Self Leadership Training Program

man smiling at the office

Empower everyone to take control of their own success

It’s not just managers who drive business success. Individual contributors serve customers, solve problems, and keep work moving every day. But in fast-moving workplaces, employees often wait for direction or hesitate when challenges arise.

Blanchard’s Self Leadership training program helps people at every level build the mindset and skill set to take ownership of goals, ask for the direction and support they need, and contribute solutions that move work forward. This practical personal leadership development experience empowers individuals to become proactive self leaders who improve performance, strengthen accountability, and help organizations achieve better results.

Talk to an Expert
Mindset of a self leader

Create a culture of self leadership to support and expand your people’s potential

To succeed in today’s competitive markets, every employee needs to be empowered, proactive, and committed to results. Blanchard’s Self Leadership training teaches individuals at all levels how to take ownership of their work, align on goals, and ask for the direction and support they need to succeed.

Built on SLII®, the world’s most widely used leadership model, this professional development program creates a shared language for discussing goals, performance, development needs, and support. Participants learn practical skills they can apply immediately to take initiative, solve problems, ask for feedback, and move work forward with confidence.

The result is a more accountable, resourceful, and solution-focused workforce that adapts quickly and contributes more effectively to organizational performance.

Frequently Asked Questions

Self leadership is the ability of individuals to take ownership of their work, motivation, and results. It empowers employees to be proactive, resourceful, and accountable. When team members practice self leadership, organizations benefit from higher engagement, innovation, and overall performance.
Self leadership training helps individuals understand their personal strengths, development areas, and influence on team success. Learners build confidence and the ability to navigate challenges independently. As a result, they become more valuable contributors and future leaders.
Self leadership programs are ideal for individual contributors, early-career professionals, and emerging leaders. Anyone who wants to increase influence and productivity while aligning with organizational goals will benefit.
When employees are accountable for their own development, they collaborate more effectively and communicate with greater clarity. This self-driven mindset strengthens trust, reduces friction, and promotes shared success across teams.
Yes. Self leadership courses are available in flexible virtual formats with interactive tools and real-world application exercises that make learning engaging and practical.

Have more questions?

Speak to an Expert

Flexible Self Leadership Options to Meet Your Needs

We can deliver Self Leadership in-person, virtually, as part of a blended learning journey, or as a self-paced online experience. Your individual contributors can build self leadership skills wherever they are and in the format that works best for your organization.

1 Day Instructor-led Course  

The Self Leadership in-person experience is a one-day course that uses a four-part learning path to ensure participants develop the self-starting mindset they need to move the organization forward. Self Leadership teaches individuals at all levels within an organization to learn the proactive behaviors required to:

  • Move from being responsive to being responsible for their role in the success of organizational initiatives 
  • Solicit the feedback required to develop expertise 
  • Take initiative in idea generation, innovation, and problem solving 
  • Ask for the direction and support needed to achieve their goals  

Prework: LAUNCH — Engaging prework assignments, including an assessment, which explains key Self Leadership concepts, and downloading the SLII app. 

Day 1: LEARN — Activities to define Self Leadership and Crafting a Personal Learning Purpose. Introduces the SLII® Model and a common language of leadership.  

Day 1: PRACTICE — Participants practice the skill of Matching. They discover that being proactive means getting the matching leadership style from anyone who can provide the direction and support they need.  

Day 1: PRACTICE — Participants review their Perceptions of Self Leadership assessment results and learn how to integrate and analyze their manager’s responses in their first One on One.  

Post Work: APPLY — Revisit the learning portal and access tools, including the Perceptions of Self Leadership Interpretation Guide. Prepare, schedule, and conduct a One-on-One Conversation with their manager. 

Virtual Instructor-led Course 

The Self Leadership virtual course with prework assignments completed before the course, followed by three two-hour live virtual sessions. The virtual sessions offer learners an engaging experience that includes instruction, group activities, and opportunities to practice new skills. 

  • Virtual session 1 prepares participants to learn the mindset and skillset of a Self-Leader, and challenge assumed constraints 
  • In virtual sessions 2 & 3 learners develop new skills by completing activities based on personal work challenges  
  • Participants will have Online Tools to apply content and use with others such as Perceptions of Self Leadership Guide, SLII App, worksheets, videos, One on One Conversations Process Sheet, and Self-Leadership digital assets 

Let us know if you'll need Continuing Education Units prior to starting your course!

  • 6 SHRM PDCs
  • 6 NASBA CPEs
  • 6 ATD Credit Hours

Collaborative Online Course  

The Self Leadership Collaborative Online course is a collaborative learning experience that lets you interact online and virtually with a leadership expert to guide you, work with a community of peers. Each week you will spend one hour completing coursework and activities, and one hour attending a live virtual session led by Blanchard’s leadership experts. The virtual sessions are scheduled at two global-friendly time slots.  

