Why every leader should become more self-aware

In their book, A Theory of Objective Self-Awareness, Shelley Duval and Robert Wicklund define self-awareness as “the ability to focus on yourself and how your actions, thoughts, or emotions do or don’t align with your internal standards.” 

They explain that if “you’re highly self-aware, you can objectively evaluate yourself, manage your emotions, align your behavior with your values, and understand correctly how others perceive you.”

These skills are important for leaders to possess in order to produce effective results. According to an article from Forbes, self-awareness and leadership are inherently connected given that self-awareness allows leaders to recognize their strengths and areas for improvement, and regulate their emotions so they “do not cloud judgment or hinder decision-making.” 

Self-awareness is also linked to confidence, creativity, stronger relationships, and better communication, explains Tasha Eurich, an organizational psychologist. 

Even if someone believes they are attuned to themselves and others, they may not actually be self-aware. According to an article from Harvard Business Publishing, “[r]esearch indicates that only about 15% of people are sufficiently self-aware and that there is less than a 30% correlation between people’s actual and self-perceived competence.” 

Worried you are not as self-aware as you could be? Here are four quick tips to consider:

1. Know the difference, utilize both

According to Eurich, there are two different types of self-awareness: internal and external. Internal self-awareness is essentially how someone can perceive and understand their own values, passions, aspirations, reactions, and how they affect the people around them. External self-awareness, on the other hand, is someone’s ability to understand how other people view them based on those same factors.

Both internal and external self-awareness are important skills for leaders to have. As Eurich shares, internal self-awareness can be linked with “higher job and relationship satisfaction, personal and social control, and happiness.” External self-awareness can help with relationship building between leaders and their employees, leading to more satisfaction and efficiency. 

2. Utilize self-assessment tools

Part of being self-aware is about being able to see yourself clearly, Eurich explains. There are many tools that can be used to help somebody get to know themselves better, such as DISC assessments. A DISC assessment “measures dimensions of your personality,” including tendencies, preferences, and behavioural patterns. This type of assessment can help leaders learn about their communication, teamwork, and workplace styles, and identify their related strengths and weaknesses.

According to Forbes, self-assessments are extremely helpful because they create space for leaders “to reflect on their behavior patterns, emotional responses, and the alignment of their actions with their core values.”

3. Ask for feedback 

In a previous blog, we discussed the importance of asking for feedback. It is often not easy for leaders to become externally self-aware; to understand or be able to pick up on how someone perceives them. That is why it is often helpful to ask for direct, constructive feedback from your employees, colleagues, mentors, and anyone else who can offer an “external perspective”. These external perspectives can help leaders note similar patterns, pinpoint discrepancies between how they perceive themselves versus how others do, and highlight other blindspots, as Forbes explains.

4. Journal strategically

Eurich also recommends using journaling as a tool to become more self-aware, but that it needs to be done strategically otherwise it may not lead to improved self-awareness and simply be an exercise of “self-absorption”. Eurich offers three tips for people who want to try journaling:

• • Avoid writing about the same things, in the same way over and over again as it can lead to a “cycle of self-pity”;
  • Describe both facts and emotions, not just one or the other—you cannot learn about your emotions without facts, and you cannot learn about yourself without understanding your emotions; and
  • Write every few days, not every day because of the same “exercise of self-absorption” and “cycle of self-pity,” mentioned earlier.

At the end of the day, leaders need to find what tools help them best. Trying to become self-aware is not an easy task, but ultimately an important skill for every leader to possess.

As former U.S. president, Harry S. Truman said, “you cannot lead others until you first lead yourself.”

At Stratesco Group, we start by training leaders to think like leaders. We believe that mindset is foundational to learning new skills and applying them to reach each goal. Through the SoftSkillable^TM Leadership program, we help you understand your leadership style as you begin your leadership journey.  We teach you how to lead with your strengths and values so you can lead in an impactful way.

Book a call with us to learn more about how you can begin the journey to self-awareness as a leader

Featured photo by boggy22 from iStock.