“1% of leadership is what happens to us…99% is how we choose to respond”
A leader must understand and be aware of the causes and effects of actions taken or not taken. This capacity of attention is called responsibility, “the ability to respond”. The Chinese Book of Changes, the I Ching tells us that, “It is not the event that is important; it is the response to the event that is everything.”
This is also referred to by Stephen Covey as Pro-activity: choosing our actions, rather than controlling or being controlled by them. Responsible people take responsibility for shaping their future and for initiating behavior that will create the situations they want. Responsible people do not wait to see what will happen; they see that they are a causative influence on their environment rather than a victim. Our ability to respond impeccably and with owning our role in the events we create brings out the “Leader” within.
Some techniques include:
- Self-Monitoring: deliberately attending to one’s own behavior. Taking accountability for behavior involves monitoring and tracking what you are presently doing. To monitor goals and objectives and then take responsibility for the results.
- Self-Reinforcement: a person’s cognitive and emotional reaction to the results of the self-evaluation. Understanding how to manage emotions and reactionary behavior that affects both the feedback – what are the strengths or weaknesses of past performance, and the feed forward – how will this evaluation affect or influence future performance?
Self Awareness is a continuous experience and not some remote destination to be reached someday. It does not matter what our goals are (money, love, power, fame, etc.), when we achieve our goals we experience self-fulfillment as a leader.
If you want to know more consider attending our upcoming Advanced Office Management Workshop – October 11 & 12
