SELF LEADERSHIP

The concept of self-leadership sounds, at first glance, to be selfdefeating. Individuals want to be led to greater heights in their career
and in the areas of job satisfaction, performance and motivation - but
they need to do that by themselves in a vacuum where no one else can
openly critique them. Our concept of leadership in the traditional sense
needs to be redefined in order to fully understand the notion of selfleadership, or as Manz and Neck see it, self-influence: Selfleadership is
a selfinfluence process through which people achieve the selfdirection
and selfmotivation necessary to perform (Manz, 1986; Manz and Neck,
2004). In a professional sense, this equates to a behavioural pattern
change within ourselves that results in strategies designed to improve our
sense of fulfilment, our ability to work smart and achieve more, and our
ability to think constructively about things which will lead to the
achievement of goal that we have set for ourselves.
This is a fairly new concept, first coined in the 1980s (e.g. Manz,
1983, 1986) and over the past two decades has enjoyed considerable
popularity, as evidenced by the large number of practitioneroriented self
leadership books and articles on the subject (e.g. Blanchard,
1995; Cashman, 1995; Manz, 1991; Manz and Sims, 2001; Sims and
Manz, 1996; Waitley, 1995). Not surprisingly, many executives have
sought training programs design to improve their own self-leadership
skills in order to gain promotion (Stewart et al., 1996). The three most
common groups used to categorise the strategies espoused by selfleadership writers include (1) behaviour-focused strategies, (2) natural
reward strategies, and (3) constructive thought-pattern strategies (Manz
and Neck, 2004; Manz and Sims, 2001; Prussia et al., 1998).
Behaviour-focused strategies, as the name suggests, relate entirely to
looking inward for answers. Self-observation, self-goal setting, selfreward, self-punishment and self-cueing are all traits listed by prominent
authors on the subject who list the ways that a person can eliminate
ineffective and unproductive behaviours (Mahoney and Arnkoff,
1978, 1979; Manz and Sims, 1980; Manz and Neck, 2004). Neck and
Houghton (2004) summarise many of the behaviour-focused strategies
into two words: goal-setting. In their words, A large body of research
suggests that the process of setting challenging and specific goals can
significantly increase individual performance levels (Locke and Latham,
1990). Selfset rewards, coupled with selfset goals, can aid significantly
in energizing the effort necessary to accomplish the goals. It seems

fairly straightforward upon reflection, but the realities of goal-setting

within a project environment can be more divisive than unifying in many
cases (Neck and Houghton 2004)
Natural reward strategies allude to things outside of our own minds that
can be used to motivate our performance, such as mentally
congratulating ourselves after an important accomplishment or a more
substantial reward such as special vacation at the completion of a difficult
project. At the other end of the spectrum, selfpunishment or self
correcting feedback should consist of a positively framed and
introspective examination of failures and undesirable behaviours leading
to the reshaping of such behaviours. The excessive use of self
punishment involving selfcriticism and guilt can be detrimental to
performance and should be avoided (Manz and Sims, 2001). Rewards are
always a part of business, and all projects have a finite life and therefore
the end of a project usually signifies some sort of reward : the promise of
a new contract, a financial payout, and ground-breaking ceremony, etc.
The concept of natural rewards refers to inherent, perpetual rewards
that may stimulate work attitudes and lead to increased output. (Manz
and Neck, (2004) refer to these concrete environmental cues as an
effective means of encouraging constructive behaviours and reducing or
eliminating destructive ones. Lists, notes, screensavers and motivational
posters are just a few examples of external cues that can help keep
attention and effort focused on goal attainment.

