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Personal mastery is one of the most essential leadership skills one can possess. The essence of leadership is inspiration through example, which requires a high degree of personal mastery. Before you can inspire the most desirable possible qualities in your team, you must first display them yourself.

What is personal mastery?

The definition is broad. However, personal mastery can be categorised as the best possible understanding and control of one’s nature.  You need first to understand who you are, how you react, and the way you think.  Then, you can begin disciplining yourself to respond more productively in the face of certain challenging situations.

Why is personal mastery essential?

Contribution is a core element of leadership, and personal mastery allows you to make the best contributions you can to solve problems.  It arises through your ability to leverage your personal experience, knowledge, and unique skill set into developing a plan of action that can inspire your team.

Personal mastery can also help you more productively deal with stress when tense or difficult situations arise.  It’s so easy to fall into the trap of allowing over-excitement, passion, frustration, or worry to inspire a poor decision – mastering yourself will enable you to make more informed decisions in challenging times.

Delphinium - Why personal mastery is a must in leadership

Ego is an essential element of your personal brand, but it must be under your control.  You need a degree of ego to understand your strengths and develop your confidence.  Excessive ego can negatively impact your personal brand by making you undesirable to work with and ultimately undermining your authority with your team.

The return on investment

Developing personal mastery is not a finite process, and there’s never an “end”, so you need to be prepared to put consistent work in.  There are, however, considerable benefits to be enjoyed.  One of those is personal satisfaction and the ability to improve your effectiveness at leadership and team management.  Another is more efficiency within the team itself, which means goals are completed more efficiently and to higher standards.

For more information and to take your first steps to personal mastery, contact Delphinium today.

Author: Gemma Rolstone | 12th September 2019