Why is self-leadership so
hard?
Self-leadership
is the topic that provokes the strongest reaction on Pertec seminars. There are
tears more often than not. "It’s pretty heavy to think just about yourself
for many hours", commented one participant last week. But why is that so? Why
do many people spend more time on keeping their car in good working order, than
they invest in their own service and maintenance?
Self
Ltd Model
On
Pertec seminars we follow the Self Ltd model from Pentti Sydänmaanlakka’s Intelligent
Self-Leadership where participants are encouraged to think about themselves as an
organisation. First of all, if you were an organisation, could you answer Peter
Drucker’s Five Most Important
Questions:
- What is our Mission?
- Who is our Customer?
- What does the Customer Value?
- What are our Results?
- What is our Plan?
Usually the last question is the catalyst for the strongest emotions. Many
people say they would never consider working for a company that does not have a
strategy, then they realise they have not got one for themselves; Self Ltd does
not have a strategy!
The Performance Management system
in Self Ltd needs renewing
Similarly, most people would not be happy working for a company that had no
performance and development discussions, no tools or processes for performance
management, but yet they do not take the time to have their own Target and
Development Discussions for Self Ltd. This is often when the tears come, when
we go through the performance of each of the departments in Self Ltd.
- How is your Body Department performing as measured by your physical condition?
- How is your Mind Department performing as measured by your mental condition?
- How is your Feelings Department performing as measured by your emotional condition?
- How is your Values Department performing as measured by your spiritual condition?
- How is your Work Department performing as measured by your professional condition?
- How is your Renewal Department performing as measured by your renewal condition?
Great tips for managing your own
performance
When we do this exercise, I usually get the feeling that the challenge in self-leadership is in the implementation. We always get some great ideas from the seminar group on improving the performance of each department. It seems there are plenty of thoughts about good things we should be doing. The question is, as with many organisations, how to close The Knowing-Doing Gap? Here is a selection of my favourite tips from these seminars.
- Don’t skip meals.
- Remember that the lunch break is called a ”break” for a reason.
- Sit with someone cheerful and positive at lunch.
- Try practising in-box zero and use email as a tool (or it will use you!).
- Learn to say ”no” and think carefully about when to say yes.
- Decline any meeting invitations that don’t have an agenda.
- Schedule time in your calender for the stuff you need to get done (such as decision making, planning a meeting or preparing a presentation).
- Go to bed earlier! We are sleeping an hour less than the previous generation.
What are your favourite self-leadership tips?
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