As skeptical as it may be, we should all ask ourselves penetrating questions more often, and give ourselves time and attention to answer them. Here I propose some, and I provide you with possible answers, in catechism format: it is a reference, while I invite you to develop your own doctrine. Thinking of thoughtful young people, I address issues related to the leading role of ourselves, our personal fulfillment, professional development and our goals of effectiveness and quality of life. I do so from my own limitations, but please read the first two or three questions before dismissing my proposal. You know: the interest, if any, is more in the questions themselves than in the answers.
Q. What do I pursue as a professional?
R. Through responsibility and efficiency, and with strictly precise resources, I pursue the achievement of community-oriented goals, applying an effort that nourishes, and does not deteriorate, my professional satisfaction and that of my environment.
Q. What do I need to facilitate the achievement of my goals?
A. I need to accelerate my maturity, that is, my development as a professional, until my skills profile is sufficiently suitable, and I want and know how to get the most out of it. Then maybe I can slow down a bit.
Q. How can I get the most out of my personal and professional profile?
A. If, as a manager, I try to obtain the maximum performance from my collaborators, in a similar way I must generate my best performance: leading and directing myself. But there is more: I cannot "dominate" others, but I can; of myself I can be the lord, the protagonist and the teacher, to a good end. The fact of sometimes following instructions from hierarchical superiors does not harm my role, but neither does it harm my integrity.
Q. But what does self-control consist of within the company?
R. In starring in your own working life without letting others do it, in feeling satisfied for it, in being the owner and responsible for your own performance, in discovering our talents, in trying to test all our capabilities, in becoming aware of our dimension of human beings, in contributing to the community, in living up to our professional dignity.
Q. What is the relationship between self-control and professional development?
A. Maximum self-control would not mean maximum development, but would point towards it. The first involves discipline, integrity and mastery in the attempt to make the best use of our resources for the collective benefit, and the second points to a progressive improvement in the professional profile, which could lead to reengineering ourselves.
Q. What specific strengths does self-control consist of?
A. In accordance with what has already been said, self-control would consist of at least the following intrapersonal strengths:
- Self-awareness and self-awareness. Self-control and temperance. Eager for improvement and achievement. Courage and integrity. Well-founded self-confidence. Openness and flexibility. Commitment and responsibility. Genuine intuition. Realistic optimism. Compassion, gratitude and generosity.
Q. Why "compassion, gratitude and generosity"?
A. Without these strengths we could not speak of self-control, because we would be dominated by selfishness, revenge or other negative emotions.
Q. Why "realistic optimism"?
A. Because pessimism immobilizes and optimism, although energizing, can reduce attention to difficulties or obstacles.
Q. Why "psychic negentropy"?
A. Because the entropy or disorder of the mind, a frequent consequence of irregular functioning of the organization, and often accompanied by nervous tension and psychic fatigue, disarms us and makes us succumb to the surrounding currents.
Q. Why "genuine intuition"?
A. Because intuition, when it is genuine, constitutes a valuable impulse to decision and action. Obviously, we must distinguish real from apparent intuition, and we must also interpret well the signals we receive.
Q. Why "commitment and proactivity"?
A. Because without realizing our courage, perseverance and future vision, we would hardly achieve attractive and important goals.
Q. Why "commitment and responsibility"?
A. Because these strengths encourage our resources and energy after achieving results. Someone expects something from us, and we are not willing to lose their trust.
Q. Why "openness and flexibility"?
A. Because with them we approach the outside world, to adapt to its visible reality; but, without openness and flexibility, we would be isolated and disorient our efforts.
Q. Why "self-confidence"?
A. Because without it we cannot imagine ourselves solid and compact, nor would we generate confidence in others. Obviously, self-confidence must be well founded on self-knowledge.
Q. Why "value and integrity"?
R. Because the manager must manage his power for the benefit of the community, without subordinating it to possible particular interests, and facing difficulties of a diverse nature.
Q. Why "desire for improvement and achievement"?
A. Because we are talking about self-control after goals; It is not about mastering yourself because you have someone to dominate, but rather about achieving goals or results, short or long term, after which we decidedly go.
Q. Why "self-control and temperance"?
A. Because this is the visible essence of self-control: moderation and emotional control. Despite critical pressures and situations, the manager must remain unflappable, with his capabilities fully available.
