Originally posted to the TribeHR blog as "Coach Your Self: Pro Tips"

A recent edition of Harvard Business Review featured a great piece entitled Managing Yourself: Stop Holding Yourself Back. It’s worth a read, and we have a few tips to help overcome the challenges they describe in their article.

The authors describe 5 self-imposed barriers that prevent emerging leaders from becoming truly exceptional leaders within their organization:

Overemphasizing Personal Goals
Over-Protecting Your Public Image
Turning Competitors into Enemies
Going It Alone
Waiting for Permission

It would be easy for us to simply say "stop doing these things", but we thought it more useful to pull together some self-managing best practices to help you better coach yourself into becoming an exceptional leader.

Pro Tip #1: Mastermind Groups

There are many different types and models for mastermind (or peer-coaching) groups, but the basic principles are the same. First, you pull together a small group of individuals that are all interested in reaching a new level of success. Second, you meet regularly to solicit feedback from each other on challenges you are facing, to set measurable goals, and to review on how you’re each doing on the goals you set before.

The structure and principle are both simple: if you spend a bit of time every few weeks thinking about your goals and how to achieve them, you will not only keep those goals top-of-mind, but you will be more likely to pursue them. Add in a dash of peer pressure holding you accountable, and you’d be surprised at how much more effective you can be.

Here is a good link on creating and running a mastermind group.

Pro Tip #2: Ask for Feedback

One of the easiest way to improve is to ask for feedback on a regular basis. If you’re comfortable with the process, we recommend using HR software tools to collect anonymous feedback from your co-workers. If you’re not quite as comfortable with the written feedback, try taking a co-worker out for coffee and ask them for feedback over the course of the conversation. Some recommendations on asking for feedback:

Make it about yourself: note that you are looking to improve, not that the other person needs to change
Make it specific: avoid general statements, talk about a certain situation or behaviour
Ask for expertise: ask a person who does well in the area you wish to improve, and ask for tips
Finally, be sure to make note of what you hope to change - you need to make it clear you are taking responsibility, which will not only help you take action, but will also help your co-worker be more open to sharing feedback in the future.

Pro Tip #3: Self-Directed Reviews

A common dilemma in the workplace, is that people often feel that they don’t receive enough feedback. Rather than lamenting the lack of frequent reviews, try delivering your own performance review to yourself and track your progress over time.

If your company has a defined review process, use the same form so that you are keeping your activities aligned to the company. If your company doesn’t have a set process, then consider using this template from Microsoft (it’s a surprisingly succinct and useful form). When evaluating yourself, be sure to consider your work from the perspective of your boss and your co-workers. Rather than simply asking "do I perform well", also think about it as "does it appear that I perform well". Often, apparent performance issues are as much about communicating your work as they are about actual levels of effectiveness.

Pro Tip #4: Relinquish Control

As a final tip, review the tasks and projects that are sitting on your plate and for each of them, ask yourself if you should be managing them and if you actually need to be managing them. We often hold on to projects because we feel that we know the material best, however careful review of those assumptions often reveal that others within the organization would be just as able. Similarly, in an effort to be helpful, we often hold on to projects and responsibilities that really should have moved on to others.

By taking a regular inventory of tasks and responsibilities, you can identify items that either should be or could be shared with others. The first type (items that should be re-assigned) are often responsibilities that should be sitting on someone else’s plate - shifting these tasks will often improve the performance of your organization. The second type (items that could be re-assigned) may be opportunities to share new responsibilities with others that are looking to grow or try new challenges. By offering interested co-workers new projects, you’re not only helping them grow and develop but also lightening your work load, giving you more opportunity to grow and develop as well.

We hope these tips give you some new ideas on how you can take control of your own development at work.