Leadership starts and prospers through “personal leadership”, which consists of taking accountability for all aspects of your life and taking it in the direction that is best for you. There’s no working leadership without a good balanced personal one: to assume relevant and perceived leadership in the workplace, it is essential to have strong personal leadership skills.
The more you are able to take responsibility for the decisions you make in relevant areas of your life the more you are able to have a positive and stimulating impact on others, while at the same time being a role model for others in the leadership arena. We as managers should act as role models and is clear that not finding always the balance leads to complexities.
There are three factors that influence personal leadership skills.
Mindset leads the pace
The first is the mental approach which, as in many areas, is the basis of success. This can be defined as a constant mental attitude or an approach that predetermines the responses and interpretations of situations in a person. Having a positive attitude, a personal leadership perspective, and making decisions that are in your best interest are the first steps towards strong personal leadership skills. I can easily tell you this is not something is easily achieved, depends a lot on personal attitude and, all in all, form moments of your life.
Having positive beliefs and expectations about the outcome when you make choices for yourself and defining an approach aimed at achieving results is an important part of having a positive mindset about personal leadership. Then to be fair, one thing is having the attitude and one thing is to demonstrate it.
Energy is more a marathon than a sprint race
The next important area is your energy. Do you have energy at all? How are you managing it? Are you taking adequate time to recharge and find the space to work on areas that stimulate your curiosity?
This again translates into your leadership skills at work; managing energy in significant areas of your life allows you to give your best both personally and professionally and to be at your best in both private and professional life. The biggest effect you will se doing so is that you will need to focus only on important things and leave the rest behind when time allows you. As a side dish you will also review your priorities: exactly as in a battery, the amount of energy is the fixed and you cannot add to it.
The network effect
The third important area of personal leadership is your “support systems”. Having strong personal leadership skills also means having a network of people who support you.
These people are your “sounding boards”, trusted colleagues, family and friends, and really whoever you define as part of your inner circle of confidants. These are the people who know you best and who you trust. They’re the ones you can get your ideas tested and to whom you ask and give advice.
Everyone knows the importance of having a strong network in careers; people who can defend us, listen to us, help us and for whom we do the same. Strong personal leadership skills require the same type of network. Is all about being the best leader in your personal life, just as you aspire to be in your professional life. It is about making choices and decisions in your own interest, just like when making business decisions in the best interest of your company or team. It’s about taking full responsibility for the choices that best serve yourself so that you can be the best for others.
