Personal Leadership Development:Developing a Leaders Mindset

Personal leadership development is a leader’s ability to learn to manage his emotions and relate to others in a positive way in your organization. Leaders exhibit emotional maturity. Without managing your emotions, you cannot lead effectively.

In nearly every sector of our life, there has been an absence of quality, effective leadership, in the political, civic, economic, social and spiritual realms.

Recent events indicate that previous generations have produced weak leaders who fade in the presence of true leadership and leaving our present generation in the same leadership vacuum.

Where do we look for competent leaders? While we often think of leaders out there, we need to look within ourselves. Each one of us is a leader who can affect the people and institutions in our spheres of influence.

When we begin with ourselves, we will naturally have an effect on the lives of others. In other to begin with yourself here are the principles of personal leadership development.

Personal Leadership Development Principles

Here are the steps needed in personal leadership development;

1) Be secure in your self-worth

A leader who knows who he is does not depend on others to validate his sense of self-worth. Leaders have to be careful not to encourage and embrace an overestimation of themselves by their followers, especially to the point where they, rather than the vision, become focus of attention.When leaders manifest these it’s often a manifestation of insecurity.

A leader is more concerned about pleasing God and being true to themselves rather than about being popular with people. A leader is an audience of one. He does not confuse temporary awards with eternal rewards. This is the foundation of personal leadership development.

2) Evaluate yourself according to your own purpose, not others

A leader who is secure in his sense-worth also does not evaluate himself in light of others. It is natural to measure the success of leadership by the accomplishment of objectives.

Sometimes we can be tempted to measure our success by a comparison to the accomplishments of others. A true leader does not measure his success by comparing himself to others but by evaluating how he is fulfilling his own purpose and vision.

3) Cultivate the quality of openness toward others

Those who are secure in their self-worth also possess the quality of openness. They are able to share their ideas and rationale while maintaining genuine respect for ideas of others.

Leaders have the ability to accept others. They have the ability to accept others opinions, personalities, characters, position and statuses without being threatened in their own security.

4) Avoid the fear of man

God made you unique in order to fulfill a special purpose and you do not need to feel inferior to anyone else. Recognizing your identity in God, your awareness of self-worth, emotional anchoring and personal strength gives you deeper conviction. This conviction makes you stand for what you believe in, despite men's threats and pressure.

5) Stand up under opposition

A leader must be able to stand under various kinds of opposition. As a leader you must be willing to be misunderstood, criticized, opposed, accused and rejected.

This reality was also demonstrated by Jesus Christ. A leader has a unique gift, men will always want to set the standard for you. If you depend on or need the agreement of everyone around you in order to feel secure, you will never be an effective leader.

6) Be prepared for aloneness

Because the leader is the one with the vision and sees the end from the beginning, he must both live the process and keep an eye on the destination at the same time. He has the ultimate responsibility for the vision' progress. He works behind the scenes in ways that no one else sees.

7) Be able to stand alone

Leaders not only must be able to be alone at times, but they must also be able to stand alone. Jesus was forsaken by all his disciples in his greatest hour of need, but yet he fulfilled his ultimate vision for mankind. A leader must go beyond the approval of his family and men. Their opinions don't count.

8) Evidence controlled power

A leader must also be gentle and meek. Meekness is controlled power, power without abuse. It is the ability to use power wisely. As a leader you must be a gentle person. Leaders work quietly in the confidence of their life's assignment without looking around to see who is watching them, even though it is really important.

9) Possess a forgiving spirit

True leaders are so secure in their relationship with God that they can forgive and ask for forgiveness without hesitation. If you harbor unforgiveness, you negate the possibility of being used effectively by God.

10) Exercise Faith in adversity

A good leader has the ability to stay calm in time of crisis. Leaders maintain their peace in adversity, not because they deny its existence but because of their confidence in their purpose, there deep commitment to their vision and there total trust in there divine source and the potential he has placed within them.

Conclusion

If you must fulfill your potentials as a leader, personal leadership development principles are necessary. A good leader not only knows where he is going, but he can inspire others to go with him. It is my hope that you will be inspired to respond to the call of destiny and responsibility and to awaken and develop the potential leader within you.