Q. Why "self-knowledge"?
A. Because you can't get the best of anything or anyone, if you don't know it. Self-knowledge is, of course, multidimensional, and all its dimensions must be accessed to facilitate self-control: knowledge, skills, beliefs, values, attitudes, concerns, intentions, feelings, longings, connections, behaviors…
Q. What are the enemies of the manager's high professional performance?
A. Incompetence, resources and lack of personal control.
Q. What are the manager's deadly sins?
R. Greedy corruption, narcissism and psychological harassment of subordinates.
Q. What are the cardinal virtues of the manager?
R. The desire for achievement, self-knowledge, intra and interpersonal empathy, integrity, the conception of the company as a living system, the perception of reality and the vision of the future.
Q. What does integrity consist of?
A. In acting in accordance with what is considered fair or correct, without hiding that this is our option. Integrity should not lead us to fundamentalism or stubbornness, but it should keep us as far from corruption, whether greedy or negligent, as from corruptibility.
Q. What does it mean for the company to be a living system?
R. That the relationship between its divisions generates causes and consequences to be addressed, and that some unexpected effects of decisions can always arise, even if an effort is made to anticipate and prevent problems.
Q. Is it so difficult to perceive reality?
A. There are exogenous elements that hide or blur it, but also endogenous elements: for example, the resistance to admit mistakes or failures, the possession of deep-rooted obsolete beliefs or the irrational desire for something to happen.
Q. What does it take to see the future?
A. The seers themselves speak of intuition. A balanced combination of intuition and reason is required, but the latter is nurtured by market knowledge, without ruling out our proactive contribution. There are catalysts for the vision of the future, such as honesty, the systemic perspective and the psychic order.
Q. Is the manager's effectiveness compatible with his quality of life in the company?
A. It is, within the virtuous circle of self-realization, motivation, proactivity, high performance and professional satisfaction. That is, outside the vicious circle of nervous tension, physical and mental fatigue, entropy, avoidance of responsibility and poor performance.
Q. Can we then think that the manager must pursue both efficiency and quality of life in the company?
R. For himself, and for his environment of influence.
Q. How can the professional development of the manager be accelerated?
R. Through a supervised gathering of media aimed at broadening their panorama and developing their competences: passing through different jobs, attending effective training actions, promoting self-criticism and receptiveness to feedback, mayeutic conversations with the tutor (coach), practice of self-leadership, reading, reflective observation of the environment and other means of learning.
Q. What does self-leadership consist of?
A. We can see it as personal domain after a vital mobilizing purpose that fulfills us. We all must have, sooner or later, an energizing goal in our professional life: some important contribution to the community. This personal objective should be harmonious, if not coincident, with the vision, culture or goals of the organization to which we join; otherwise, we would disperse efforts and enjoy the activity less.
Q. Are not companies, managers and workers, just trying to make money?
A. That is an option, but it is not the one that provides the most satisfaction. One can enjoy professional activity, to almost incredible extremes, through an autotelic performance in which the competency requirements fit into our professional profile; more, insofar as our contribution satisfies others.
Q. What happens if our professional profile does not fit the position we occupy?
A. This is an eventuality that is not always recognized, either internally or publicly, when it occurs. If our profile is below, we succumb to anxiety and live stressed; if it is above, we get bored and we also end up anxious.
Q. Should the position be adapted to the person, or the person to that one?
A. They must approach, as long as there is a significant distance. But let us not forget, for example, that mobbing (harassment or psychological punishment) consists, among other practices, in procuring this distance from the victim.
Q. What does it mean to lead collaborators?
R. It means guiding their actions and influencing them through moral authority, taking care to keep the shared destiny alive and clear. An overly visible leadership would be overwhelming, and would end up undermining the dignity and leading role of individuals. It is necessary to insist on the systemic conception of leadership: there is no leader if as such her collaborators do not recognize her.
Q. And what does empowerment mean?
A. Genuine empowerment has perhaps not been sufficiently experienced: it could reach more workers. It would consist of assigning power and resources to people prepared to manage them, and in whom feelings of significance, competence, belonging and enjoyment would appear.
Finished
Well, the reader will understand that I want to continue, but what is important are their own answers to their own questions, well selected these. I hope that the answers that I have incorporated do not enter to judge in depth, because I just wanted to show you an example.
Perhaps a good coach would have included other issues of greater maieutic strength, but I am already saying that this consultant could also add others (and does not rule out doing it on a second attempt). The catechism format - catechism for oneself - has advantages, and we should not succumb to rejection… But, through it or through other practices, let us not give up knowing our values and beliefs, our concerns and fears, our feelings and emotions, our attitudes and behaviors.
