Learning to lead across diverse cultural settings begins with critical self-reflection on our past and present actions, reactions, and communication approaches within diverse cultural contexts. Tapping into these processes and expanding possibilities can support the development of more effective leadership practices when interacting with individuals and teams.
Begin with Self leadership
The business psychologist Daniel Goleman (2013), views self-leadership as being made up of two elements (self-awareness and self-management):
Self-Awareness
Self-Awareness concerns knowing our internal states, preferences, resources, and intuitions.
- Emotional Awareness: Recognizing our emotions and their effects.
- Accurate Self-Assessment: Knowing our strengths, limits, values, biases, and beliefs.
- Self-Confidence: A strong sense of our self-worth and capabilities.
Self-Management
Self-Management refers to managing our internal states, impulses, and resources.
- Emotional Self-Control: Keeping disruptive emotions and impulses in check.
- Authenticity: Maintaining integrity, acting congruently with our values.
- Adaptability: Flexibility in handling change.
- Achievement: Striving to improve or meet a standard of excellence.
- Initiative: Readiness to act on opportunities.
- Optimism: Persistence in pursuing goals despite obstacles and setbacks.
Self-reflection:
Go through the self-awareness and self-management sections above and rate yourself (using your own scale).
- What are your strengths?
- How/when do your strengths appear?
- Where are your gaps?
- How can you close the gaps and turn them into strengths?