self leadership equates to the leadership competencies of Self Awareness and Self Management but most importantly Self-leadership impacts all aspect of  your life, your health, your career and your relationships.

Listen to Self leadership podcast Continue Reading »