Welcome to OutsmartChaos, the newsletter. We’re glad you’re here.
This week’s overview:
In the newsletter this week, you’ll find:
Leading others is about managing external variables, whereas self-leadership is managing internal variables.
Introspection, discipline, and aligning your choices with your values are critical to lead yourself and others.
Objectivity is the reason that self-leadership is challenging.
Understanding the situation, willingness, and capabilities are crucial to leadership.
The situational leadership framework can help you understand how to respond to external and internal situations.
“When you act according to the situation, the situation changes according to you. ”
― P.S. Jagadeesh Kumar
The Hidden Challenge
While leadership discussions often emphasize leading others, the challenge of self-leadership often goes unnoticed.
It's common for leaders to confidently chart courses of action that impact the lives of those they lead, but they fall flat when it comes to leading themselves.
Worse yet, this lack of personal leadership is a cancer, slowly eating away at the individual, organization, and team.
The not-so-hidden problem with leadership theory, strategies, and conversation is that the focus is first on others.
Leading others is far easier than self-leadership.
Situational Leadership
Leading others is more straightforward because it involves influencing external factors, behaviors, and decisions. When you lead a team or an organization, you have control and authority over the circumstances. You can delegate tasks, provide guidance, and expect specific outcomes.
Leading others is about managing external variables.
One of the most impactful and simple leadership practices, called Situational Leadership, identifies the need to assess the situation and people involved with two simple questions:
1.) What is our/their capability?
In this case, capability refers to the skills, ability, and proven results around situations that are the same as the one in question.
2.) What is our/their willingness?
Willingness is the more straightforward definition, but assessing how willing a person is to address a situation is often more than a simple yes/no. It requires a deep understanding of the situation, and this may not be an easy binary, black-and-white answer.
When looking at someone you lead, these questions help you decide how to lead the other person. The image below, from the Center for Leadership Studies, guides when your leadership style should be telling, selling, participating, and delegating.
As a leader, we want to treat everyone equally, but depending on willingness and capability, we must adjust our approach. Great leaders assess the situation and respond accordingly. Great leaders target each situation and individual differently.
For more information on situational leadership, visit (https://situational.com/situational-leadership/).
*There is no affiliation between Outsmart Chaos and Situational Leadership, and the recommendation is solely based on benefits gleaned in using the framework in leadership situations.*
What, then, about Personal Leadership
Personal Leadership demands a deep understanding of one's motivations, weaknesses, and strengths.
Personal leadership is about managing internal variables.
It requires setting personal goals and maintaining the discipline to pursue them despite obstacles and distractions.
Moreover, self-leadership necessitates managing one's emotional responses, dealing with self-doubt, and consistently making choices that align with one's vision and values.
Why is applying the leadership principles you learned to yourself so tricky?
Good question.
The answer? Objectivity.
We rarely look at ourselves with the same objectivity that we look at others because we replay our desires, growth plans, failures, and successes repeatedly in our heads.
There’s societal pressure in the US to “do it alone.” As events in the recent past, such as the pandemic response of 2020, there’s been continued pressure to isolate. This isolation and arrogance/self-interest destroy our ability to be objective.
What can we do?
Be a part of a community. Engage with people.
Seek feedback from close friends or family members.
Get a coach. Part of their function is objectivity.
Subscribe to newsletters that help you see things a bit differently.
Read books that focus on personal development.
Your ability to lead yourself directly affects your ability to lead others. Being objective helps your decision-making be less fear-based, driving you into confident self-leadership.
But you also don’t need to do it alone. Just as you want to help people, people want to help you. Reach out.
Self Reflection Questions
What types of situations do I find most challenging to respond to?
How have I responded in the past to similar situations?
What are my vision and values, and how do I remind myself regularly? Do I live them out?
What steps can I take to enhance my self-leadership, considering the principles discussed in the article, particularly the importance of objectivity?
Do I find leading myself more challenging than leading others? Why is that?
At Outsmart Chaos, we believe that in the Face of Chaos, Confident Courage lights the Path to Opportunity. We’re dedicated to helping you find your way to the most significant opportunities in your life, career, and leadership.
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