Leading others can be a relatively easy practice, considering that we can be competent and skillful in guiding followers.
Under this premise, a first difference can be made about the practice of Leadership. There are leaders and people who lead, understanding that a leader is one who has the capacity to influence others, transform behaviors and promote action; And the people who lead are those who, through the practice of Leadership, can make others act and achieve goals.
At first glance it seems that there is no difference, however the difference is in the "Being" not in practice.
Being a leader is a characteristic of the person, which differentiates him from the majority in terms of what he can achieve through others, without having to be the protagonist or directing the actions, in other words, without having to go ahead of the others. the rest.
The leader becomes a source of inspiration, not because others want to understand, accept and follow his ideals or goals, but because he inspires each of the followers to find their true purposes, ideals, goals and in the best of cases so that they find the meaning of their life and as a consequence of that they convince them to modify their behavior and act.
On the other hand, people who practice leadership are those who believe they are and who, through the application of leadership principles (regardless of the theory or criteria they use), direct others without the need to obtain conviction and commitment by each of them.
In this group it is not usually the leader that the followers follow, they simply share and want to achieve a goal or ideal; And in the worst case, they are obliged to follow him, usually by hierarchy, authority, power, opportunity, group pressure, personal interests, etc.
The line that divides the leader and those who practice leadership is almost invisible, it is difficult to distinguish. The purity of leadership is being lost because it has become an obsession; "Everyone who is a Boss believes he is a Leader and everyone who is a Leader wants to be a Boss"
To be a leader, it is important to lead yourself, it is difficult to influence others, transform behaviors and promote action, but you can put this philosophy into practice with yourself.
Self-leadership is the most complex challenge a Leader could have. To achieve this practice it is important to start with some questions.
- Am I used to achieving my goals? Am I convinced that I can achieve greater results than I am currently achieving? Am I clear about what I must do to achieve those results? Do I change my behavior when I realize that I am not trying hard enough or that I am walking in the opposite direction to what I want to achieve? Do I recognize when my thoughts and emotions become a limitation to advance towards my intended goals? Am I clear about my talent and my potential in such a way that I can easily describe it? Do I have confidence and credibility in myself? Do I like to follow myself or would I rather follow someone else?
The answers to these questions generate an internal dialogue, we are the only ones who can answer each of these questions, without the need to have a pattern of answers that helps to qualify and qualify on our level of leadership.
Self-leadership is a rare practice, with a high level of complexity and subjectivity. It is normally a practice that is carried out in the absence of followers, under logical premises of evaluation of conscience, release of emotions and genuine feedback, by ourselves, towards ourselves.
Within contemporary administration, all theories, practices, or trends are complementary to each other; Regarding Leadership, it is complemented by Coaching and Empowerment. So if we talk about Self-leadership we must refer to Self-Coaching and Self-Empowerment, as indivisible complements in the Self-management process of our potential and talent.
Coaching practice is a relatively new practice that has become fashionable (as a term or theory), but is not necessarily bearing the desired or expected results (in practice), simply because we are not all skilled or competent to train others.
Although the terms can be confusing or complementary, it is much more difficult to be a Coach than to be a Leader. The skills and competencies that must be developed to take people to the next level are extremely complex. Just remember or ask us:
- How many people have influenced us? How many people have helped us move to the next level?
When speaking of Self-Coaching, it is necessary to highlight that it is about taking ourselves to another level, taking advantage of our strengths and developing specific models that help us improve our performance.
If we have not managed to take us to another level, we could hardly do it with someone else, without having to be coercive or use hierarchy, power or authority to do so.
For its part, the Empowerment (empowerment) seeks to unleash the potential or talent of people, through giving them the power to make decisions and act freely, under logical premises that are justified in specific ranges of action.
In essence, it is a much more intense and complex practice than the simple act of delegating, since with the Empowerment all responsibility and authority are transferred to the followers, so that they act under the principles of trust, tolerance and respect, among others.
Auto-Empowerment seeks to give us freedom to act without having to limit ourselves by referential or paradigmatic aspects that could rationalize our decisions.
It is a practice based on Emotional Intelligence, giving more value to the emotional aspects over the rational ones, under premises that will not necessarily be scientifically validated, but that due to their intensity, will generate added values to our management as leaders of ourselves, using competences and skills related to intuition, confidence, energy and passion.
