Abstract
The paper provides a discussion through different theories and methods for self-leadership development and focuses primarily on the matter if leader skills and traits can be nurtured through the experience and self-improvement. Different researchers and authors have made suggestions regarding both professional and personal leadership, which is believed to be interrelated. Paper also alludes to practices, which are found to be used for self-leadership cultivation and refers to practical recommendations for self-upgrade. The final summary present paper’s author combined analyses on the reviewed literature and wraps up within reference to practical researchers recommendations.
Key words: self-leadership, self-made leader, core skills, corporate and general approach.
Determinants and styles of leadership
Over the years authors, psychologists and coaches were investigating the matter of self-leadership skills, trying to precisely identify which qualities a leader should possess and thus demonstrate in all aspects of life. Particularly for many employers, self-leadership plays a paramount role for workers effectiveness, because self-leadership is strongly associated with independence in decision-making process, accuracy and responsibility, commitment.
Houston (2007) supports the idea of self-made leadership that can be achieved through experience. His research addressed to many scholars on the topic as well as CEO of an international company. His analysis of the studies showed, that self-made leaders are also can be led by their parents, but with evolution of personality, a leader asks those questions, answers to which he seeks to by himself. Consequently, a leader develop those qualities, the society recognize as leader indicators. Houston (2007) also backs up this statement with Southwest Airlines CEO opinion and belief in professional and life experience, which are interrelated and cultivate such attributes as: intelligence, optimistic disposition, lengthy attention span, perseverance and a love of people. Houston also underlines the influence of such entrepreneurial approach on the dominative policy and culture in the enterprise, creates the same attitude among employees and affects their self-leadership development.
Prieto (2013) describes the main attributes of a leader from intercompany perspective, interpreting self-leadership as a whole team leadership, which identifies company’s reliance on leader’s efficiency. Prieto also holds up for a theory, that all these core leadership characteristics are learnable and can be explored and upgraded inside the enterprise by coaching, support and cooperation. He emphasized such competences as: communication, motivation, empowerment, sense of team, constant action, continuous learning, These competences can be applied to interpersonal leadership, which complies with daily life requirements, but creates quite distinguishable approach of society to such individual.
Showry & Manasa (2014) adhere to the theory of learnable leadership characteristics and accentuate the self-awareness through the learning path. Authors amplify the idea of self-awareness as a centric individual scheme of experience, knowledge and perception of the environment. Authors explain the meaning of self-awareness as a constructive assessment of one’s own behavior, which builds up an identity of a leader within the preemptive traits of realistic perception of life and work. Authors determined the path to the leader’s self-appraisal by clear interpretation of respective behaviors:
- Awareness of self and experience, that influenced personality
- Understanding of individual’s values and beliefs, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations
- Realistic view of one’s own developmental needs
- Setting an overarching goal and building a team to accomplish the goal over a period of time
Similarly, Berkovich (2014) stands for the idea of leadership development, but suggests the dialogical pedagogy method in order to evolve individual’s leadership skills. Within the method, Berkovich justifies the dialogical method by external multi interaction with society instead of internal self-mentoring. Author alludes to practical studies of such method and thereby defined important components for self-leadership upgrade, which are self-exposure, empathy, open-mildness, care, critical thinking, respect, contact and mutuality. In accordance with author’s explanation, these components are conceptualized at the group level and can be used to explore their interrelations at higher levels or their cross-level associations. Dialogic pedagogy method has been recently very broadly used in intercompany employee developmental programs also to emphasize collective identity. The help of a skilled facilitator during the coaching can assist in guiding the individuals being developed in learning the foundations of diological communication, until they develop their own relational skills.
Thorne (2014) presents the traits and values of leadership through the prism of performance management, marking out that high-potential employees should receive the necessary support to become their company next leaders. Her practical recommendations are also based on the hypothesis of leadership continuous learning, which should be not forced but aim to generate next level of new leaders. Thorne stresses the necessity of leadership developmental strategy to assure sufficient self-appraisal and leadership generation or, in other words, entrepreneurial nurture. Thorne’s recommended practices are addressed to:
- Openness to change – grooming leaders in a long-term commitment, understanding the needs and gaps for change process.
- Embracing flexibility - implementation of policies, which increase empowerment and motivation for leading individuals.
- Embracing collaboration - integration of collaborative technologies, which assure improvement of leaders ability to navigate across organizational siloes and boundaries.
- Increase of transparency – development of the opportunities, which align with business priorities and personal goals.
- Increase of the talent mobility – giving the opportunity to experience other fields of expertise, which increase individual’s erudition, professional skills and builds up self-appraisal.
Corso (2013) associates general self-leadership with responsibility to make decisions in all areas of one’s life. Corso also accentuates that self-leadership is a life gain, which evolves through the conscious transformations of one’s personality. He stands for three factor interrelation, which make a bound into self-leadership foundation. Firstly, author defines our mindset as our key success in particular area. Secondly, he states, that managing our energy is the core factor for our self-nurturing. And finally, similarly, to Berkovich (2014) and Thorne (2014) he holds to idea of support and external interaction systems. This means the possession of network of people, who provide you with support and loyalty, whom we can counsel from and vent oneself to. Corso supports the idea, that leaders in personal life also perform and pose themselves as leaders in professional life.
Conclusions
On the basis of above literature research, I can conclude that leader’s skills vary from one hypothesis to another, but all of them accumulate to the statement, that those skills can be gained and developed through continuous learning, skilled assistance and experience, whether in personal or professional life. Corporate interpersonal and competence coaching can help in nurturing personality in the direction of self-upgrade and well-organized lifestyle. However, an individual can consider his own path to self-improvement by referring to self-esteem, seeking to identity gaps and building structure of one’s values, beliefs and objectives. I personally also support the idea of Shoemaker, Krupp, & Howland (2013), which claims for challenge tasks, which should be faced by leading individuals on the corporate level by themselves. Certainly, they should be assisted and guided through the tasks, but as authors defined, practice allows potential and built-up leaders to expose their hidden implications and learn by their own fails and mistakes, rather than by long collective discussion or mutual opinion exchange.
References
Berkovich, I. (2014). Between person and person: dialogical pedagogy in authentic leadership development. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 13(2), 245-264.
Corso, A. (2013). Personal Leadership is the key to leading at work. Retrieved from:
http://www.careerealism.com/personal-leadership-leading-work/#!9IXNV
Houston, P. (2007). An Analysis of Leadership: Are Leader Born or Made. University of LA
of LA Verne, PADM 499 Senior Seminar. Retrieved from:
http://nickinthegoal.net/leadership/leadership_born_made.pdf
Prieto, B. (2013). Establishing and building Leadership skills. Leadership & Management in
Engineering, 7(1), 209-211.
Shoemaker, J.H.P., Krupp S., Howland S. (2013). Strategic Leadership: The essential Skills.
Harvard Business Review, 2(1), 131-134
Showry, M., Manasa, K.V.L. (2014). Self-Awareness – Key to Effective Leadership.
IUP Journal of Soft Skills, 8(1), 16-24.
Thorne, R. (2014). Leadership Development. Leadership Excellence, pp. 43-44.
