Learn to influence yourself: Full range self-leadership training

Self-leadership, the process of self-influence on one's thought and behavior patterns is growing in its importance due to increasing demands for organizations in a fast-paced world. Thus, self-leadership skills have become essential for individual (self-organization of work processes), group (self-management teams, shared leadership), and organizational levels (flat hierarchies, achievementoriented organization cultures). However, training programs of self-leadership skills have so far not been investigated, leaving open the question as to which extent self-leadership may be acquired and fostered by training or intervention programs. In the current study, N = 29 participants were supervised and trained for over four weeks in all self-leadership strategies (full-range self-leadership training), and then compared to a control group (N = 29) without such training. Findings from a mixed method approach (with quantitative and qualitative data) indicate important effects of cognitive orientation towards personal strategies for an improvement in intrinsic motivation and goal pursuit. These findings show that specific self-leadership skills (such as natural reward strategies and constructive thought patterns) can be improved and optimized in targeted trainings. Given the rising importance of self-leadership in organization and personnel development (e.g., self-responsibility and self-determination of employees), findings are highly relevant for applied contexts.