Have you ever worked for a leader that completely lacked self-awareness? If so, do you remember how the actions of that leader affected you? The organization? The team? It’s usually not a pretty sight. In fact, a lack of self-awareness in a leader can be dangerous and have catastrophic consequences across an organization. When I was still working as a corporate employee I witnessed the consequences of this type of leader first hand and the effects were shocking. The leader’s behavior caused broken trust among team members, created an atmosphere of fear and disengagement, and ultimately led to several high performers leaving the organization. Self-awareness in a leader can make or break the success of an organization.
One of the best things a leader can do to increase her effectiveness is to increase her self-awareness. Self-awareness is not just a soft skill that is a nice to have, it’s actually a skill that increases bottom-line business performance. According to a 2013 study by the Korn/Ferry Institute, self-awareness — a characteristic essential to career success and improved executive leadership — also appears to correlate with overall company financial performance. The study found that on average:
- Poorly performing companies’ employees had 20 percent more blind spots than those working at financially strong companies.
- Poor-performing companies’ employees were 79 percent more likely to have low overall self-awareness than those at firms with robust ROR.
A 2010 by Green Peak Partners and Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations also found that “a high self-awareness score was the strongest predictor of overall success.”
Being self-aware means that you know your strengths and your areas of opportunity. It’s having a working understanding of your leadership style and your personality. Self-awareness is also about understanding how your actions impact the organization and the people that work with and for you. When you are self-aware it helps you make better decisions, build better relationships and create an environment that fosters creativity and inspires extraordinary performance from your people.
The good news is, even if you aren’t self-aware now, you can get there. And if you are already self-aware, there is always room to develop and grow even more. So, how can you increase your self-awareness? Check out my three tips for increasing self-awareness below.
- Get to know yourself really well (and take some assessments!). Take some time to think through what your strengths and opportunities are as a leader. Reflect on your interactions and how you might be perceived as a leader. Taking a moment to take a hard look at yourself is a great way to build that awareness. You can also employ some great assessments if you want to look even deeper. Assessments like StrengthsFinder, DiSC, Hogan and MBTI are great places to start learning more about your strengths, your style, your personality and your style.
- Get some real feedback. It’s not enough to know yourself, it’s also crucial that you understand the impact you have on the people around you. Asking for real and honest feedback can be scary, but it can also be a wonderful gift that will help you develop by leaps and bounds as a leader. If you struggle getting feedback from those around you, stay tuned for an upcoming post on how to get the feedback you need as a leader. If you need some additional help getting great feedback, a 360 assessment is a great tool that can do just that. (Give me a shout if you want more information on this process!)
- Slow down and reflect. A lot of the leaders I work with are running at 100 miles per hour. They are moving so fast and are so focused on getting things done that they miss crucial clues about their leadership style. Sometimes all it takes is to take a moment, take a breath and really look at your interactions, your decisions and your actions with a critical eye. By taking some time to slow down and reflect you can gain incredible insights about your leadership.
I truly believe that most (if not all) leaders come to work with the best of intentions. I think that they truly want the best for their people and their organizations. Unfortunately, without self-awareness leaders have no idea if their impact actually matches their intention. I’d love to know your thoughts on self-awareness. How do you think self-awareness impacts leadership?
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