- Personal goal setting – to set goals for your own work effort. SMART Principle. (Goals must be: Specific, measurable, achievable, results orientated/prioritized, and set with target dates.)
- Constructive thought patterns – consists of two elements namely, self-talk and mental imagery.
- Most self-talk is negative and we tend to criticize much more than encourage or congratulate ourselves. Negative self-talk undermines our self-efficacy, which in turn undermines our potential for performing a particular task. In contrast, positive self-talk creates a “can-do” attitude and increases our motivation to perform even better!
- You have heard the phase “Ill cross the bridge when I come to it!” – self-leadership takes the opposite view. It suggests we need to mentally practice a task and imagine successfully performing it beforehand. It consists of two parts, one involves mentally practicing the task, anticipating obstacles to goal accomplishment and working out solutions to those obstacles before they occur. The second part involves visualizing successful completion of the task. You might have imagined yourself completing an important task and being rewarded – this visualization increases goal commitment and motivates us to complete the task effectively.
- Designing natural rewards – to alter the way a task is completed. People often have enough discretion in their jobs to make slight changes to suit their needs and preferences e.g. to do your work in ways that you will enjoy rather than just trying to get over it.
- Self-monitoring – keeping track of your own progress towards a goal, looking for feedback. Here we have natural and artificial feedback e.g. sales people receiving monthly reports on sales in their area. Research suggests that people who have control over when they receive performance feedback perform their tasks better than those with feedback assigned by others.
- Self-reinforcement – where you have control over a reinforcer but choose not to take it until completing a self-set goal e.g. taking a break after reaching a pre-determined stage of your work.
It is by no means easy to exercise self-leadership. Practicing self-leadership can seem like carrying unbearable weight. What’s more, life’s circumstances frequently are difficult to change—whether it’s a career that doesn’t fit, a marriage that isn’t working, financial difficulties, cynical colleagues, a difficult manager or a downturn in the economy.