Aligning Your Ideal and Real Self for Leadership Mastery
The “ideal self” is a vision of your best possible future Self. It’s the version of you that aligns with your most important values, goals, and experiences. It’s also aspirational and inspirational, representing the person you want to become.
Think of it as a motivating core within yourself that focuses on your desires, hopes, aspirations, dreams, purpose, and calling. It’s a blend of conscious and unconscious elements unique to each individual.
When your actual Self matches up with this ideal Self, it can lead to a sense of fulfillment and rewards, according to Carver and Scheier.
In essence, having a solid and healthy ideal self can energize managers and leaders and contribute to their overall satisfaction in life.
Developed by Richard Boyatzis, Intentional Change Theory is a psychological framework developed by Richard Boyatzis and his colleagues that focuses on understanding and facilitating personal and organizational change. It has particular relevance for leaders and organizations seeking to promote behavioral change and achieve desired outcomes. ICT is based on the idea that sustainable change occurs when individuals and organizations are intentional about their goals and behaviors.
The five steps to align your Real Self with your Ideal Self
Intentional Change offers a roadmap for leaders and managers eager to ignite meaningful personal and organizational transformation. Integrating the validated Management Drives method, you are guaranteed to achieve personal and professional success💡
Let us have a look at the five steps to align your Real Self with your Ideal Self:
🌟 Step 1: Define Your North Star
Unleash your potential by envisioning your “Ideal Self.” What qualities and skills do you aspire to embody as a leader?
🌟 Step 2: Embrace Your Reality
To evolve, you must acknowledge your “Real Self.” Candidly assess your strengths, weaknesses, values, and behaviors by taking the 20-minute online Management Drives survey and receiving your personal profile🤔
🌟 Step 3: The Learning Agenda
Bridge the gap between your ‘Ideal’ and ‘Real’ selves with a tailored “Learning Agenda.”
In a 90-minute feedback and coaching session, the first step in the coaching process, I discuss with you your Management Drives Profile, which clearly shows you:
– your motivational drivers
– the behavior you would like to exhibit but which potential thereof you have not fully developed yet
– your behavior under pressure, and
– your behavioral wishes and desires.
Integrating Drives-Centred Coaching with Intentional Change, we explore your Ideal and Real Self, the overlap (strengths), and how to reduce the gap by setting clear, achievable goals for your sustainable change into your Ideal Self.
🌟 Step 4: Dare to Experiment
I encourage you to roll up your sleeves and experiment with new behaviors based on our exploration of your ideal Self and the strengths that you already possess. Through our coaching, you discover and dare to experiment with the behaviors you like to develop. Embrace feedback, reflect on your journey, and evolve with intention. 🌱
🌟 Step 5: Resonance & Renewal
Stay true to your values and ideals. When in harmony, you’ll experience profound, lasting change. Regularly revisit and update your learning agenda for continued growth. 🔄
Your leadership journey is a masterpiece in the making.
Intentional change with the help of your Management Drives Profile is your brush, and these steps in the coaching process are your strokes.
Ready to paint your path to success? 🎨👩🎨
So, how is this proven coaching approach an essential pathway to success for Leaders and Organizations?
- Goal Alignment: Intentional Change helps leaders and organizations align their goals with their values and desired outcomes, fostering a sense of purpose and direction.
- Sustainable Change: By encouraging a focus on intentional change, the coaching process promotes lasting behavioral transformation rather than short-term fixes.
- Adaptability: In a rapidly changing business environment, leaders and organizations that can adapt to new challenges and opportunities are more likely to thrive. Coaching helps build adaptive capabilities.
- Employee Engagement: When leaders and organizations support personal and professional growth and development, it can increase employee engagement and job satisfaction.
- Improved Leadership Effectiveness: Leaders who apply intentional change principles can become more self-aware, empathetic, and effective in guiding their teams toward achieving organizational goals.
Intentional Change Theory provides a structured framework for leaders and organizations to facilitate meaningful and sustainable behavioral change.
By helping individuals and organizations clarify their goals, understand their current state, and create a deliberate plan for growth and development, integrating the Intentional Change Theory with Management Drives can be transformative in promoting positive change in leadership and organizational culture.
