In the Leadership Training for Managers course from Dale Carnegie http://www.dalecarnegie.com we discuss the Empowerment Cycle that managers can use to coach employees to improve their performance.
The empowerment cycle can not only be used as a manager or leader, but we can use it to improve our own performance in our everyday lives.
1st Self: Self Confidence: It all begins here. You must have the self-confidence to take the initiative to improve in your business, your life, your relationships, and in anything else you want to attempt. If you haven’t attempted it before, will your confidence be high? Nope, but the key thing is to just do it. Most things happen when you just start doing versus just thinking about it.
2nd Self: Self-Direction: We all must be self-directed. How do you become self-directed? You set goals and have a vision for your future. Check out my previous blog on this topic http://wp.me/p4eY1f-7I A person that wants to accomplish and improve their own performance will always be seeking a new direction, a better way, a better approach. Don’t allow life and circumstances determine your direction. Take the wheel and you steer the car where you want to go.
3rd Self: Self-Evaluation: Now that you have built up the confidence to take some iniative, and you have set some goals, and started the pursuit towards these goals. Now you have to evaluate how you are doing, how you are progressing, and is it working for you. My mentor says it like this.
Q: How long do we allow someone to stay in the fourth grade?
A: One year, right?
How do we know when it is time for them to move to the fifth grade? We give them a test and evaluate them. But we don’t wait until the end of the fourth grade year to do so, do we? Nope, we evaluate all year-long to see how they are progressing.
You have to do the same thing in your life. You must self evaluate and see how you are doing.
4th Self: Self-Correction: You must evaluate your progress and then make adjustments to the course if you are not heading in the right direction. Self-Correction is one of the most important steps here, because you cant expect to do the same things the same way and get a different result. You have to make corrections along the way, no body will do it for you. BTW: Number one thing I have learned in life is this “Change before you have to”. When someone comes along and tells you to change it is most likely to late. More on this topic later.
The fifth self: Is it begins back at the beginning of the cycle. Which is Self-Confidence. Every time you go through the four step cycle your confidence will build and you will get better.
Take the Four Steps above approach today to your work, to your personal life, to your finances, and see how it works and then tell us about here at the SDA blog.
To your success and your future.
Leave a Reply