by Venchito Tampon | Last Updated on October 31, 2024
Personal leadership is not about holding a title or position over others—it’s about leading by example, living out your values, and inspiring others through your actions.
It is leading people based on calling, character, and competence. Without these, leading oneself effectively, let alone influencing others, is impossible.
In our leadership training, we refer to personal leadership as the Modeling of Leadership. Teams can only perform at the highest level when leaders display the right behaviors, values, and work ethic they expect from others.
This guide will explore essential qualities of personal leadership and how you can embody them in your daily personal and professional lives.
Personal Leadership Qualities
1. Integrity
Integrity is the cornerstone of personal leadership. There are several schools of thought on integrity. Some teach that integrity simply means honesty. Others describe it as accountability. But integrity, based on its original context, refers to wholeness (from the term “integer”).
A person of integrity can gain the trust and respect of those around him or her as he or she aligns all actions with the wholeness of his or her character. Integrity refers to aligning words with actions. You must talk the talk and walk the walk.
Commit to your promises and be consistent with your actions. Increase the power of accountability in your leadership by owning the mistakes you’re accountable for and learning from them.
Strengthen integrity by always doing the right, even when difficult or inconvenient.
2. Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to understand, manage, and navigate one’s own emotions and those of others. It is one of the essential qualities for personal leadership, given that it fosters empathy, effective communication, and the ability to handle stress and challenges gracefully under pressure.
Start developing emotional intelligence by recognizing your emotions and how they affect your behavior. Being self-aware of your current triggers for emotional stress can help you reduce the chances of negatively affecting your team members when you speak.
Control impulsive feelings and behaviors by regulating yourself. Assess your emotional health every week to see specific areas for improvement.
Empathize with your direct reports as they face and overcome life challenges. Be an active listener as they share their struggles, even in their personal life, as you’d better understand where they’re coming from.
Create a healthy support group where others can help you grow and give you the opportunity to serve others. This will help you see blindspots you can change or improve and gain feedback and insights from others who know you well.
Develop a stress management coping mechanism by balancing demands and abilities. If possible, decrease demand. If not, increase your abilities to handle the needs of your life—this includes task management, problem-solving and decision-making, planning, and communication.
3. Critical Thinking
Critical thinking and strategic thinking are two essential skills of modern-day leadership. The first type of thinking involves analyzing situations, learning to filter insights and information based on your current context, and making informed decisions.
Involve yourself in strategic planning sessions to get a bigger picture of your organization (not only your teams). During this session, you can ask questions related to your leadership and brainstorm ideas to propel your team training to high performance.
Reflect on different perspectives by leveraging diversity and inclusion in your teams. Before making decisions, ask your direct reports for their insights, especially if you are leading direct reports.
Analyze the consequences of your actions, but be firm when making decisions. No one wants to follow an indecisive leader.
4. Resourcefulness
Resourcefulness is the ability to maximize current resources (time, attention, energy, talent) to the fullest so that one can achieve one’s individual or organizational goals.
Personal leadership is being solution-oriented and knowing how to find innovative ways to navigate them.
Cultivate a mindset of possibility within your team. Let their suggestions become a reality (consultative leadership) by trying things out—particularly the ones with valid reasons and supported by data.
Be willing to adapt and change your approach when faced with setbacks. Flexibility aligned with resourcefulness could help your teams achieve greater performance and new heights not previously possible.
5. Values and Ethics
Values and ethics serve as your internal compass, guiding your decisions and actions. A strong sense of personal values helps you remain true to yourself and focus on what matters most.
Ethical leaders are not swayed by external pressures or short-term gains but are guided by principles that align with their beliefs.
Identify your core values. You can invest in a values and mission workshop from a reputable corporate training provider to help you identify your core values.
When you lead with a strong ethical foundation, you create a positive impact on those around you and foster an environment of trust and mutual respect.
6. Vision
A clear vision gives you a sense of direction and purpose. Personal leadership requires a solid vision to lead your team in the right direction of performance and character-building.
Vision casting is about setting goals, developing a plan, and staying committed to your journey, even when the path becomes difficult. Commitment to the goals despite the daily challenges is what makes vision enable good leaders to perform.
Vision also inspires others to work towards a common goal. Without a vision, people don’t feel the passion for the team, cast off restraint, leading to confusion, poor performance, and lack of growth.
7. Self-Awareness
Self-awareness also strengthens personal leadership. Self-aware leaders are more in tune with their thoughts and behaviors, allowing them to make conscious decisions that align with their values.
Here are some pro tips to increase self-awareness:
- Let others speak to your career and life. Surround yourself with growing and trusted people. Allow others to suggest, advise, and give you feedback you need to improve your work.
- Reflect on your professional journey (intrapersonal communication) by setting time to meditate once a day. Write down things you’re grateful for as a leader and things you want to accomplish for the day. By setting things right at the start of the day, you’ll have a strong start, giving you inspiration and energy to accomplish great things for your team.
The Role of Personal Leadership in Daily Life
Personal leadership extends beyond the workplace. It’s about leading yourself in all aspects of life, whether interacting with family, friends, or colleagues. Here’s how you can incorporate personal leadership into your daily routine:
- Lead by example: Be a role model in your actions, whether maintaining a positive attitude, demonstrating empathy, or showing perseverance in difficult times. Develop your character at home to live out the correct values when working.
- Set personal goals: Take time to identify areas for growth and create actionable plans to achieve them. Define specific goals, and let your habits and actions take you where you want to go.
- Cultivate healthy habits: Practice self-discipline in time management, self-care, and continuous learning. Habits with consistent discipline bring you to the success you dream of as a leader. In every spotlight of success, there is a process, and that includes cultivating leadership habits.
Personal leadership involves taking responsibility for your life, actions, and choices. How you see challenges and own them will affect your performance as a leader.
Leadership is a journey that requires dedication, self-reflection, and a commitment to personal growth. By embodying qualities such as integrity, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, resourcefulness, values and ethics, vision, and self-awareness, you become a leader who influences others and inspires them to reach their full potential.
As I always say in my leadership training, “Leadership starts with you, but never about you.” It’s the way you show up, the example you set, and the values you live by daily. By mastering these qualities, you can lead yourself more effectively and positively impact the lives of those around you.
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