The Concept of Self-Leadership

When thinking about management, typical thought leads one to think of one person leading others to reach some common purpose or goal. As a result, most leadership research focuses on how a leader can lead others in this manner. But what about thinking outside the box of traditional thought and thinking about the concept of self-leadership? What about the concept of the ability to lead one’s self to reach some purpose or goal?

What if the world of academia began to focus some of their energies on the topic of self-leadership and its role in the field of organizational leadership? Would it be possible to correlate the two worlds and find some common keys of success between the two?

Well, after researching the internet, I’ve found for the first time there is a part of academic research that does focus on self-leadership and its role in the broader field of organizational leadership theory. In fact, some universities include the study of self-leadership in their curriculum and apparently, this inclusion has been effective in teaching leadership theory. According to the Amazon.com website, students of university courses in this field have commented on the usefulness and application of self-leadership concepts. So let’s address one of the primary tenets or beliefs within the self-leadership field.

One of the first foundational truths of self-leadership is the belief that one must be able to lead themselves first before they can effectively lead others. I believe this position does have some significant validity but does have some qualifiers. Let me explain why.

If we define leadership as simply the “process of influencing others”, this position can be supported with some clear examples. For example, a leader might be talented at computer programming and can lead a group of programmers based on the team’s respect of the leader’s programming abilities. In the same light, the leader may be extremely disorganized and consistently loses focus on the team’s goals. In this situation, the leader is able to influence the team’s programming efforts but not able to influence their strategic timelines because they do not trust or respect his abilities in planning. Simply, because the leader is not able to lead himself in the area of strategic planning, the team is not led effectively in this area.

To further support the validity of this position, we have examples of accepted management theory that support the idea of “Leading By Example”. According to Kouzes and Posner, modeling the way is foundational in effective leadership. The logical progression of thought is that self-leadership must first exist before the ability to model the way can occur. I believe this progression is valid but here is where I must qualify my beliefs.

First, what about the role of delegation in the leadership process? Where does the ability to effectively delegate play a part in this foundational truth. In our earlier example, the leader may not have the ability to be effective at strategic planning but what if that leader could delegate that role to one of the followers who did possess that skill? Could the leader still be effective? I think it depends. The leader still must possess the ability to discern these strategic plans and make decisions to accept, modify or reject them. Does this situation relegate leadership to simply effective delegation? While leadership does depend on delegation, I do believe that effective leaders must show the ability to lead themselves first before they can expect the respect of their followers.

Second, I believe many of us have met individuals who seem to possess effective skills in the workplace but not outside the workplace. Here’s an example. Some individuals are very organized at work but disorganized at home. They have the ability and take the time to plan ahead in their commercial activities but when they get home, they quickly lose focus and let tasks go unfinished and miss important deadlines. The qualifier in this example is not that the first foundational truth is not correct but focuses more on the assumption that individuals possess the same level of self-leadership in all aspects of life. In fact, when examining this example in more depth, one will find this qualifier does not invalidate the proposition but rather strengthens it. The purpose of the qualifier is to ensure that one does not get lost in improper assumptions around the idea of self-leadership.

I believe strongly in the belief that one must be able to lead themselves first before they can lead others effectively. Such beliefs do not include expectations that anyone is perfect in their ability to lead themselves. I believe that journey is a life-long journey to improve each day but never to expect perfection. I believe we must be aware of our own actions and be open to modification whenever necessary. As each one strives to improve themselves and their own leadership abilities, the goal is to be the type of leader that is able to balance progress with compassion for people. But think about it. For me, that goal is the same whether I’m leading a group of people or leading myself.

The basis for this blog is found at the following two websites: http://www.emergingleader.com/article4.shtml and http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Self-Leadership-Empowering-Excellence/dp/0130110876/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t. I’ve also referenced “The Leadership Challenge”, written by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner.