The importance of self-management for an effective leader

In the 21st century, the world has transformed into single economy due to globalization which is the combined movement of the world while that brings with it, a level of economic expansion, growth, and accessibility that were never there in the history of humanity. The theories that have developed over time are brought into practice more than ever to cope in the current global competitive world. As an effective leader it is necessary to be able to regulate time, attention and emotions while remaining aware of strength, weakness and potential source of bias.

In the current scenario, organizations are becoming more adaptive to the changes where leaders are emotionally competent while having better communication skills and managing diversity likewise creating supportive environment however the changing environment has brought upon sources for stress resulting into health issues furthermore dilemma in prioritizing things.

Self-managing means being able to prioritize your goals and being responsible for accomplishing those objectives while managing time. Exceptional leader is adept at handling stress and balancing their personal and professional lives. But you must also remember the importance of compassion and be able to respond to people and events in appropriate way.

As a case in point, Bengaluru based SAP Labs is one of the most reputed corporate offices in India. It has a very attractive and flexible working hours for its employees. For them, productivity matters more than the timings. Whatever work you have to complete the work in a particular time, you can leave. There’s no fixed office working hour as such. The employees can also work from home once in a week and even more if their project manager approve. So that employees can spend more time with their loved ones and enjoying doing things they love.

It is one of the perfect example to illustrate that self-management is considered for the betterment of the organization as well as the employees.

As the world is changing rapidly, new theories and practices are emerging daily. With new innovation and technology, the workplace is transferring into new way. It is necessary to keep up to date with new innovation. Warren Bennis once said, ‘ Success in management requires learning as fast as the world is changing.’

In order to master all these management evolution, we must have quick learning skills. However, while learning all these, an individual must maintain what is inside himself. He needs to accept that change is there for positive. It is necessary to consider different perspective of different persons that are affected by the change, if you really want to succeed. Success of a leader is based on their propensity to adapt to change according to changing situation and seeing the opportunities in the middle of the change.

Mastering management concepts and practices involves skills such as:

1) Emotional competencies.

2) Time management.

3) Communication skills.

However, the workplace is remarkably different from the workplace it used to be. People work remotely, more tasks are automated, new innovations are happening, work is being increasingly mediated and informative. These new changes show that self-importance has not been abandoned but at the same time it has brought more challenges in managing self.

Even though technology has automated work and helped in working remotely, we have become too much dependent on technology so any kind of interruption in the flow will effect on our emotional condition.

Our digital life-style influences our way of living and communicating. For instance, our attention to social media has become our second personality and we are more concerned about other’s perception of us in the social digital life.

The competitive world has brought upon various challenges in the corporate world. Virtually working organization, machines, technology etc. all of these are pushing humans toward an extreme organizational stress. Management duty has been a source of stress in many organizations. 67% of leaders and managers think the level of stress they experience at work is manageable. Just half of leaders and managers feel they have enough time to do a quality job, and only 48% feel they can detach from work. Research shows that around 50% of leaders and managers are struggling to cope with the challenges of their job.