Are you a self-aware leader?

CEO Gary Burnison says self-awareness is everything. Without it, we’ll never learn, grow, or improve. We’ll ignore our blind spots, overestimate our strengths, and gloss over our weaknesses.

Other than that, why else is self-awareness important?

It’s important because you get an accurate sense of strengths and limitations. You receive clarity on your values and sense of purpose which helps you to understand how others see you.

A 2004 research study by psychology professors at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Paul J. Silvia and Maureen E. O'Brien, revealed that self-awareness enables perspective-taking, self-control, creative accomplishments, and high self-esteem.

Here are 5 tips for becoming self-aware of blind spots:

1.       Normalize time for self-reflection

Create a habit for taking stock of your goals or career growth. Make sure you set a realistic goal for doing so it doesn’t get lost in your day-to-day responsibilities. Determine the frequency of self-reflection and block time on your calendar or jot it down in your planner to create importance around it.

2.       Ask your direct reports

Set up 1 on 1 time with the people you lead or interact with most in your professional industry and ask them for your blind spots or weakness.

3.       Behavior & Personality assessments

Behavior and personality assessments are an essential part of leadership development. However, we don’t always use this information for continuous growth but often file it away and never use it. After being debriefed on the report, ask yourself: how can you use the information to improve?

4.       Don’t ‘be afraid

Be brave and don’t be afraid of feedback. If you go into this journey with a growth mindset you will find a learning opportunity for most of the feedback you will receive from others.

5.       Do you have emotional self-awareness?

Daniel Goleman author of Emotional Intelligence defines Emotional Self-Awareness as the ability to understand your own emotions and their effects on your performance.

As you have read there are no hardships in finding out your areas of growth and it’s not difficult to incorporate these opportunities into your work routine. The real work begins in applying feedback to improve and strengthen professional relationships. Additionally, taking this time with direct reports will help you find what the people you lead need the most from a leader.


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