Hello everyone, my name is Olabisi Obayomi, you are welcome to another exciting episode of Leaderview, I am happy to welcome you. I believe your day has been great. On this episode of Leaderview, we will be considering Self-management for Leaders. If we look through our societies today, we would see people that are more interested in leading others than actually leading themselves. We would see leaders that are not interested in managing themselves, improving themselves, people that are not interested in this, but they are more interested in getting people to bring out result for them. We would even see people that assume that they are leaders, but they are in a space where all they are doing is not even understanding the reason why they are in that position. They don’t know why they are leaders, what they are doing or what they are meant to be doing as leaders, they don’t even understand what leadership means.
Listen to Podcast: Self-management for Leaders
But it is quite important we understand the reason why we are leading other people to be able to manage and lead ourselves aright. And that is why we are looking at this subject matter: Self-management for Leaders. Someone might be wondering: What does Self-management even means? Self-management speaks to how you manage your life, how you set the course, how you follow it accordingly as you have set it, and how you correct yourself even as you go on. This is what self-management means. And for you to be able to effectively lead others, you should yourself as a leader be able to manage your actions, your decisions, your goals and all that you have set for yourself. Self-management is also the ability to manage your own life and set the course for others to follow even while you are following it yourself. This is what self-management mean.
The Bible says in Luke 12:48b “For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.” What does this even mean? It means that for you that you have been allocated something, given something to do, much more is required of you. And you can’t afford not to be able to manage yourself as a leader when you want other people to do your bidding and what they have been called to do. This is why it is important to be a self-managed leader. One other thing you need to realize as a leader while you are managing yourself is to understand the reason why you are a leader. You need to lead yourself while leading others.
Don’t accept leadership positions for a wrong reason. When your reason for being a leader are motivated by things like fame, glory, when it comes to fortune and more money, you are not leading aright. You need to ask yourself the important question, you need to know the purpose of your leadership: Why are you a leader and what do you intend to achieve as a leader? This is how you can self-manage yourself as a leader. Don’t go in because of your self-interests and personal accomplishment in that position. You have to choose to achieve things for yourself first. So, when you get into leadership positions, because of what you hope to get out of it, the truth is you would get dissatisfied even before you start the journey.
Very importantly as a leader in managing yourself is to ask the right question: What does it take to be a leader? After asking yourself why you are leader, realizing the reason for being a leader is the next thing to know. When you know this, the starting point to managing yourself and others in the right way comes to play. Take parenting for example, if you don’t plan to be a parent, you would be so frustrated in the process. Even for those that planned having children legitimately and legally, you have to come to a point where you ask yourself: What does it actually entails to be a parent? But coming to this realization is very crucial so that you don’t get to a miserable state when you begin to wonder and get frustrated about what you are doing.
If you want to be an effective leader, because your followers are looking at you, because they are looking at what you can do and what you are not doing, they are always looking to follow you, it is important that you manage yourself such that you are projecting the right values before them. And this will bring me to very important things when it comes to self-management in leadership. The very foundational thing when it comes to self-management in leadership is your understanding of your purpose and your values. This is very important. What is your purpose? A right sense of purpose and values would have a little control over your emotions. If someone frustrates you in your organization as a leader, your understanding of your purpose is the why, the reason why you are in that position. It would help you to know to respond to such a situation of frustration.
Take for instance. A leader that is so much keen about character development as a value. When an employee or someone that is following such leader does something wrong, because of his value, he is able to direct that person aright. So, it is important for you as a leader to be able to manage yourself which would eventually result into managing others. It is important that you understand your values, they are very key. There should be clarity of personal purpose without which you cannot imagine a better future. Once you now have a future, a picture of your desired future; the next thing would now be to understand your values which will guide you in that purpose. These are the very important things you need to realize as a leader that wants to self-manage him or herself.
It is important that you realize also very early, how you will like to be perceived as a leader. For some, they want to be perceived as a leader that upholds honor, and this would be found in their values as well. Just like an architect designs a building before actively building it, that is how it is for leaders. If you are going into leadership, when you are becoming a leader, it is important that you design your leadership identity. Leadership identity is understanding your purpose and your values. Be clear about your purpose, be clear about your values and put them in the right place. As a leader with clarity, you become proactive than been reactive to things. You know how to tackle issues. You move from being a victim to someone that ends up being in charge. If you don’t lead and manage yourself, others won’t follow you and they won’t respect you as well. These are the very important things that you need to consider as a leader that is managing him or herself.
For example, for a leader that set a goal about what he or she wants to achieve. You know, this is a new year and many people are setting goals already. For you as the leader that have goals and you are not able to achieve it all because of your lack discipline and you want your followers to do things that you are guiding and directing them to do, this is not self-management, this is not leadership. You have to be able to manage yourself effectively, put your body under, do the right things, discipline yourself, and ensure that you are doing the right things you are meant to be doing. Break down those goals, set them into the right course just as we have defined in the self-management from the beginning, setting the course, determining the future and following it. You have to be keen on following the right example and the right things you have set for yourself as a leader.
Remember, if you don’t lead yourself, others won’t follow you. Others won’t respect you because the truth is, they see, they are wise to know that you are not leading yourself. Be a leader that says what he believes. Be a leader that does what he believes, be a leader that does what he says and not just driving others to action and not actually doing things by himself.
I trust that you have been blessed on this exciting episode of Leaderview on Self-management for Leaders. My name is Olabisi Obayomi. If you have any comments, please share them, if you also want to connect with me on my social media handles, please connect and let me hear from you.
Article Source: [Centre for New Dimension Leadership]
