Are You a Leader Champion?

Meet a composite of people we’ve all probably met, perhaps even when looking in the mirror. Let’s call him Andy.

Andy is a good guy. His heart is in the right place. He seems to love people and seems to genuinely love encouraging others at every opportunity. With all his good intentions and encouraging comments, one behavior marks his personality. He talks too much, too long at any one time, and he interrupts others to comment the moment he gets the gist of what they are saying. It is incredibly annoying. Not just to me, but to many.

So, here is the question: Is Andy simply unaware of his behavior? In over 30 years of holding management positions in some successful organizations has no one ever provided him feedback to let him know that he would help himself and others to spend more time listening without interruption? Or has he been told but has not deemed the feedback significant enough to change? Or perhaps was making the change too difficult for him? Regardless, today Andy appears oblivious to this annoying behavior.

What is the extent of the consequences of Andy’s overly talkative, interruptive behavior? I do not know but can guess. Some people probably avoid him. Others undoubtedly tune him out because their ability to listen cannot match his seemingly endless ability to talk and/or interrupt. I’d also guess that he has lost some great opportunities because of this one behavior.

If leadership effectiveness (clearly supported by research) depends on a person’s ability to gain control over themselves– their mind, emotions, biases, and actions – how effective can a leader be for any length of time if they fail to continually increase their level of self-awareness, requisite to growth and change, and commit to act on what they learn?

Tennis champ Billie Jean King understood the power of awareness. She said,

“… self-awareness is probably the most important thing towards being a champion.”

Champions in any field are continuously increasing their self-awareness essential for growth. 

To avoid becoming an “Unaware Andy,” maybe it is time to check up on yourself. Are you on a path of continuously increasing your self-awareness? If not, perhaps it is time to take a more proactive approach by reaching out to your boss, teammates, or others with whom you work (or live), and ask them three Start, Stop, Continue Feedback questions: Click here to continue...

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