Schlagwort-Archive: Self-image

Management of others starts with oneself

In the past, the management of the staff was defined by the structural organization. Selected people were assigned to substantial tasks and the leadership of employees. Today, guidance without the structural formalization is part of projects, workshops and teams. This leads to the fact that more and more employees are entrusted with the control of groups. Apart from the leadership tasks conception, coordination, communication and cooperation the self-management has a crucial role, because the management of others begins with oneself.

SelbstmanagementThe stability of the own personality, i.e. the physical and psychological resilience, is the prerequisite for an effective control of the employees. For this purpose, one should have the following three areas under control.

Who am I?
The coherent self-image is the sum of the possibilities that one possesses in total. For this purpose, the following questions should be answered. Which roles do you have? Which interest groups do you have and where? Which actions do you execute? Which abilities do you have? What is your orientation framework? The better the aspects of the self-image fit together, the easier is the execution of a role and the more reliable you become for your stakeholder.

What do I do?
Most of us will pursue only one business model at a time. Exceptions arise e.g. as a result of the reinforced work in projects, new organization styles and more and more cooperation. What is the real business idea? Which value discipline is located in the center? Which benefit promises do you give to partners and customers? In which markets are you operating? Which products and services do you offer? How do you generate earnings? How does the complete value creation look like and which part is the most important for you? Who are the involved partners and customers? Which resources are required? How do you communicate and coordinate? The more people are working together, the more important is the description of your personal business.

Where do I want to go?
The strategy substantiates the direction, in which you want to develop. How does your vision look like? What is the mission that you have to fulfill? What are the internal and external critical success factors? Which value discipline is the most important in the future? Which strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and risks have to be considered? In which direction do you want to develop? Which are your long-term goals? What are your future core deliverables? Which core competencies will you need? Which will be your core processes? The clearly described strategy is the prerequisite for fruitful cooperation between frequently alternating partners. Thus, it ensures that all pull in the same direction and fewer friction losses evolve.

As soon as you have your three pillars consistently under control, contradictions are settled and all aspects fit to each other, the leadership will become much easier. Your possibilities mutually complement, a consistent picture becomes visible, and your self-confidence is reinforced.

When in Rome, do as the Romans

The easiest way to approach people is via their culture – language, life style and experiences. Who would start in Italy a lecture in such a way: „Bonsoir Mesdames et Messieurs. Je suis enchanté que… “. Of course except, it is a Frenchman, who is giving a French lesson. Even then, it would be smart to start the course at least in Italian.

InRomeasRomans

It will be clear to most people that it is proficient to consider the local conditions in a presentation. Nevertheless, many miss the opportunity to be better understood and eventually accepted by the audience.

This means that you have to recognize the traits of the audience besides the actual contents. With the self-image, these characteristics are well documented comprehensively. They are derived from looking at the visible elements of the target group. This includes the context, the actions and the capabilities. Based on the invisible elements, you can induce through personal observation or the look at the publications. The convictions, the recognizable roles and the fundamental solidarity with certain cultural systems are the result.

Imagine you would like to show a new product to your production area. You present the desired customers, the sales concept and the competitors. You explain the innovative technology and the successful design. However, you say nothing about the new requirements for the production, the manufacturing cells, the organization and the desired numbers of items. All information is important. In this context, it is more important to put the emphasis on the manufacturing aspects.

With this simple example, you can see that presentations should always be accomplished by bearing the target group in mind. If you are in manufacturing, do as the manufacturers. Otherwise, it can be expected that the actual message will not reach the target group and, in the worst case, will end up in resistance.

Bottom line: Specify before any informing the characteristics of the target group, with more or less details depending on the importance. Accordingly, the messages have to be aligned to the target group. An appropriate structure is provided by the self-image.

Videos:

The self-image in a nutshell: https://youtu.be/MvoCq2dONUI

Potential application areas: http://ow.ly/wdjWO