How to get promoted blog 2: Self awareness

Whilst at a first glance working on self-awareness may appear an indirect route to your promotion goal, there is an abundance of evidence supporting the notion that the workers with more self-awareness progress more quickly and make better leaders.

At its highest level, everyone considering promotion needs to aware of what their chances of promotion really are, and what they need to do to get it. Being realistic about what your real prospect are is critical; you may go for it now, sometime in the future or not at all (and maybe need to consider moving on).?

However, good self-awareness is much more useful?than that. It can help you regulate your emotions, make you more confident, help you make better choices (professionally and personally) and, ultimately, gives you a better perspective on a range of situations including, obviously, your hoped-for promotion.

Your self-awareness also impacts those around you; both those you lead and are led by. It can improve your ability to communicate with a higher understanding of your own emotions and the emotions of those around you. Being more in tune with yourself and those around you can help you build stronger relationships, and help others make better choices.

So, when you do get that promotion you are much more likely to succeed and be a better leader.

There are many techniques to help develop self awareness. One proven method is the Johari window, designed by American psychologists Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham (“Jo” and “Hari”). Google it - its really useful!

The approach is designed to sharpen an individual’s self-perception with the support of others. It has two ideas at its core: firstly, that the trust of others can be deepened by sharing information about yourself with those around you; the more you share the deeper your relationships.? Secondly, that awareness of self will grow as others give you candid feedback; feedback received deepens self-awareness.

By using tools such as the Johari window, we can all understand more about ourselves and become more aware of our blind spots, and the areas that we deliberately hide from others. Over time, through self-reflection, high-quality feedback and strong communication we can grow our awareness and reduce what we hide either from others or from ourselves.?

In essence, the more open we are, the more we understand ourselves and are understood by others, the more effective we can be with our colleagues and the more likely progression and promotion will be.