LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

We all know that leaders are both born & made. Hence we can develop the leadership talent. Leadership
development refers to any activity that enhances the quality of leadership within an individual or
organization. These activities have ranged from MBA style programs offered at university business
schools to action learning, high-ropes courses and executive retreats.

DEVELOPMENT THROUGH SELF-AWARENESS AND SELF-DISCIPLINE:

Leadership development is often perceived in terms of education and training, job experience, and
coaching. Self-help also contributes heavily to developing leadership capabilities. Two major components
of leadership self-development are self-awareness and self-discipline.

Without self-awareness leadership becomes just another exercise in ego gratification. Self-awareness
allows for self-discipline and control of the ego. Without it the ego runs amok looking after itself and only
incidentally in the service of others if the needs of both happen to align.

Self-awareness is the ability to see when an emotion or a perception is influencing your thinking and
behavior and, if necessary, do something about it. Gaining control over the state of your mind will pay big
dividends in terms of your leadership effectiveness. It is the blind spot of leadership. Being able to step
back and see both the positive and negative aspects about yourself, to see how you affect others, and to
see how you are behaving in real-time, is critical to your success as a leader.

Self-awareness is a bigger problem than one might think. A research shows that two thirds of us are
typically controlled by our emotions and are not yet skilled at spotting them and using them to our
benefit.” You cannot manage the behaviors of others without first getting a handle on your own.

Chris Argyris has developed two theories “Single-loop learning & Double-loop learning” to differentiate
between levels of self-awareness. Single-loop learning occurs when learners seek minimum feedback.
Like given or chosen goals, values, plans and rules are operationalized rather than questioned. As for
example, Thermostat automatically turns on whenever room temperature is drop below the fixed limit.
Double-loop learning is an in-depth type of learning that occurs when people use feedback to confront the
validity of the goal or the values implicit in the situation. Like an alternative response is to question to
governing variables themselves, to subject them to critical scrutiny.

A major benefit of double-loop learning is that it enables the leader to learn and do better the next time. If
the group is in crisis, a leader might establish a vision of better days ahead for group members. A
promising new area of self-awareness is for leaders to recognize their standing on two key dimension of
leadership: Forceful vs Enabling leadership and Strategy vs Operational.

Strategic
Heroic Leader Presidential
(too forceful and strategic) (too Strategic and too enabling)
Field General One of the Troops
(too forceful and too operational) (too operational and too enabling)

Forceful
Operational
Enabling

To achieve a positive attitude, you must take physical, verbal and mental actions. Two major factors are
awareness and actions which help keep you on the positive path.

The more you blame others, the less chance you have to think positive thoughts. The opposite of
blame is responsibility. Your first responsibility is to control your inner thoughts and thought
direction.
Understand you always have a choice. Attitude is a choice and most people select from the
negative column. The main reason behind this is the human nature. It is more natural to blame
and defend others rather than to admit and take responsibility.
Leadership development through Self-Discipline

“Self-discipline means training oneself to stick to code of conduct or behavior although the person is
willing to do something else at heart but he does as he is expected to do it.”

Leadership development requires considerable self-discipline. Now self-discipline is required to focus

more on the goal. Self-discipline is required because pressures of everyday activities often divert a
person’s attention from personal development.

“If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self.” - Napoleon Hill

Most of the time people think that self –discipline is depends on the will power of the person. But will
power and self-discipline are two sides of the same coin. While will power helps in overcoming laziness
and procrastination self-discipline helps in developing stamina, endurance, resilience and tenacity,
perseverance and motivation. When you are equipped with these two traits you will be confident of taking
the things forward. Both are investments for future success.

“Self-discipline is an act of cultivation. It requires you to connect today's actions to tomorrow's results. There's a
season for sowing a season for reaping. Self-discipline helps you know which is which.” - Gary Ryan Blair

Some merits of self-discipline are:

It helps in organizing people better as it makes them to get up from sleep at regular times and do
things in systematic and focused manner. 
It enhances the personality of the individuals thereby projecting in a positive manner.
It is stepping stone towards success.
It helps in achieving your goals much faster and smarter.
 “It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.” -Eleanor Roosevelt

The poor self-discipline makes you weak and unsuccessful and over discipline makes you sacrifice your
personal happiness and joy. Therefore, learn to strike the right balance between the both for reaching
greater heights in your life.

Self-discipline is a skill not a talent. Talents are inborn and skills are cultivated. Therefore, it is easy to
cultivate the skill of self-discipline. It requires will power, stamina and endurance to acquire this skill.
The educational institutions can play a crucial role in shaping the students through self-discipline.
Similarly, the role of parents is also appreciated to inculcate the skill among their children.

Self-discipline determines the destiny of the individuals. It holds the key to success.

Successful people cultivate this quality at their childhood itself. To sum up, life without self-discipline is
like a ship sailing without navigation.