Have you ever been around a leader who lacked self-awareness? I think we all have at some point. In my experience, one of the major deficits or weaknesses that I see in leaders is a lack of self-awareness. This lack blinds leaders like nothing else does. It leads to blaming others, removing oneself from any accountability, unfairly finger-pointing to anyone else when things go wrong, and a host of toxic leadership behaviors.
Working for a person who is not aware of glaring weaknesses or deficiencies can drive you crazy. Watching them engage in such harmful or damaging behaviors makes you want to scream.
The Vital Leadership Quality You May Not Have -even if you think you do!
Unfortunately, it’s all too common. In one study, only 10% to 15% of people exhibited the traits of self-awareness; another study found less than a 30% correlation between self-evaluations and objective assessment of skills.
These findings suggest that many of us have a long way to go in developing real self-awareness. Some leaders may ask if it’s even possible to become more self-aware.
I say it is possible—but it’s not necessarily easy!
What is a self-aware leader?
Before we look at how to improve self-awareness, consider how to define it.
The worldwide employment firm Indeed, Inc. defines “self-awareness in leadership” as “an understanding of how your personality traits, habits, and abilities affect your interactions with the people around you, particularly in the workplace.”
Self-aware leaders have a deep understanding of their own strengths and weaknesses and how their words and actions impact others. They will listen to feedback and change their approach when necessary for greater effectiveness in the workplace.
Developing self-awareness can lead to better emotional management. It also goes along with a growth mindset that encourages the development of new skills and better ways of managing people.
Why is self-awareness in leadership important?
Self-awareness has several major benefits for leaders, including:
- Effective decision-making: Self-aware leaders will understand how their decision-making style impacts their approach and compensate as necessary. They can make better decisions that directly and indirectly impact the organization's finances.
- Proper understanding of their role: Leadership requires some ego, but when leaders lack self-awareness, they often have too much ego. A self-aware leader has a good balance of ego and humility, which helps them have a clear understanding of their role in the organization and how they impact results.
- Ability to set realistic expectations: Leaders with self-awareness will accurately assess both their own capabilities and their team’s, leading them to set expectations and goals that are neither too high—nor too low!
- Relatability: When leaders are self-aware, they present themselves as something of a “work in progress”—that is, they can admit their weaknesses and development challenges and talk about how they are improving those. For team members, this level of humility makes a leader approachable and relatable. It can make them more willing to ask for feedback and coaching for their own positions.
- Accurate perception of how others see them: Self-aware leaders have a more accurate perception of how their bosses, direct reports, and teammates see them than non-self-aware leaders do.
Characteristics of Self-awareness in Leadership
In my experience, I have found that the major characteristics of self-aware leaders include:
- Greater awareness of the needs of others
- Increased empathy
- Accurate understanding of their boss’s expectations
- Greater responsiveness to others
- Better listening and observation skills
- More adaptable
- Increased discernment
- Better emotional management
How to Increase Your Self-awareness
Seeing the benefits of having greater self-awareness, one asks how to attain it. Here are some methods I suggest from my own experience of coaching tens of thousands of leaders:
- Seek feedback from trusted colleagues: Whether a mentor, a co-worker, or even a leader from outside your workplace, find someone who will give you honest feedback about your strengths and weakness. Be open to this feedback, and assess how it stands up to your own perceptions.
- Leverage the results of feedback assessments like a 360° instrument: If your 360° assessment shows big discrepancies between your own self-perception and the evaluation of others, you probably lack some level of self-awareness. Look at those results carefully and plan to develop those areas where their perception is furthest from your own perception.
- Integrate data from your performance review with your supervisor: As you make plans to develop your weaknesses from the 360° assessment, be sure to integrate any relevant data from performance reviews. Be open with your boss about how you plan to become more self-aware and improve your leadership capabilities.
- Establish a relationship with a competent leadership coach: Find a coach who understands you and your professional situation. Set clear expectations and goals for growth with your coach, and make sure that coach helps you be accountable to your own goals.
- Research areas that you know you are strong in: Part of self-awareness is leveraging your strengths as well as developing your weaknesses. It’s possible that others see your strengths more clearly than you do!
Leaders with strong self-awareness are attuned to their own strengths and weaknesses, tendencies, emotions, and opportunities that need development. Developing this awareness and pursuing improvement will enable them to make better decisions and navigate through challenging situations with improved results and greater integrity.
Self-check:
1. On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being “low,” 5 being “high”), where is my level of self-awareness?
2. If I ask my boss, colleagues, or direct reports where I am on that scale, would they say the same?
3. What is one way I can improve my self-awareness?