Constructive thought-pattern strategies refer to ways and habits that are

ongoing and healthy to the life of the employee and the project itself.
This can be manifested through self-talk and mental imagery.
Constructive thought pattern strategies include identifying and replacing
dysfunctional beliefs and assumptionsconfronting and replacing
dysfunctional irrational beliefs and assumptions with more constructive
thought processes (Burns, 1980; Ellis, 1977; Manz and Neck, 2004; Neck
and Manz, 1992). To more clearly define some of these new terms, selftalk is defined as what people covertly tell themselves (Neck and Manz,
1992, 1996a) and involves mental selfevaluations and reactions (Ellis,
1977; Neck and Manz, 1992). The concept of mental imagery is defined
as the symbolic and covert cognitive creation of an experience or task
prior to actual overt physical muscular movement (Driskell et al.,
1994; Finke, 1989; Neck and Manz, 1992, 1996a). This text states that
individuals who envision successful performance of an activity in

advance of actual performance are more likely to perform successfully

when faced with the actual task. When searching for proof of this
positive perception phenomena, Driskell et al. (1994) performed a
metaanalysis of 35 empirical studies and found a significant positive
effect for mental imagery on individual performance.
These concepts of self-leadership sound very inward-focused on first
glance, and the application of these methodologies in a team setting
requires some explanation. It also sounds quite esoteric and requires
some quantitative analysis to determine the real benefits. It was Neck
and Manz (1996) who conducted a training-intervention based field study
into the concept of though self-leadership which seemed to bear out
their positive hypothesis: The results of this study suggest that
individuals who received the thought selfleadership training experienced
increased mental performance, positive affect (enthusiasm), job
satisfaction and decreased negative affect (nervousness) relative to those
not receiving the training (Neck and Manz, 1996). This shining example
of the power of self-leadership in teams is rare, however, as most of this
training is quite intangible and can be hard to quantify under scrutiny.
Neck and Houghton (2004) remark that the majority of selfleadership
research has been conceptual with relatively few empirical studies
examining selfleadership in organizational settings. This lack of extensive
empirical research may be due in part to the fact that a valid self
leadership measurement scale has been slow to development (Neck and
Houghton, 2004).
The areas of improvement in the workplace that have been linked with
the rise of self-leadership are numerous. Establishing the traits of an
effective project manager and the core strengths of the self-leadership
model leads to congruous results in the literature review: The concept of
motivating ones self and the people around you in a team setting is seen
as paramount to the success of a project (PMBOK, 2013) and other
articles go so far as to add that a teams motivation is an essential
element to the projects success (Schmid and Adams 2008). Expanding
on the theme of motivation, experts suggest that the establishment of
effective thinking patterns through self-leadership methodology can
increase the motivation of individuals in a team setting (Grund, 1996).
The three strategies referred to in this article mirror those already listed
with regards to increased productivity: analyse person behavioural traits,
positive mental imagery and constructive self-talk (Grund, 1996).

Some of the methods for improving the performance of project managers

are fairly straight-forward: setting your own goals and achieving them is
more effective than someone else setting your personal goals (Carmeli,
Meitar and Weisberg, 2006) and positive feedback to yourself and
rewarding yourself after achieving difficult tasks creates a healthier
environment for achieving more over a longer period of time (Manz and
Sims, 1989). To expand upon this, the concept of a reflective process
which constructively works through thoughts and intentions will lead to
desired changes, improvements and innovations goals (Carmeli, Meitar
and Weisberg, 2006). This can happen during the life of the project or
post-project.
Finally, the concept of self-leadership is wrapped in the concept of
autonomy, something that is not normally associated with project teams
simply because of its individual nature. However, the concepts of
members feeling personally connected to the outcome of the project
(Schmid and Adams, 2008) and the correlation between autonomous work
and intrinsic job satisfaction leads us to believe that while teams will
always need to work together in a systems approach, each part will
require some level of autonomy. Within these autonomous levels, selfleadership will lead to maximum motivation and heightened work
morale (Schmid and Adams, 2008).

In conclusion, it seems that self-leadership is really about people learning

from themselves and improving their performance by constantly
critiquing their performance and applying the basics of behaviour-focus
strategies, natural rewards and constructive thought patterns. Full
discussion of this subject would permit references to Freud, Kant, Jung
and other philosophers who understood the human spirit and the ability
required to separates ones self from our actions. However, sufficient
evidence has been provided in a project setting to demonstrate that while
self-leadership is a relatively new-found concept, its implication for
productivity, longevity and overall performance in the life of a project
team is evident and will continue to be examined and refined over time.
There will always be a need for professionals who can constantly improve
upon their given abilities, and self-leadership is one method that project
managers can use to improve their personal performance and their team
performance for the benefit of the project life and their career as a whole.

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