Why you can’t lead without self-leadership

Let's see why good leaders cannot exist if they have not previously done self-leadership tasks.

In the field of business and team management it is very common to speak of leadership as an interpersonal phenomenon. It is not surprising that this is so, since the ability to lead groups of people working harmoniously and combining their individual skills is both spectacular and practical in the work context, since it makes it possible to obtain results that would be unattainable for each of those involved separately.

However, we must not overlook the fact that in order for leadership to exist, it is necessary that a self-leadership work has been carried out beforehand.. This process, which is not so much interpersonal as intrapersonal, has to do with knowing oneself and managing one's emotions properly.

What is self-leadership?

Let's start with a quick definition. Self-leadership is the ability that allows us to consciously influence our thoughts, emotions and behaviors, that is, our own behavior, in order to achieve our objectives and goals in a decisive way.

It is very important to have a good self-leadership ability if we want to be good leaders in front of others.If we are not able to lead ourselves.... How will we guide and lead a group of people?

In this way, maintaining good self-leadership skills increases the possibility of achieving one's goals, whether in the short or long term, and being able to postpone immediate gratification and stay motivated to achieve a greater goal in the future.

This skill has a positive impact not only on job performance, but also on personal well-being; it helps us to be able to make our own decisions without being bound to frameworks of thought that are imposed on us from outside and lead us to make the same mistakes over and over again. Thus, it orients us towards strategies of action in which we can behave independently and and maintaining a critical attitude towards what we do..

Likewise, self-leadership is broken down into five skills that influence it: self-knowledge, the ability to identify our own thoughts and emotions; the maintenance of a correct self-esteem, understood as the valuation we make of ourselves; autonomy, or the ability to set our own objectives; self-management, which is the ability to regulate ourselves emotionally; and self-motivation, which consists of staying strong in the face of challenges in order to achieve a goal.

The process of consolidating self-leadership

The capacity for self-leadership can be worked on, that is to say, we can learn it by taking into account a series of points or conditions.

To lead does not mean to be at the top of a hierarchy or to command others, but to know how to guide a group of people in order to achieve pre-established goals or objectives, and to be able to perform this function correctly, it is first necessary to know how to lead or guide oneself.

What can be done in this sense to improve in the capacity of self-leadership?

1. Be clear about your values and beliefs and respect them.

It is very important that your objectives and goals are in line with your beliefs, values and way of thinking, as this will make it easier for you to lead yourself.This will make it easier for you to stay true and firm to your project until you can achieve them through consistent strategies. You will feel more comfortable knowing that you are doing what you really want or feel you should do.

Given the difficulty of maintaining a long-term objective, if it doesn't suit us, we are more likely to give up sooner than we think..

Thus, the process of self-leadership will be easier and more prosperous if we direct our objectives to achieve self-fulfillment, to develop our capabilities, skills and talents to achieve what we desire. In this way, we will give meaning to our own life and develop our own potential.

2. Knowing one's strengths

It is important that in order to optimally direct our behavior and actions toward a goal, we know and use our own strengths. we know and use our best abilities to ensure a good result and a good to ensure a good result and to be able to reach our goals in an easier way.

3. Work on our own skills

Skills are not static, that is, we can work on them so that they increase and prosper. In this way, training them in a systematic way will allow us to start from our predispositions and talents and to smooth the path in the most delicate phase: the beginning..

4. Being self-aware and honest with oneself

It is important to be honest with oneself about the shortcomings or skills we need to work on. Once this is done, we can focus on learning and working on them. Self-deception by ignoring one's vulnerabilities does not benefit us, on the contrary, it works against us.On the contrary, it works against us, not allowing us to learn and evolve.

5. Having clear objectives

As we have already said, setting short term goals is not incompatible with having future goals, as they complement each other.The two complement each other. Thus, it is necessary to know where we want to go, what we want to achieve in order to be able to work and even and even break down our final goal into smaller objectives so that it will be easier to reach the final goal.

It is also recommended to be clear about what we want to achieve and to be realistic. Setting unrealistic goals only distracts us and wastes our time, generating a high opportunity cost.

What does coaching bring to the table?

As we have seen, it is not possible to lead well (a project, a team...) without self-leadership.

In this sense coaching fosters the self-knowledge necessary to generate that self-leadership so necessary to lead our life as a leader. so necessary to lead our life as we want.

How can coaching help us?

• Improve our self-knowledge.
• Improve our social relationships from emotional management.
• Help us to be more mentally agile and flexible.
• Detect thoughts that sabotage our long-term projects.

If you are interested in working on these areas of self-leadership, access our coaching training programs. At European School of Coaching we offer you several options to train in team coaching, executive coaching, and more.