LeadershipHQ Magazine June 2015 2nd Edition | Page 25

Leadership Let’s explore leadership. I know I cannot adequately portray all the different descriptions and meanings of leadership here. Perhaps we can describe it as an act that is about being in the forefront, commanding the direction and showing vision. You could also say it’s about having others to help do the work that needs to be done. Perhaps it’s about self? Personal leadership. Leading from within to make changes to a family dynamic or even leading your own self-preservation. • Strong sense of character • Knew their values • Strong sense of self and identity In fact, they all reported that these factors were crucial before they could even start thinking about leading, or indeed society and the improvements they wanted to make. There are many ways to think of leadership and many valuable studies and books have been written, research shared and theories tested. It always has me thinking though, this question ‘how do some people move their intention into doing, then actual completion? In fact, going one step further how do they lead into completion, particularly when it is beyond themselves?’ Societal Concern Next, they reported societal concern. Having looked after their own sense of self and feeling resilient and capable, the participants reported they could now go beyond themselves effectively. They could demonstrate effective empathy and concern for others - effective in a sense that supported a productive interaction with their efforts, rather than a drain of their inner resources. Their intense sense of feeling for another person was strong, and it gave new perspectives. Imagine, as I’m sure you have before, the combination of (a) leadership and (b) a focused drive to improve society or contribute strongly (pro-social) behaviours. Could we get further in our evolution? Could we make major differences in our lifetimes? Is that even important? Leading by Action Only then could they move into the final phase of leading by action. In this phase the participants were spring boarding themselves into action and leadership. They reported the following factors to be important: One of the sub questions in this research was concerned with inner fulfilment. Does pro-social work actually create a sense of worth within oneself? Pretty deep I know… •B  eing able to decide and choose for oneself •B  enefits occur beyond self • L eading the way • F eel and see making a difference I’d had so many clients report to me they felt they would ‘feel’ better about themselves if they stopped worrying about their own issues so much, and helped others more. I wondered if that was true. So, I continued on my way to find out! It’s interesting in my view that leadership and action taking comes at the tail end of the modelled process here. Perhaps not surprising really that self efficacy comes first when we have so much more information about our neurology and what it takes to perform at a high level. Gathering the information Having interviewed all the participants about their pro-social intentions, the results showed a strong sense of leadership present in their behaviours. Amongst other traits, it was clear these people who made a significant difference to society, led. However, and very importantly, something else came first. Self-Efficacy In order to lead, to do good, to progress change in society, the workplace, at home, being able to take care of oneself in challenging circumstances was apparent as the first port of call for achievement and completion. The participants, each and every one of them showed that they had these following attributes: So, to the question of inner fulfilment. Does acting with pro-social behaviours cause a sense of worth and inner fulfilment? A resounding YES. In fact when the feeling of inner fulfilment was occurring, it cycled right back to building a strong sense of self-efficacy! Make your change If you have visions of making significant change or are already on the way, the best leadership advice from this research I can give is to look after yourself, build your own sense of self, know who you are, and live your values. Just as the airlines tell us ‘put on your mask first and then you can help others.’ Imagine the difference you can make in your organisation and world when you are full bottle, 100% motivated, effective and fulfilled. I’d like to see that! Suzanne Waldron / www.suzannewaldron.com / [email protected] 25 | © LeadershipHQ 2015