Working on your self-leadership, how?

Self-leadership has everything to do with taking direction in your own (work) life. Empowering yourself to lead your own life and steer yourself in the direction you want. You need to take time to think about this. In this article we would like to give you a push.

Look in the mirror

What makes some leaders grow to their full potential and others do not? To lead yourself well, you must first know who you are and where you stand in life. You need information about yourself. Ask yourself at least the following questions, asking "why" questions until you get to the core:

• From what vision do you act and is it clear to those around you?
• How much passion and joy do you have in what you do?
• Is there growth and development and are you actively working on this?

In addition to taking a good look in the mirror, it is important to test this information with others. The biggest pitfall of leaders is that they come to believe only their own image and thus lose sight of reality, and thus cannot lead themselves well. So ask others their opinion to the above questions as well. How do they see this in you?

Tip: In our academy you can do the Drives Scan. This scan gives you insight into your personal drives and what really interests you and what doesn't.

What do you want to work on?

By answering the questions above, you can gain important insights about yourself. Is your vision not visible in the work you do? Or do you derive little pleasure from your work? Consider what things you can adjust to change this. Maybe you think connectedness with your team is important, but you don't see that reflected in your work. Or perhaps you need to further develop your competencies so that you can carry out tasks and responsibilities with more self-confidence.

Make a plan

Suppose your personal vision is to live life with a positive attitude, but this attitude does not come across well in the workplace. Set a SMART goal so you can work on this in a focused way. Make the goals achievable so you can get a good read on the results and not get demotivated. For example: for the next two weeks, I will start each workday by writing down three things I am looking forward to that day. Or: I will compliment at least one person at every meeting. Schedule a weekly reflection moment in your calendar to evaluate how you are doing with this learning goal. That way, you are actively working toward realizing your vision.

Tip: Follow Marianne Thieme's self-leadership webinar on our online learning platform

Search for resources

Today, there are plenty of tools to support you in whatever goal you have in mind. At SkillsTown, for example, we also offer more than 500 online training courses to help you get the best out of yourself. You can learn new skills or gain information that will help you make changes in your work life or personal mindset. Think about trainings on leadership, effective meetings, integrity and much more.

More tips for strengthening self-leadership?

Would you like access to online training to strengthen your self-leadership, or would you like to give your employees access to this? On our online learning platform you will find an extensive range of online training courses to improve these skills.

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