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What is the most important characteristic of a leader? Some might say it’s integrity. Others might say it’s being a good motivator. However, psychologist and author Sherrie Campbell, author of Loving Yourself: The Mastery of Being Your Own Person, believes self-awareness is the key factor in leadership success.
Self-awareness is the ability to monitor your emotions and reactions. It lets you know your strengths, weaknesses, triggers, motivators and other characteristics. Being self-aware means taking a deeper look at your emotions, why you feel a certain way and how your sentiments could turn into reactions.
Practicing self-awareness allows you to react better to situations or people who might set you off, which is a healthy skill to cultivate ― especially as a leader. When you’re aware of your emotions and how you handle them, you’re better equipped to process and work through them, avoiding unnecessary conflict. This ability will also help you set a good example for your team and make them more comfortable approaching you with questions or concerns.
Even if you’re not where you want to be as a leader, developing self-awareness and acknowledging areas of leadership weakness is the first step.
Without self-awareness, leaders can appear arrogant. If you can’t be personable or know when you cross a line, how can you lead a company?
The need for self-awareness also extends to other business situations. Consider how crucial self-awareness is when giving sales pitches, trying to close deals or handling constructive criticism. If you’re unaware of how you’ll react to a situation or can’t prevent negative reactions, you could get yourself in trouble.
Self-awareness is also a crucial presentation skill. Many people get nervous when delivering presentations, speeches or even notes at a meeting. Self-awareness can help. If you use too many filler words during presentations, practice your presentation and have someone clap every time you use a word you want to avoid. If you tend to sway or pace around while presenting, limit your ability to move by sitting at the table with your client or using a podium.
Coping mechanisms developed in childhood can prevent you from achieving career goals. By becoming aware of these automatic reactions, you can opt out of using them when they provide no benefit.
In addition to being aware of your emotions, self-awareness involves knowing how you will react to others.
“Self-awareness keeps us grounded, attuned and focused,” Campbell wrote. “When leaders are grounded, they can be efficient and deliberate in staying on task and being attuned to those around them. Leaders who can control their minds and emotions help to guide those around them to develop their own self-knowledge and success.”
Consider the following crucial self-awareness skills:
The right leadership language can help convey patience and kindness to your team. Your words and phrases can significantly impact your team’s morale.
Becoming more self-aware isn’t always easy but it can help you become a better leader. Here are 10 tips for improving self-awareness:
Self-awareness takes time, commitment and practice. Continuous open and honest dialog with yourself and your employees is a great way to understand your strengths and correct leadership mistakes.
Improving your self-awareness may sound like leadership training jargon. However, actively working on understanding yourself and your reactions has tangible benefits that can positively impact your career and business:
Strong self-awareness can lead to better outcomes in the workplace. Here are a few examples of how self-awareness can positively impact typical situations.
When asking your boss for a raise or a promotion, self-awareness will ensure you make a compelling case.
Understanding where you excel and where you don’t will help you be honest with yourself about what positions suit you. You don’t want to waste your manager’s time ― or your own ― going for jobs you’re not qualified for.
Being confident in your strengths and transparent about your weaknesses can convince your boss that you deserve a promotion. For example, if you work in sales and want a management position, detailing your excellent numbers and strong customer relationships demonstrate that you know how to close deals.
However, acknowledging that you could be a better team player and would like training in that area shows that you’re honest, trustworthy and committed to improving the company.
Ask about professional development opportunities at work to demonstrate your commitment to growth and improvement.
Whether you’re the CEO or an intern, receiving feedback during a performance review can be uncomfortable. While it would be nice to only hear positive comments, it wouldn’t be very beneficial. Critiques on what we could do better will help in the long run ― but hearing them can sting.
Let’s say you work in information technology and have a performance review coming up. Keen self-awareness can help you get the most from the situation. By acknowledging your weaknesses, such as slower ticket resolution times for specific software platforms, you won’t be surprised when the topic arises.
If you tend to react negatively to criticism, prepare ahead of time. Remind yourself that there are other areas in which you excel and that your boss is only making critiques to help you develop. Managing your emotions will help you digest the criticism and offer solutions, such as requesting software training. By avoiding negative emotions, you’ll build a better relationship with your superior.
Raise your self-awareness when preparing for a performance review by writing a self-assessment beforehand. It’ll help you understand your accomplishments and set goals for improvement.
Conflicts are a natural part of doing business, especially when working on a team. Still, self-awareness skills can help you resolve workplace conflicts effectively.
Imagine you’re part of the marketing team tasked with creating a new slogan for your flagship brand. You’ve come up with an idea you firmly believe in, yet your colleague has a different idea you disagree with.
If you recognize that you tend to back down in situations of conflict, you can work actively to find ways to be more assertive in championing your idea. For example, you could find alternative ways to communicate your points or enlist a trusted co-worker to help you convince the rest of your team.
Self-awareness is an essential trait for leadership. But knowing yourself is only the first part of the equation. You must make the effort to adapt and change accordingly, focusing on the skills and areas that will make you a stronger leader. Remember that working on self-awareness is not about becoming enlightened about who you are but, instead, growing toward who you want to become.
Sean Peek and Nicole Fallon contributed to this article.