What is ‘Personal Leadership’?

Personal leadership is one of the most widely used terms in leadership development, and one of the least well-defined. Ask five senior leaders what it means and you will likely get five different answers.

On the Henley Advanced Personal Leadership Programme, we take a specific and deliberate view formed by the Tavistock approach to Organisational life. This is one of the earliest psychological and relational approaches to the workplace, originating in the 1950s with a group of clinical practitioners in psychoanalysis working alongside social researchers at the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations in London. This group worked in practical ways with a variety or workplace settings, integrating the fields of individual psychology, group dynamics and organisational systems.

Each leader is, of course, a person. When development focuses on any of the key domains of leadership from business skills, strategic acumen, critical experience, to so called ‘soft skills’ and interpersonal capacities these are all about developing as a person. On the Henley Advanced Personal Leadership Programme we have a particular definition of ‘personal leadership’ and a focus on who a leader is.

Personal leadership is about three things:

1. The relational patterns and capacities that shape a leader’s interactions. This has important impacts at individual, group and organisational levels.
2. The self in role: how a leader relates to the work or role of leadership. This will be shaped by many factors including both personal and professional experiences of leading and being led.
3. The concept of internal authority: How a leader works with the inevitable uncertainty and ambiguity of leadership, and what they fall back on in tough times. We might think of this as learning to trust yourself and your capacity to think, decide and act.

1. Relational patterns and capacities

All of us are shaped by our psychology, which is in tern turn shaped by the relationships and contexts that we have been part of. From our first family, through school, to our chosen interest groupings and workplaces, we develop familiar ways of being with others. These are due to our personality – our preferences when relating to others, for example to spend time in groups or to take time out for ourselves. But these relational patterns have also emerged in particular circumstances and with significant others who have shaped us and who we have learnt to respond to. We bring these relational patterns into new situations, often unawares.

Leaders are frequently naturals at flexing their relational patterns. To be successful they have already learnt to adapt to particular situations and to tune in quickly to new people, to recognise what is needed in order to influence and motivate. However, as contexts change or the field of influence shifts – for example from relating within clear hierarchical positioning to relationships with C-suite peers or presenting to a board, established patterns can trip leaders up.

2. The self in role

Self in role is a foundational concept of the Tavistock approach to organisational consultancy and brings together an individual and system with the concept of role. Role is the task or remit a person is asked to take up on behalf of an organisation. This concept helps to understand how the self as leader is in constant dynamic interaction with the wider context. A leader might need to draw upon particular aspects of the self for some parts of their role: for example, a steady and calm forcefulness for communicating new structures at a town hall meeting, or maybe a receptive and open posture when consulting with clients or stakeholders about an important decision. Personal leadership is the insight into how you are inhabiting an aspect of leadership, and self-awareness around the relational demands of a leadership role.

3. Internal authority

In high pressure environments leaders often have to respond quickly., when the stakes are high. The capacity to integrate the information and opinions of others with one’s own instincts is crucial. Internal authority is what a leader draws upon when making a difficult decision, the knowing one’s own mind even in shifting, contradictory or risky situations. Personal leadership in this sense is the integration of the uncertain, careful parts of the self, with the capable, courageous parts of the self. The confidence to take a particular course of action, or perhaps to decide not to decidemake a decision now – all through being able to fully trust oneself.

Final thoughts

Whilst personal leadership has an individual focus, and takes seriously the inner life of leaders, there is a dual focus on relationships as essential to leadership. These can be thought about at a group level – both leading a group and taking a place in a group of peers or stakeholders. Even more broadly a leader operates relationally when leading an organisation. Through how they act, the culture they create and what they represent to others, leaders engage the people in their organisation in a symbolic relationship with both the work and the organisation itself.

Whilst personal leadership has an individual focus, and takes seriously the inner life of leaders, there is a dual focus on relationships as essential to leadership. These relationships operate at two levels:

1. Group - both leading a group and taking a place within a group of peers or stakeholders

2. Organisational - through how they act, the culture they create, and what they represent to others, leaders engage people in a symbolic relationship with both the work and the organisation itself.

The Henley Advanced Personal Leadership Programme offers a unique leadership development experience through experiential learning: an in-depth learning method that engages both the individual and relational capacities at the heart of personal leadership. Whether you are in a career transition, in a shifting context bringing role challenges or seeking to discover more about yourself as a leader this programme offers rich insights and sustained development for your personal leadership.

Find out more about the Henley Advanced Personal Leadership Programme