Self-Leadership Skills Development for Non-Profit Organizational Leaders

Continuing our series on the non-profit executive, in this article, we discuss the value of building self-leadership skills through self-awareness and self-regulation toward becoming more effective leaders and managers in our non-profit organizations. In the article are several strategies to improve our own self-leadership competency as non-profit organizational leaders.

Self-Leadership in the Non-Profit Sector

Leaders must be able to adapt to an ever-evolving environment. In the nonprofit world, leaders must have not only a passion for the organization's mission but also soft skills, technical knowledge, and experience. Previous studies suggest that certain self-leadership skills are indicators of positive leadership behaviors in organizations (Brown & Fields, 2011; Furtner et al., 2013). The leader's competency related to self-regulation and self-awareness was significantly associated with effective leadership actions (Brown & Fields, 2011). In non-profit organizations, many executives and leaders rely on self-leadership to develop a strong organizational culture and support others to move into leadership roles within the organization (Gothard & Austin, 2013).

The concept of self-leadership is described in Manz (1986) as a combination of self-influence and self-management. The nature of self-influence is characterized as "leading oneself toward performance of naturally motivating tasks as well as managing oneself to do work that must be done but is not naturally motivating." (p. 589). Within self-influence, Manz suggests the need for self-management of specific behaviors and tendencies that can impact an individual's ability to perform necessary tasks. Others, (e.g., Day, 2000) define self-leadership through the lens of specific skills or competencies. In Day (2000), self-leadership is characterized through leader skills including, self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-motivation. Using these two conceptualizations, we can describe self-leadership in a non-profit organization as the ability to motivate and lead oneself through self-awareness and self-regulation toward the execution of necessary organizational tasks and responsibilities.

Understanding and Defining Self-Awareness

Self-awareness, at its core, can be described as the level of similarity between an individual's perception of themselves and the perceptions of that individual by others (Atwater & Yammarino, 1992; Van Velsor et al., 1993). This is referred to as the "self/rater agreement." Others, including Eurich (2018), distinguish between internal and external self-awareness. Internal self-awareness is described as how well we understand our own values, skills, weaknesses, fit within our environment, and impact on others. External self-awareness is the level of understanding we have about the perceptions of others related to our values, skills, weaknesses, and impacts (Eurich, 2018). It is important to be cognizant of the differences between internal and external self-awareness to be effective non-profit leaders. Eurich (2018) provides four classifications of leaders based on the individual's internal and external self-awareness levels described below. To be the most effective, we should seek to maximize both our internal and external self-awareness.

Seekers

• LOW Internal and LOW External Self-Awareness
• Do not have a clear understanding of themselves or others in terms of values, strengths, and weaknesses

Introspectors

• HIGH Internal but LOW External Self-Awareness
• Have a good understanding of themselves but do not seek out feedback or the opinions of others

Pleasers

• LOW Internal but HIGH External Self-Awareness
• Overly concerned with the perceptions of others at the potential expense of self-understanding

Aware

• HIGH Internal and HIGH External Self-Awareness
• Understand both themselves and others. Actively seek out feedback from others to improve themselves.

Understanding and Defining Self-Regulation

Self-regulation enables a leader to perform key organizational tasks and manage subordinates (Yeow & Martin, 2013) more effectively. The term self-regulation is defined psychologically as "any efforts by the human self to alter any of its own inner states or responses" (Vohs & Baumeister, 2004, p. 2). Also, self-regulation can be described as a judgment by the individual of their own capability or self-efficacy (Bandura, 1986). The nature of self-regulation comprises the following three key components, "commitment to standards," "monitoring of the self and behaviors," and "what is needed to change the self's responses" (Baumeister et al., 2007). These components are described below.

Commitment to Standards

Self-regulation requires some set of standard behavior or state of being. The purpose of self-regulation is to change your behavior to match a more desired form or state. It is important that the standards that are set are clear and rational to ensure that self-regulation is possible.

Monitoring the Self and Behaviors

Monitoring relates to the concept of self-awareness discussed earlier. In self-regulation, however, monitoring is used primarily to judge where you are as an individual in relation to a determined ideal standard.

What is Needed to Change the Self's Responses

The ability to self-regulate requires energy drawn from a limited supply source similar to a battery. Essentially, a person's self-regulatory ability can change depending on factors such as stress, amount of physical activity, and rest. If a person's supply of energy is low, it is less likely they will be able to effectively self-regulate.

Improve Your Self-Leadership Skills Through Self-Awareness and Self-Regulation

As non-profit leaders, the development of effective and motivated employees starts with the ability to lead yourself. As mentioned earlier, certain self-leadership skills, especially self-awareness and self-regulation, are associated with the effective leadership of others. However, it can be difficult to determine how to cultivate these traits in yourself. Below are several cognitive, behavioral, and motivational strategies described in Neuhaus (2021) to help you improve your self-awareness and self-regulation skills to become more effective leaders in our non-profit organizations.

Cognitive Strategies

• Develop the mindset of improving yourself and avoid setting limits on your capabilities.
• Learn to identify and manage your strengths and weaknesses
• Be able to recognize situations that may cause emotional rather than logical reactions.

Behavioral Strategies

• Create and develop good habits related to personal accountability and effective goal setting.
• Check-in with yourself regarding the progress you are making on your personal goals.

Motivational Strategies

• Identify what motivates you as an individual and use that to drive your actions as a leader.
• Celebrate success and achievements.
• Build personal resilience and internal strength through adopting a process focus.

References

Atwater, L. E., & Yammarino, F. J. (1992). Does self-other agreement on leadership perceptions moderate the validity of leadership and performance predictions? Personnel Psychology, 45(1), 141–164. 

Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Baumeister, R. F., Schmeichel, B. J., & Vohs, K. D. (2007). Self-regulation and the executive function: The self as controlling agent. In A. W. Kruglanski & E. T. Higgins (Eds.), Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles (pp. 516–539). The Guilford Press.

Brown, R. T., & Fields, D. (2011). Leaders engaged in self-leadership: Can followers tell the difference?. Leadership, 7(3), 275–293.

Day, D. V. (2000). Leadership development: A review in context. Leadership Quarterly, 11(4), 581–613.

Eurich, T. (2018). What self-awareness really is (and how to cultivate it). Harvard Business Review, 1-9.

Furtner, M. R., Baldegger, U., & Rauthmann, J. F. (2013). Leading yourself and leading others: Linking self-leadership to transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 22(4), 436–449.

Gothard, S., & Austin, M. J. (2013). Leadership succession planning: Implications for nonprofit human service organizations. Administration in Social Work, 37(3), 272–285. 

Manz, C. C. (1986). Self-leadership: Toward an expanded theory of self-influence processes in organizations. Academy of Management Review, 11(3), 585–600.

Neuhaus, M. (2021, July 12). Developing self-leadership: Your ultimate coaching guide. PositivePsychology.com.

Van Velsor, E., Taylor, S., & Leslie, J. B. (1993). An examination of the relationships between self-perception accuracy, self-awareness, gender and leader effectiveness. Human Resource Management, 32(2,3) 249–263.

Vohs, K. D., & Baumeister, R. F. (2004). Understanding self-regulation. In R. F. Baumeister & K. D. Vohs (Eds.), Handbook of self-regulation (pp. 1–9). The Guilford Press.

Yeow, J., & Martin, R. (2013). The role of self-regulation in developing leaders: A longitudinal field experiment. The Leadership Quarterly, 24(5), 625–637.