Lesson

Self-management is critical for all entrepreneurs. This lesson explores a self-management definition, and how to improve your self-management skills.

Self-management is the ability to manage your behaviour, thoughts, and emotions in a conscious and productive way. Entrepreneurs with strong self-management skills know what to do and how to act in different situations. For instance, they know how to control their level of stress when an important deadline is around the corner. They know how to avoid distractions while working from home, so they can maintain focus and stay productive. Self-management means you understand your personal responsibility in different aspects of your life like for example in social entrepreneurship.

From an entrepreneurial perspective, the ability to self-manage is critical to the effective functioning of your company or start-up. Imagine an environment where the majority of those working within it were unable to stay on task, on strategy, and on schedule. That would make it very challenging to complete projects.

Self-management is even more important when we talk about empowering employees across your organisation to be more innovative and resourceful. When every team member understands their responsibilities, goals, and what it takes to achieve them, they can make better decisions and do their part to achieve the team and organisation objectives. Part of effective self-management with empowerment is that employees make good decisions about when to seek additional help or input.

Whether you’re an independent entrepreneur or project leader, all forms of (self)leadership positions require skills for positive interaction with employees and all other persons related to your company. These are the ten most important self-management skills for entrepreneurs:

1. Communicating

As an entrepreneur, you must be able to explain everything clearly to employees. From organisational goals to KPIs and specific assignments. As lord and master of one-on-one communication, team meetings, but also writing e-mails, making phone calls and tweeting, you prevent time loss due to misunderstandings. Setting up a two-lane communication flow between departments, employees and leadership is crucial in this, as is openness. And yes, that means that sometimes you have to save your important email as a draft because someone comes into your office frustrated, looking for solutions that only you can give.

2. Motivate

A strong leader does not do micromanagement but inspires people around him to give that extra 10 per cent. Learn how to motivate employees: for example, by setting up a reward system, or giving new responsibilities so that employees feel more bound to the organisation. Start experimenting. What works best for your team is not the same as with any other organisation.

3. Delegate

Handing over tasks can be confronting. Some see it as a sign of weakness, while it shows that you are a strong leader. To delegate successfully, you need to be well aware of the skills of your employees. You delegate tasks based on those skills. This way you hand over the detailed work and you can focus on strategy.

4. Positivism

If something goes wrong, do you dare to laugh at yourself or do you walk around like a farmer with a toothache? Even when it’s busy, positivity helps to create a healthy, fun working atmosphere. Simple things like asking questions about employees’ holiday plans create a positive atmosphere. If your employees feel they are working in a positive environment, they will spend more time there and be more productive. Please note that you cannot ‘fake’ this. Make sure your questions and interest in your employees are genuine.

5. Reliability

You are the first point of contact if employees or business relations have questions or want to express concerns. Integrity is indispensable in this, trust is only gained through respect. By being transparent in your role as an example, you encourage others to return that same honesty and openness.

6. Creativity

As an entrepreneur,  you find out that the world is more grey than black and white. You will often make decisions that do not have a clear answer. To be able to do that, you have to think out of the box. For that, there should be no ‘box’ at all. Most employees will be impressed by a  leader who doesn’t always take the safe, conventional route. “Because we always do it that way” is the most dangerous answer you can get or give.

7. Feedback

A leader is an entrepreneur, and an entrepreneur must constantly recognize opportunities. So is the chance to give feedback on someone’s performance. However, there is a line between giving advice and help, and micromanaging. If you can teach someone to perform better and make better decisions, you can delegate (see point 3) without lying awake at night.

8. Responsibility

An entrepreneur is responsible for the success or failure of the team. You must therefore also dare to take the blame if things do not go well. If your employees see that you’re just pointing the finger and blaming others, they’ll lose respect for you. Accept mistakes and failures, learn from them and come up with clear solutions (see point 1). You didn’t become a leader because you can do everything perfectly.

9. Drive

Putting words into action is the strength of every strong leader. The extra hours you put in to finish that project inspire others to do the same. If you make a promise to throw a party when a joint milestone has been reached, then you really should. If you demand involvement from others, you have to give it yourself.

10. Flexibility

Sh*t happens. Something can always go wrong at the last minute. If you’re flexible, you accept that you can’t change anything about reality. But with a good response, you can go a long way. Creative problem solving and going along with last-minute changes are also factors that command respect.

Finally, you should always be open to suggestions and feedback. If someone is up against something, take it seriously. It can only be a feeling or a misinterpretation, but these are cases where you can offer a solution through your helicopter view.