You Have To Manage Yourself Before You Manage Anyone Else

I was running a client workshop a while back.  It was a workshop that was part of a bigger project.

The client organisation had gone through a difficult period.  Morale had not unexpectedly taken a dip.  Difficult decisions had to be made that impacted on the group that I was working with.

In reality this is nothing out of the norm in most organisations.

What was interesting was the learning from the group who were not in the best frame of min.

There were many things I noticed.  The biggest of them all was this.

Before you can manage anyone else you have to manage yourself.

Why is this so important?  There are several reasons:

  • 1
    If you are in a negative frame of mind all that you are going to see in front of you is the problems or barriers.
  • 2
    If all you see is the problem or barriers then your creativity, initiative and problem solving capability will be stifled.
  • 3
    If you are negative about what has happened you are going to shift all of that negativity on to others that you interact with.
  • 4
    The more you stay in the pit of despair, the worse you feel.
  • 5
    If you keep focusing on the negatives your confidence and credibility is impacted.

So what can you do to deal with the situation?

  • 1
    Get all of your frustrations out of your system as quickly as you can. Find the things that get you into a positive frame of mind.
  • 2
    Focus on what you can influence and there is always something that you can no matter the situation.
  • 3
    Accept that like life in general there are going to be ups and downs.  Good times and difficult times.  Everything passes.
  • 4
    Acknowledge that the situation you find yourself in while difficult is not life or death.
  • 5
    Decide to take control of your thinking feelings and actions.

Managing is never easy at the best of times.  At the same time you are never going to do it well until you decide to make managing yourself a priority.

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