Self-leadership strategies for employees who work from home

Abstract

Purpose – This study sought to explore self-leadership whilst working from home. It offers perspectives on the ways employees have adapted the way they self-lead whilst working from home and also explored the self-leadership strategies employed whilst working from home. Design/Methodology Approach – The researcher conducted 14 semi-structured interviews with individuals that have been working from home since 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, who were still in 2023 working from home. The philosophical underpinning of this study was interpretivist as the study aimed to gain an in-depth understanding of the self-leadership strategies employed as well as how these strategies have been adapted in a work from home environment. Findings – The results showed that individuals primarily employ behavioural and cognitive self-leadership strategies, whilst the natural reward self-leadership strategies are under-utilised. Practical implications – Organisations have an opportunity to learn about the various self-leadership strategies that employees employ whilst working from home and can construct training and awareness to further develop individual’s self-leadership capabilities. Originality/value – Previous research on self-leadership has been focussed on defining the concept and in understanding its relationship to work outcomes. This study provides new insight into how self-leadership shows up particularly in a work from home environment.