The quote, "Leaders are Born, Not Made," denotes the belief that leadership is a quality, an inherent part of one’s makeup, rather than a characteristic to be achieved over time. Self-Leadership is what individuals do to develop their leadership skills, qualities and potential. Although people might possess traits, personal background or other resources responsible for propelling them into roles of responsibility, leadership can be learned and encouraged by senior leaders, mentors and organizations. The challenges and opportunities of today’s marketplace require executives, individual contributors and business owners to take the lead with product and business issues with clarity, confidence and speed.

Lenore Mewton

In coaching people aspiring to leadership roles, I encourage them to start using their inherent qualities immediately, rather then waiting for recognition from others. Initially, some clients resist the idea that they should "act before being given the part." Acting is on the way to the reality. When my now-18-year-old son was a cautious kindergartner, his wise teacher encouraged him to take risks by saying; " we’re only practicing." Individuals who are willing to take on responsibility, regardless of title or role, know that moving forward involves initiative, taking dedicated action and encouraging others. When people move with confidence, vision and commitment to follow through, they become true leaders.

The characteristics below are foundational for success as a leader. Whether you lead one or many, these skills and qualities can be developed and nurtured over time. Building characteristics of self-leadership requires developing a plan to focus your efforts, leveraging your current strengths, and evaluating knowledge gaps to close. For many individuals, organizational leaders and business owners, partnering with a peer, mentor or coach supports the commitment to further their leadership skills. Consider utilizing an informal or formal mentoring program, or outside development programs and services.

Action plans that work involve weaving new competencies into everyday projects; practicing in the moment, one step at a time, watching out for barriers, re-correcting the course, and continuing forward. An organization with which I consulted adopted a phrase to support initiative and development: Everyone Leads. Everyone wins when everyone leads by taking responsibility head-on for his or her growth and development and supporting those around them. Consider the following characteristics as you benchmark your ability to lead one or many:

Eleven Characteristics of Self-Leadership

1. Be self-observant, self-managing and self-motivated; no one knows you better than yourself. Use your knowledge of best skills, values, personal characteristics and unique value-add to keep momentum moving. When Warren presented his accomplishments and associated competencies to his new manager, she used this information to re-design Warren’s role on the team, integrating these skills into an expanded role to address the needs of a new group project.
2. Use creative thinking, inquiry and risk taking as ways to access new learning. Choosing a new or current project, take a new approach to problem-solving and planning by asking creative questions to jump-start your thinking: What will success look like when this (project) is completed? Working backwards, what steps will you have taken to reach your goals? To lead the team in development of a new approach to project planning, Melissa facilitated a Mind-Mapping™ exercise, a creative brainstorming technique. Results included enhanced generation of ideas, greater cohesion within the group and stronger buy-in from internal customers.
3. Use peers, leaders and mentors for guidance, feedback and resources. Who are your role models? Who knows what you know or would like to learn? What are their best practices? How can you create an opportunity to work closely with them or ‘shadow’ them on a special project? David wanted to improve his presentation skills to work towards a technical sales role. Lacking a current customer opportunity he sought out a senior technical sales rep, and with support from his management arranged to ‘shadow’ the sales rep in customer calls for three weeks.
4. Be flexible! Adjust to changing priorities while continuing to deliver quality work. By managing time and resources, continue to develop depth in your chosen area of expertise while increasing awareness of trends and adaptability to change. Samir’s work load increased when the group re-organized with fewer engineers. He created a matrix to visualize and re-prioritize the work, given the new challenges laid out by his manager. The plan provided greater focus while establishing new time lines for previous tasks.
5. Be cognizant of what you don’t know; utilize effective resources to close knowledge gaps. Watch for trends, their impact and resulting new skills and knowledge, in your area of expertise, industry and/or profession. Bob wanted to improve his knowledge of a key new area within his industry. Although this skill was outside the bounds of his current role, his professional reading and internal company articles highlighted its future impact. With knowledge of limited funding for internal courses, he presented a successful proposal to learn the technology and develop a course to teach his teammates.
6. Be learning- and opportunity-oriented. See mistakes as essential to development. Continue stretching beyond your comfort zone. Those who commit to learning keep growing. The greatest mistake is become complacent in knowledge and position. Despite long hours on the project, Serena knew the new marketing plan had some defects to be worked out before next week’s presentation to the product team. While working on an additional project, she persuaded three teammates to role-play the product team, providing feedback and notes during her mock presentation. She recreated the presentation in two days with great response from the team and external customers.
7. Be committed, through behaviors and actions, to the visions of the business, group or organization. Recognize the power of individuals working towards shared goals through dedicated action. Following the recent acquisition of the company, Mark’s role as general manager was changed to division director, reporting to a GM from the new company. Over the coming months, Mark’s ability to focus his team on the expanded growth opportunities of their previously successful product line, steadily increased assimilation of the two cultures.
8. Set goals and design actions to meet goals. Self-check regularly and involve others in the success of your development plans. Receiving feedback on your plans improves your perspective while strengthening your commitment to follow through. Ryan’s goals included improving his business knowledge. To ensure focus on these skills, he shared his plan with several colleagues, took several business courses and sought the support of an internal mentor.
9. Develop effective communication skills, verbal and written. This is a critical quality for today’s virtual work world. No longer a nice-to-have in good times, strength as a communicator is essential at every level of every business and organization. Feedback from Rebecca’s colleagues indicated a need to improve her listening skills. As a senior member of a new cross-functional team, it had become critical to improve communications. While she practiced new skills, she asked colleagues to monitor the development of her listening skills over a three-month period with a pre and post 360-degree feedback assessment.
10. Demonstrate interest in the development and success of those around you. Actively support others as a peer, mentor or leader. If you want to become a recognized leader, don’t wait to be asked. Start now by sharing knowledge and offering help to those you work with and for. Let others see the leader in you by demonstrating the qualities daily, in large and simple tasks. Few opportunities existed for Karen to move to a management role within her group. To develop competencies of leading and supporting others, she created an internal support and education group for junior women within the organization, resulting in acknowledgement for her leadership and greater visibility.
11. Model tolerance, respect for diversity and an awareness of the needs of others, particularly in times of challenge and change. At no other time has the workplace required the ability of individuals to appreciate and value differences while achieving unified goals. The ethnically diverse workplace can be a model for the development of global respect. Engaging your curiosity, and integrating resulting knowledge into your work and relationships will develop this competency. Terry wanted to bring his community work and interest in valuing cultures to his role at work. He developed a successful proposal resulting in adoption of a diversity program to assimilate new hires and create activities to support increased awareness of cultures within the company.

The growth of self-leadership skills is fostered by proactive individuals, supported by others, and strengthened by challenging, learning environments. To be successful, consider the connection between your goals and the challenges facing the organization. The opportunities are unlimited when you work to align the needs of individuals with the goals of the larger group.

Everyone Leads = Everyone Wins!

Lenore Mewton is a business, career and organizational coach. Lenore’s tagline is her coaching model: Bring WHO you are to WHAT that you do.™This phrase embodies Lenore’s belief that an individual’s internal qualities are their external advantage. Lenore coaches executives, small business owners, coaches and individuals working on self-leadership, career and business development.