What is Self Managing Leadership?

people as resource, I won’t take the time to understand and to care for the person. If I don’t understand the other person, how can I build trust in the relationship? If I don’t care for the human being, how can I win their loyalty?

The third level is an awareness of the organization. As a leader, it is more important to have a MBWA (Managing By Walking About/around) than a MBA. As you walk around the organization, you connect with people and you build a network. Everything in the organization is interconnected and everytime you connect with someone, you create a line of communication. This implies that when things are happening, you are the first to hear about what is going on and you can make better informed decisions and choices.

The fourth level is an awareness which no other generation had to deal with, except the past 2 generations: the global awareness. The size of the world has reduced to nothing in 30 years. It has become a tiny, very small place where everything is interconnected and when a butterfly flaps its wings in Tokyo and this creates a hurricane in New York.

The challenge of being a leader in the modern world is to integrate those four levels of awareness because they affect the quality of your vision, your ability to inspire and empower others and, most importantly, to make the right decisions.

But objectivity is a difficult art to practice and this is for two main reasons: one is that, unless you have managed to make them feel secure and have won – and maintained – their trust, the people you are dealing with will not reveal what they feel or think; the other is that we are part of what we observe: our memory, assumptions and beliefs, our emotions, intention and values, not only interfere in our perception, but they also actively participate in the unfolding of the very things we are watching.

Objectivity is therefore not so much about knowing a lot, having sharp eyes or even asking the right questions, but it is essentially about being able to observe our own self in order to become aware of how our attitude, intention and behaviour participate in the formation of the problems we are trying to solve.

Focus . Focus is the condition of choice. In a sense, it ‘is’ choice. You cannot do everything, you cannot decide everything, you cannot see, understand, experience, consume or achieve everything: you have to make choices. To maximise the use of your time and energy, you need to have a very clear vision of what you want and do not want, and the ability to focus on the few things that really matter and will make the greatest difference. Focus and decision making are a function of knowing who you are, what you are standing for, your values, and whether there is a sense of purpose to your life. Life often makes sense to the extent you know what you want from it.

Execution. Good intentions which are not followed by consistent actions have little more value than dreams. When it comes to successfully implementing your decisions, although will, determination and discipline as well as adequate systems, rules, procedures … [read more...]

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