Self-awareness leads to self-growth

As much as the corporate world hankers after technical skills which are, no-doubt, important for a leader, now, developing the so-called “soft skills” (which are turning out to be not so soft, after all) has also a become prerequisite to enhance leadership capabilities.

According to a study conducted by Korn Ferry, 92% of the teams led by leaders that had high emotional self-awareness have high energy and high performance. In fact, innumerable studies recognize self-awareness as one of the core skills required for effective leadership.

Simply put, self-awareness is the understanding of self, including strengths and weaknesses, as well as the knowing of how we are perceived by others.?

Building self-awareness

For a leader to be able to effectively influence their peers and team members, it is essential for them to gain wisdom and perspective within themselves. The thorough understanding of who you are to yourself and who you are for others gives insight into what could be improved. Let’s see how self-awareness can be enhanced.

1.????Learning from past challenges and opportunities

Revisiting your reactions, actions and approaches from past challenges and opportunities can help you examine what worked and what didn’t. Digging in deep into the beliefs, thoughts and feelings that triggered those actions and reactions can be considered as an act of deep reflection that helps you refine your actions in the present.

2.????Pick and choose your traits

Our behaviour at a party and at a meeting is never the same. That is because we’re aware that not all of our traits are going to form the best of our identities in all situations.

A greater sense of self-awareness can help in building situation-specific identities to navigate through social interactions appropriately. A leader who is introverted, for instance, will understand the need to be more outgoing and communicative in a work setting.?

3.????Being aware of blind spots

Johari’s Window created by Luft and Ingham is a psychological testing tool made for improving self-awareness. It talks about “blind spots” – certain traits of ours that a group may be aware of but we might not have thought about at all. Gaining feedback and insight of our blind spots reduces limited understanding of self. Obviously, it is a great tool for assessing how we treat others.

4.????Strive for continuous development

Growth led by self-awareness is not a one-time thing. It is a continuous process that can take a long time to have a substantial effect on how leaders operate. As they gain new experiences, they gain more perspective of themselves and thus, the cycle of self-growth continues.

Self-aware leaders continue to work on themselves, altering their mindsets and actions to keep achieving a better version of themselves – it is the most authentic form of self-growth that has a great pay-off in all settings.?