Week 1: Get introduced to the mindset and skillset of a self leader, complete a Self Leader Questionnaire, and start challenging assumed constraints.  

Week 2: Focus on setting clear and compelling goals. Participants learn how to craft smart, motivating, attainable, relevant, and trackable goals.

Week 3: Discover how to diagnose personal development level on a goal or task. Dive into development levels and get access to the SLII® mobile app. 

Week 4: Learn Matching: getting the leadership style each individual needs. Explore the second critical mindset: being proactive. 

Week 5: Learn how to identify and activate points of power. Use the One-on-One Worksheet to plan for a manager One-on-One Conversation.

Online Overview 

The online overview provides your people with a high-level look at Self Leadership. The module teaches several core Self Leadership concepts with exercises they can complete in a total of 35 minutes. It contains one- to five-minute micro-learning videos, interactions, and tools. These are for learners who need browsable tips and bits of knowledge for just-in-time help for moments of need. These flexible assets can be used to refresh or reinforce the content.  

Online Program 

Self Leadership Online takes your people through the essentials of Self Leadership. The content is broken down into seven-modules which contain a variety of engaging videos, games, stories, and activities ranging from one to five minutes each. Learners can complete this content in a total of two and a half hours. 

Online Program with Launch and Debrief Sessions: The Launch and Debrief sessions are optional and designed to be simple to facilitate. You can conduct a Launch session to set the context for learning and create excitement. The Debriefs provide activities with an opportunity to practice online learnings, discuss their application, and share success stories. 

Buy Now

Digital Assets  

Set of micro-activities, including videos, interactions, and worksheets, that learners can access in moments of need to support ongoing learning, performance support, reinforcement, and custom learning journeys. 

Self Leadership and The One Minute Manager

In Self Leadership and The One Minute Manager, readers learn that accepting personal responsibility for their own success leads to power, freedom, and autonomy. They also learn how to apply the world-renowned SLII® method to their own development, empowering people at every level of the organization to achieve success.

man smiling

Self leadership renews employee engagement by delivering self-directed purpose

Employees who are not engaged or who are actively disengaged cost the world an estimated $7.8 trillion in lost productivity. And in 2021, just 21% of employees were engaged at work. 1


1. Gallup, The World's $7.8 Trillion Workplace Problem.

Invest In Self Leadership To Empower Your Company’s Most Valuable Assets: Its Individual Contributors

The success of your company’s strategic initiatives depends on the commitment and proactive behavior of the people closest to the work: the individual contributors responsible for executing, adapting, solving problems, and making progress happen. When you empower individual contributors with the Self Leadership mindset and skill set, you build a healthy, engaged workforce that is accountable, innovative, and productive.

Accelerate Development

Accelerate Development

Self leaders take control of their own career development—they ask for the direction and support they need, moving up the curve to proficiency more quickly.
Improve Performance

Improve Performance

Empowered self leaders are more engaged and committed, consistently working hard and increasing performance across your organization.
Drive Personal Accountability

Drive Personal Accountability

Self leaders are not held accountable by their managers—they hold themselves accountable for achieving their goals and successfully executing your organization’s initiatives.
Increase Innovation

Increase Innovation

Empowered self leaders know how to overcome constraints that limit their ability to solve problems, address challenges, and develop innovative solutions.

Client Success Story

PHARMACEUTICALS

Accelerating culture change at Eli Lilly and Company

Learn how Eli Lilly combined Self Leadership with SLII® to manage a change and protect corporate culture.

Read Client Story

Ready to Get Started?

Contact us today to learn how Blanchard’s Self Leadership training can help your individual contributors build the mindset and skills they need to take ownership, ask for the direction and support they need, and become proactive self leaders.

Talk to an ExpertBuy Now

Learn More

Download the Program Overview

View Related Resources

Related Resources

All Related Resources
Blog

Why Self Leadership Has Become Essential in Today’s Workplace

Work has changed faster than most people's ability to adapt to it. Learn three powerful mindset shifts for succeeding in a new world of work.
Read Blog
Podcast

What Self Leadership Looks Like Today

Susan Fowler and Lucy Dannewitz explore what it looks like to move from waiting for direction to taking initiative in today’s workplace.
Listen to Podcast
Whitepaper

Developing Self Leaders — A Competitive Advantage for Organizations

Performance in organizations is often stalled because employees don’t know how to ask for what they need when they need it. 
Read Whitepaper
eBook

Is a Lack of Self Leadership Derailing Your Organization?

Giving your people the tools and skills to become self leaders is crucial to the success of your organization.
Read eBook