What are the core competency skills required for effective self-actualizing leaders? I’ve been looking for the answer to that question since I began my studies in Self-Actualization Psychology in 2003.
One core competency skill that a truly effective self-actualizing leader needs is an appreciation of the self-actualizing drive in him or herself and in all people. That was Maslow’s and McGregor’s primary contribution to this question. They both argued extensively and worked to enable leaders to make the paradigm shift from Theory X of human nature to Theory Y and Z. A leader who does not think that way, does not perceive, communicate, and believe according to Theory Y cannot be a self-actualizing leader, let alone an effective leader.
So that’s one core competency. What else? A leader has to be self-actualizing him or herself. This is one area where incongruency and hypocrisy will completely sabotage the leadership process. The talk of self-actualizing has to be backed up by the walk. You can be the greatest orator in the world, but without actions to back it up, you will lack the personal power and authority to be credible. And that’s why congruency, authenticity, and being real are part and parcel of the Neuro-Semantic Leadership criteria (on the website) as well.
Anything else? Yes! As a self-actualizing leader who can and does effectively lead, he or she facilitates the development of a future vision. Visioning is especially the one thing that an effective self-actualizing leader does. He or she will constantly be awakening people to their own self-actualizing drive and to self-actualizing with their lovers, families, companies, communities, and nations. To not do that is to not be fully in the process of self-actualizing. Self-actualization, as I wrote earlier, is not about you— not about your ego, your individualism to the exclusive of that of others, it is through you for the greater good. As a social creature, human self-actualization is entirely and inescapably social.
So is that it or is there anything else? Yes, there is more, a lot more. And here is a surprise that I’ve experienced in the last couple months as I’ve had the privilege of presenting Coaching Mastery on three continents— in Europe, New Zealand, and South Africa. If you want seven very powerful core competency skills of self-actualizing leadership— then you can do no better than to start with the seven core skills of Meta-Coaching! Surprised? I was. “Who’d thunk?”
And yet, the seven core skills of Meta-Coaching, the very competencies that we benchmark are also the very skills of leadership:
Two competencies for creating connection with people for rapport, trust, and effective collaboration in a win-win spirit and which creates a crucible space. Leaders who don’t have a heart for people will not be able to lead people; perhaps they can manage things, systems, or processes. To lead people requires heart— care, compassion, even love. It’s been said that people won’t care to hear what you have to say until they know you care about them.
1) Supporting
2) Listening
Two competencies for being able to effectively explore the thinking, valuing, and understandings of people so that the communication is as accurate and precise as it is indepth and probing to the beyond-conscious mind. Leaders often face, and sometimes fall into the mistake of secrecy and turf protecting. But a self-actualizing person and a self-actualizing organization lives from an openness and abundance that knows that we empower ourselves and others through open sharing of information (rather than hoarding). People won’t share information who live in an environment of fear and positioning.
3) Questioning
4) Meta-Questioning
Two competencies for entering into an in-the-moment calibration that mirrors and shapes for the unleashing of potentials. True enough, leaders live in the future but not all the time. They have to come back to the now, to this moment; they have to be present to people and to the events of this very moment. And when they do, and if they have a deep heart-felt connection, they can speak the truth of this moment. This is the fierce conversation that can free us from delusions, lies, and deceptions.
5) Receiving feedback
6) Giving feedback
One competency for facilitating and enabling a person to fully experience what we talk about. Leaders get results and they do that by focusing on implementation that executes the plans and strategies that we co-create. To get results, leaders have to have an action orientation. Results only come from actually translating from mind to body, from mind to muscle.
7) Inducing state
If a leader shows a high level of competencies in these skills, he or she can effectively lead others, or an organization, which unleashes people’s potentials as it taps their potentials for intelligence, creativity, and innovation. And conversely, a leader who does not demonstrate high level competency and elegance in these skills has to rely on the old authoritarian command-and-control methods of manipulation, making him or her a boss, a general, a policeman, not a leader.
A leader with these competencies will inspire people to not only “buy in” to the vision of the organization or community, but become so engaged in their commitment that people will do whatever it takes to fulfill the vision. And when you have that level of engagement, any and all problems with motivation and retention disappear. And with a self-actualizing company, you will have a company on the cutting-edge of creativity and innovation— the only way companies can survive in these days of accelerating change. And that means continued growth, return-on-investment, and branding of the quality value that you add.
So what does this mean? It means that Coaching Mastery is an intense eight-day bootcamp in leadership development! That’s what it means. It means that when you develop these skills for coaching, you are developing your leadership skills for guiding and facilitating self-actualizing people.
It means that the Self-Actualization Psychology that you are learning and experiencing in Coaching Mastery gives you the most cutting-edge psychology/ philosophy for the 21st century. And because you are moving beyond the authoritarian psychology/philosophy of the previous centuries, you will have the ability to flexibly adapt to the trends and changes that are now inevitable in the marketplace. And given that “capital” is changing from things (buildings, real estate, money, etc.) to people’s brains and hearts, you will be capitalizing on the only true capital that counts—and creating growth and value through people. But there’s more! But alas, I’ll pick that up in the next Meta Reflection.
Dr. Michael Hall
Unleashing Leadership Workshop
The latest book in the Self-Actualization Series and in the Meta-Coach series is Unleashing Leadership: Self-Actualizing Leaders and Companies (2009).
As a leadership development workshop, discover how to identify your leadership potentials and unleash them — whether for self-leadership or leadership in an opportunity that awaits you.
Dec. 11-13, Imola, Italy Sponsored by BlessYou!
Nicola Riva and Lucia Giovannini
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