Self Leadership Blog

Many training and change initiatives including coaching are a waste of time and money because they don’t deliver results. Organisations tend to measure people in terms of performance and potential and so any investment in people should show results in either or both of these.

In Singapore,  Self Leadership International transforms people’s performance and potential by impacting how they think and how they feel about what they do and by assisting the organisation to create a culture that will support the behaviours required for success.

There are many approaches to  ‘leadership development.’ but what makes the difference is the methodology. › Continue reading

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Aristotle taught us that to influence and persuade effectively we need to have ‘ethos’ which translates as ‘character’. In Aristotle’s Ancient Greece you would be known by your actions and words; today nothing has changed except that our actions and words are now open to the world wide web.

It would be naive to not consider how your character is portrayed on the web because your client’s and competitors will certainly check you out. Websites such as Linked In are excellent for a business profile and Facebook can be powerful means of connecting if used with caution.

I recommend an excellently balanced article titled ‘5 Reasons to Care About Your Online Presence, and 3 to Forget About It.’

Guard your character because once lost it is almost impossible to regain.

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The Singapore Ministry of Manpower states (Sept 2008) that whilst most CEO’s in Singapore expressed a willingness to develop the next generation of leaders, very few of them are proactive and strategic in doing so.

This NATO (no action talk only) will result in Singaporean managers being unable to cope with the dynamic state of today’s marketplace and workforce.

For Leadership development in Singapore, what is sadly lacking are the culture and skills of mentoring and coaching. Senior leaders in Singapore are, by upbringing,either traditionalists or baby boomers and their values differ markedly from the Gen X and Gen Y managers who need developing. The former usually value ‘a job well done’ and the the ‘trappings of success’, whereas the latter are hungry for meaningful work and are very open to coaching and mentoring as they value personal development.

A Gallup study showed that whilst most CEO’s ‘mentored’ by taking employees to lunch, very few had any formal mentoring programs in place. It is my experience, having worked with many Singapore companies, that most current leaders, whilst tactically very proficient, have received little or no coaching or mentoring training.

Leaders are ‘made not born‘ and most develop their leadership during adverse work situations - just like what is happening now! Unfortunately a number of organisations are currently cutting their leadership development budgets rather than focusing on what will make the difference in the long-term.

What do you think? Please comment.

BTW: I shall be speaking on this very issue at the Global HR Leadership Congress 2009

(Copyright Andrew Bryant - No reproduction without permission, thank you )

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“It’s not our abilities that show us what we truly are; it’s our choices.”

These words, spoken  by Professor Dumbledore to Harry Potter, are a profound reminder that leaders require self leadership.

Viktor Frankl, the Nazi death camp survivor and founder of logo therapy, said it this way, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

Interestingly we do not always get the best education in making choices. I recently spoke to a father who told me that he was having difficulty disciplining his teenage son; he had said to the boy, “Whilst under my roof, you have no choice.” With some empathy I shared a perspective that he might be handicapping his son’s abilities to learn to choose. Our choices have consequences and perhaps we need a gradient of consequences as we learn the power of choice?

As Self Leadership International we take this approach with our staff, we give them tasks that require them to make choices. With new interns or employees we limit the consequenses of those choices away from business critical areas, but as they grow in confidence we give them more and more rope ( but not enough to hang themselves!).

I have been involved in training leadership for managers for many years and this concept of empowerment is one that they often struggle with. I think it might be linked to a lack of permission (as with the teenage son) to make choices for themselves that prevents them from allowing others to make choices.

Here is a simple self leadership approach to making choices:

1. Own your right to choose. You have a birthright to make choices independent of your family and culture.
2. Choices have consequences. You must take responsibility for your choices good or bad.
3. Analyse your choices before you make them. “Do I have all the facts?  Will this choice benefit me/others, in the short/long term?”
4. Get input on your choices. With a major choice do not be afraid to get input from others but remain in control.
5. Get feedback on your choices. Notice the effects of your choices and make adjustments as necessary.

It takes a high degree of self awareness to run through this process and we make many choices by ‘gut feel’ but gut feel is our unconscious processing of choices. Leaders train their gut feel or intuition by paying attention the results of their choices and the choices of others.

May you make good choices this year.

(copyright Andrew Bryant - no reproduction without permission)

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As we start our new year fresh from the festive season, I am smiling
with curiosity, excitement, and eager anticipation of what 2009 will
look, sound and feel like.

Being a trainer focusing on communication and leadership, I travel to
different countries to run training programs. › Continue reading

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Self Leadership is all about getting ideas into action and New Year is a time when many choose to make a commitment to start a new behaviour or stop an old habit.

In 2009 I will be writing on this blog about how to turn thoughts into actions and actions into results, so what I want to know from YOU is…

What are your resolutions for 2009?

Please respond by clicking on comments below… thanks, Andrew
Oh and have a Happy New Year!

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Coaching is the “in” methodology for personal development, but what exactly is coaching?

Here are a few definitions:

• “Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximise their own performance.  It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them.  Clients say coaching brings out their best by helping them focus, break down tasks and clarify their values.”- Fortune Magazine

› Continue reading

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I am often asked whether we teach self leadership or NLP for kids; well as a father of a 3 yo (Tasha in photo) and a 1.5 yo ( Nathan) I am still getting my head around this (my wife Zurina is  much better).

Today I read a great post by Jonathan Fields entitled, “Six timeless rules for my 6-year old daughter”, it made me laugh, it made me cry and made me wonder what I am in for as my daughter grows up!

Please read it and enjoy.

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Have you ever said something or done something that you later regretted?

You have! Wow that’s good I thought it was just me

To make error is human, we all screw up or we are not living.

As I write this blog I can still feel the fresh emotion of embarrasment from a recent mistake. › Continue reading

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(first published May 2005 as part of Self Leadership International’s monthly newsletter)

Self-esteem podcast

How’s your self-esteem today?

Are you feeling super-good about yourself?

Or do you feel like yesterday’s take-out food that has been left out in the rain?

Have you been judging or criticising yourself? Or have you been considering yourself less ‘worthy’ than someone else?

If you are not feeling super-good about yourself right now, or you know someone suffering from low self-esteem, then read on and discover the keys to building a healthy self-esteem. › Continue reading

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