Tools for Self-Management
From an organisational perspective the rationale for developing self-management practices is continuous improvement of organisational performance by equipping and enabling employees to manage, appraise and improve their own capacity for performance.
From a personal perspective, the goal might include the release of your personal potential (bring out the best in yourself) and expansion of your capacity for effectiveness and satisfaction in work-performance, career progress, leadership development or interpersonal relationships.
Broadly, self-managing workers –
- Work within a clear understanding of strategy planned to achieve the organisation’s intentions and that of their own role(s) within it.
- Hold and balance the focus between strategic development and operational needs
- Consciously monitor their self-management practices as they utilise them
- Remain constantly aware of their strengths and weaknesses
- Identify and overcome distractions and blocks (both internal and external) to their work performance
- Possess a broad range of context-independent “tools” appropriate for a wide variety of self-management situations
- Choose the right “tool” (method or process) for the task at hand, to ensure goal achievement
- Continuously adjust, refine and improve their practices on the basis of awareness of effect.
The generic, (context-independent) “tools” required for self-management and for which I provide coaching support, cover a wide range. Here’s a suggested partial list, divided into (a) managing self and own work; (b) managing self in relationships; and (c) managing own leadership.
A: Managing self and own work
- Maintain the focus of required role(s) and responsibilities
- Maintain alignment of own efforts with the organisation’s strategic plan
- Manage priorities to make best use of time and energy
- Distinguish “purpose” from “agenda” and “task” from “process”
- Distinguish between operational (transactional) and strategic (developmental) matters
- Plan and activate development plans, methodically monitor progress and evaluate results
- Operate systematically and trust in pre-determined principles and processes to reduce tendencies to improvise or act impulsively
- Pose problems accurately and ask constructive clarifying questions
- Apply methodical problem-clarification and problem-solving processes to resolve problems
- Persist when the solution to a problem is not readily apparent
- Think flexibly
- Think and operate interdependently
- Recognise unstated assumptions and values, and work to clarify and distinguish differences in them
- Reconstruct own patterns of beliefs on the basis of wider experience
- Think about own thinking and modify it where necessary (i.e., practise metacognition)
- Respond to crises, problem and difficulties with pre-determined processes and practices
- Express anger or annoyance constructively
- Modify mental patterns that inhibit constructive responses to situations
- Limit the stress of interpersonal and other conflict
- Contain personal challenges, crises or dilemma sufficiently to explore and deal with the resulting anxiety, distress or confusion without spinning out, blaming or taking it out on others
- Delegate aspects of own work to others to both facilitate a wide range of responsibilities and to help develop others in their roles
- Constantly improve own knowledge, understanding and skills
- Embrace uncertainty, rise to adversity, and remain centered and grounded in situations where others are not
- Manage own attitudes (thought patterns and resultant feelings) – those which contribute to effectiveness and those which disable it
- Limit unhealthy personal stressors and their effects
- Manage personal needs and wellbeing to avoid burnout, frustration or despondency
- Learn constantly from reflecting on everyday experience
- Establish “how I best make sense of things”, and maximise use of those processes
- Align purpose or work and own ways of working with personal inner purpose.
B: Managing self in relationships
- Create a healthy balance between own needs and desires and those of others
- Function interdependently
- Foster a collective identity and cohesion with co-workers, colleagues, managers and staff
- Develop and nurture teams to produce a combined effect exceeding the sum of individual contributions
- Assess team performance as a team, not merely according to its business performance
- Comprehend and use language clearly and precisely, with equal discernment and respect for self and others
- Recognise and clarify unstated assumptions
- Challenge, encourage and support people to perform
- Address under-performance in others and request behaviour changes where necessary
- Develop others’ skills and capacity
- Listen skillfully to others to facilitate clarity and understanding
- Express anger and annoyance in ways easily heard and understood
- Negotiate equitably around differences and conflict
- Provide others with constructive feedback on performance
- Receive and respond constructively to criticism and feedback on performance
- Establish and hold boundaries – of authority, responsibilities, and behaviour
- Modify own mental patterns that inhibit constructive responses to other people
- Learn how others “best make sense of things” and use those processes in dealings with them
- Support those to whom aspects of own responsibilities have been delegated (by training, coaching, etc)
- Facilitate group problem-solving
- Manage differences to reduce the levels and incidence of conflict
- Facilitate group/project discussions and action-planning
- Facilitate meetings to make them relevant and useful to own and others’ roles
- Generate, receive and process useful feedback about own behaviour and practices
- Apply coaching and on-the-job training practices to develop others
C: Managing own leadership
- Establish own leadership ideals and model(s)
- Picture the future and enlist others in support of a shared vision
- Articulate a common purpose that unites groups with varied interests
- Keep stakeholder groups operating together smoothly
- Model desired practices, set the examples, exemplify desired values and practices
- Clarify own personal Big picture relevant to work and to the organisation’s Big Picture
- Advance the organisation’s interests in the community
- Search for opportunities
- Experiment and take calculated risks
- Shepherd the organisation through crises
- Challenge others to perform
- Strengthen others’ ability to act
- Foster collaboration
- Enhance awareness of needs of staff, colleagues and managers and how best to contribute helpfully to them
- Recognise and acknowledge contributions and accomplishments.
