Self- awareness. We all know what that is don’t we.
Read an article or book on leadership and you may change your mind! When a piece of writing is difficult to understand not only is it dull to read it’s also difficult to remember. They don’t have to be this complicated and it doesn’t mean you have to dumb things down.
Here’s what I mean.
Apparently researchers over the last 50 years have come up with 3 different definitions of self-awareness:
- the ability to monitor our inner world
- a temporary state of self-consciousness
- the difference between how we see ourselves and how others see us
I don’t know about you but I really only understood the last one! It’s in the kind of language I would normally use and makes practical sense. I had to do a bit of googling on the others to make sure I had got the right end of the stick. So in case you didn’t already know ‘our inner world’ refers to our thoughts and feelings and I think the ‘temporary state of self-consciousness’ is when you focus on how other people view you. If I have still got it wrong please let me know!
But enough of that, I really just wanted to talk about self-awareness because I think it’s important to have – especially if you are a leader of people.
Let me refer you to Adrian Wheatley’s ‘simple’ explanation of why self-awareness is important taken from the book ‘Good Work Good Business: Practical People Strategies for a Changing World’:
Tip 2 Work out who you are – understand the hard-wiring
If you can deepen your understanding of what helps and hinders you as a leader you can turn this into practical strategies to help you improve.
How can you make the most of the personality you have rather than trying to be someone else?
In his chapter ‘Working out how to lead – practical tips from an accidental leader’ Adrian provides 6 tips altogether each of which reflects his learning and experience in becoming a more effective leader.
He also provides some suggestions to help you develop self- awareness:
- Consider using one (or more) of the reputable psychometric tools (e.g. MBTI, DiSC) to give you a description of your personality. Recognising that your personality is unique and impossible to classify completely, does the report offer any new insights?
- Seek to understand how your personality informs your motivations and your personal values (or vice versa). What are the things that you stand for and that are non-negotiable for you?
- Ask for feedback from others to better understand your impact on them:
- Build feedback mechanisms into your day-to-day activities. An easy way of asking for feedback is the WWW/EBI model (ask “what went well?” and seek suggestions how it could be “even better if…”)
- Use a suitable 360-degree questionnaire to give you data from several perspectives
Would you add anything else?
In the meantime if you’re looking for practical leadership tips in easy to read language take a look at our book ‘Good Work Good Business: Practical People Strategies for a Changing World’ . Each chapter is packed full of practical tips which you can put into practice straightaway.
All proceeds from the book go to The Trussell Trust https://www.trusselltrust.org/
You can find the book on Amazon as an ebook and paperback
- An online poll of over four thousand people from a representative sample in the UK revealed that regular readers for pleasure reported fewer feelings of stress and depression than non-readers, and stronger feelings of relaxation from reading than from watching television or engaging with technology intensive activities.
- Studies have shown that those who read for pleasure have higher levels of self-esteem and a greater ability to cope with difficult situations. Reading for pleasure was also associated with better sleeping patterns.
- Adults who read for just 30 minutes a week are 20% more likely to report greater life satisfaction.
Billington, J, (2015) Reading between the Lines: the Benefits of Reading for Pleasure Quick Reads, University of Liverpool]