May 18, 2012 – Before any leader can aspire to lead a thriving
enterprise they must first master leading an organization of one. Some
people are more naturally disciplined than others, but for those who
struggle with being disciplined, you can create the structures that
promote greater professional will. Here are five disciplines of
self-leadership to help accelerate your effectiveness and prepare you to
do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done.
May 18, 2012 – Before any leader can aspire to lead a thriving
enterprise they must first master leading an organization of one. Some
people are more naturally disciplined than others, but for those who
struggle with being disciplined, you can create the structures that
promote greater professional will. Here are five disciplines of
self-leadership to help accelerate your effectiveness and prepare you to
do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done.
Control time
The most basic expression of self-discipline is controlling your time in
such a way that you are focused on your highest and best use. The
effectiveness of leaders is limited by allowing others to set too much
of the agenda. There is a wealth of material available to assist with
time management, so there is no need to reinvent the wheel. However,
there are some practices you can intentionally engage in that will
promote a greater ability to do what needs to be done, when it needs to
be done.
• Time blocking: Predetermine blocks of time allocated for your most important activities.
• Landing the plane: Do not allow meetings and conversations to extend beyond the appropriate time limit.
• Time cop: Give an assistant or colleague some authority to assist you in executing your calendar.
• Power sprints: Protect one-hour blocks of uninterrupted time to execute your most complex work.
Fuel energy
Leadership is an energy-intensive endeavour. One of the primary reasons
for allowing unsolved problems to be swept under the carpet is the
leader’s lack of energy. It is imperative to sustain the appropriate
levels of energy to intercept entropy at its earliest stages.
The disciplines most commonly associated with fueling your energy often
involve diet, exercise and sleep habits. Beyond these practices, build
into your schedule opportunities to engage in things that put wind in
your sails. What are the activities that energize you, and ignite your
curiosity and passion?
Temper emotions
So much business literature will reference the all-important aspect of
passion. There is no argument that passion is essential to effective
leadership. Passion is the natural reservoir of energy that propels a
leader forward in the face of adversity. However, at times it is
critical to practice the discipline of being dispassionate.
Being dispassionate allows a leader to protect the environment from
becoming toxic, and engaging in the wrong battles. A leader should fuel
their energy by investing in their passion, but keep things from running
off the rails by not pouring gas on a volatile situation.
Focus words
The most commonly used tool in the arsenal of a leader is their words.
Far too often we lack the right words at the right time. Why wouldn’t
the wise leader make time to practice the discipline of focusing our
words for the greatest amount of impact?
The discipline of crafting or outlining scripts for crucial situations
will assist in making sure that the words that flow from your mouth
achieve the purpose of the right words at exactly the right time.
Use power
The fifth important discipline that must be an ongoing practice for
leaders is disciplining your power, particularly as it relates to
knowing where your source of authority comes from. Are you building your
power base from the positional role in the organization or your
credibility with the people you lead?
The authority of a leader rests in the relationships they form with the
people they lead. The risk most often encountered when influencing
people where there is a personal relationship is not maintaining the
authority to exercise your power.
All leadership begins with self-leadership. Master these areas of
self-leadership and you will find you possess an uncanny ability to do
what needs to be done, when it needs to be done.
Glenn Gutek is a speaker and CEO of Awake Consulting & Coaching,
a firm that helps small businesses and organizations improve their
leadership and business development through training, development and
coaching. He is also the author of Wide-Awake Leadership, which
teaches leaders how to overcome mediocrity though effective leadership.
For more information on speaking and consulting, please visit
www.AwakeConsulting.com or contact Glenn by e-mail, at
glenn@awakeconsulting.com or by phone, at 407-901-4357.
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