__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Leadership Module: Lesson 2

We started off this lesson by recapping what we had covered in Lesson 1 where Slide # 2 provided you
with an overview of how this module on leadership is split into 3 parts; why everything begins with Personal
Leadership; how it is possible to ‘lead’ without being an actual manager; the differences between the circles
of concern and influence; why the first step in Personal Leadership is developing Personal Insight; and, why,
most importantly, you should have already developed great personal insight by completing your Sunrise
Exercise.

And then, as in Lesson 1, we provided you with the Learning Objectives for this lesson – found in Slide # 3
(on the next page).

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Leadership Module: Part I – Personal Leadership
1
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Slide # 4 was a reminder that, only by understanding your Fundamental Purpose is it possible to build a
meaningful Personal Vision. And that the information required to do so is to be found in your answers to the
questions ‘Who am I?’ ‘What do I stand for?’ ‘Where have I come from?’ and ‘Where am I going?’.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Leadership Module: Part I – Personal Leadership
2
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Then, in Slide # 5 we pointed out how important it is to ensure that Values and Objectives are clear and
meaningful and what the easiest way is to achieve this.

Slide # 6 offered you examples of how to clarify your Core Personal Values. Only by clearly defining them
will you be able to ensure that they add value to your personal development journey.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Leadership Module: Part I – Personal Leadership
3
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Slide # 7 offered you examples of how to clarify your Priority Objectives by writing them in an ‘action-
oriented way.

No matter what our Priority Objectives might be, all of us limit ourselves in our daily lives. Understanding
the ways in which you currently do this and developing simple strategies to overcome these ‘limiting beliefs’
was the next key focus area of this lesson.
Slide # 9 provided you with four examples of how we tend to limit what we can achieve. We started off
with the most obvious one – “I’m too busy”, followed by the belief that “it doesn’t matter what I want”, then
limiting ourselves because we fear the consequences of taking action before finishing off with “it’s not
important”!
“I’m too busy” sounds very familiar to us all and it limits us because it describes just how we tend to
neglect really important things when something less important but perceived to be ‘urgent’ comes up. Most
of us can think of many examples in the workplace where, for example, we’re told that a request from ‘Head
Office’ just came in and must be attended to right away.
Really? If we remember the ‘Strategic’ in ‘SMART’ and we dig a little, we might find out that it’s a routine
matter but a manager has deemed it to be ‘urgent’ because it came from Head Office. Thus – it would have
more strategic to focus on a longer-term, less ‘urgent’ priority report than to drop it. We’ll revisit this ‘urgent
vs important’ dilemma when we get to Personal Planning!
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Leadership Module: Part I – Personal Leadership
4
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

In the lesson we mentioned that the belief of “it doesn’t matter what I want” often happens in the
workplace when either a manager doesn’t listen to any inputs from the workers in her or his team or there is
a team member who insists on putting forward her or his viewpoint. If this has happened to you we said that
you shouldn’t despair. You are not unique! Many of us have experienced our manager coming up with a ‘new
idea’ that we proposed in a meeting 2 months ago and that the manager appeared to ignore. Recognising that
the problem doesn’t lie with us is crucial in overcoming this limiting belief.
We pointed out that the third way of limiting ourselves was to fear the consequences of taking action
because we see it as ‘risky’. Often this is as simple as ‘not wanting to make a fool of myself’! Sometimes in life
we have to take a risk to move forward and grow as a person. Later in the lesson we pointed out the value of
asking for support, which is so valuable in situations like this.
Finally, telling ourselves that “it’s not important” needs to be interrogated. If the action to be taken
supports the achievement of a priority objective for you then it is important – no matter how insignificant it
may seem at the time! It might just be a small piece of a much larger puzzle that can’t be finished without it.
It is, however, possible to overcome limiting beliefs and in Slide # 10 we reminded you that in your
Sunrise Exercise you were asked to think of your positive characteristics and how they could help you to
handle pressure situations. You also had to decide on your Priority Objectives, knowing that you would have
to overcome your limitations standing the way of achieving them. Finally Amy Purdy faced challenges that
seemed insurmountable. Yet she did so by turning negative limitations into opportunities.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Leadership Module: Part I – Personal Leadership
5
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thus, to overcome obstacles in our path to achieving our goals we saw in Slide # 11 that adhering to
‘SMART’ principles would ensure we focused on priority objectives, set measurable milestones, be willing to
take responsibility for the actions required, make sure that actions must be relevant and the milestones
should not be too far in the future.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Leadership Module: Part I – Personal Leadership
6
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Secondly, in Slide # 12 we saw that there are four simple steps we can use to really become the source of
the changes we need to make to overcome those limiting beliefs and obstacles in our way. You saw that these
steps continuously refer back to what we have already covered. For example, acknowledging the obstacle as a
key first step and making sure that you are clear on what you are not prepared to do to achieve your goals as
well as constantly making your strategies ‘SMART’.

Step 2, however, represents the key questions you have to ask yourself here.
1. “What am I willing to do about overcoming the limiting belief or obstacle?”
2. “Can I do this on my own or do I need support from others to improve my chance of succeeding?”

In Slide # 13 we provided you with examples of the questions you could ask yourself; ask others; and ask
your organisation. These are the type of questions that should lead to you receiving the practical support
required to achieve your hoped for outcomes.
In Example 1, Ask myself “Am I able to plan ahead in small steps (instead of trying to do too at once)?”
you could; Ask a colleague “Can I talk to you about my idea? Are you willing to give me constructive
feedback?”
Ask my Team Leader, Manager or HR Department in my Company “Will you support me
if I take the time to develop my own Personal Development Plan?”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Leadership Module: Part I – Personal Leadership
7
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Finally, we shared Slide # 14 with you as a reminder that developing Personal Insight is not just a tick box
exercise. It is an on-going process and the good news is that your Sunrise Exercise document should always
provide you with a key reference point! For example, as with really successful and progressive organisations,
it should remind you of the need to re-visit your Personal Vision and your Personal Values from time-to-time.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Leadership Module: Part I – Personal Leadership
8
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

In the next lecture we will be focusing on what you can do to effectively apply the principle of Personal
Positioning to ensure you move forward.
Please remember that completing your homework of;
1. reviewing and defining your 5 Core Personal Values
2. reviewing and re-writing your Top 5 Priority Objectives, and,
3. completing your Trust Orientation Profile will be very helpful when tackling this important next step.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Leadership Module: Part I – Personal Leadership
9