Cultivating Self-Awareness | three approaches
“Success in the knowledge economy comes to those who know themselves—their strengths, their values, and how best they perform.” —Peter F. Drucker, Harvard Business Review, 2005.
Self-awareness. It’s foundational to success as a leader and to success in general. But it can be tough to cultivate; not least since a managerial role can bring with it reticence among others to tell you how you are perceived.
In my work with leaders of high-performing teams, I have found the following approaches to be the most effective in understanding strengths, weaknesses, and how an individual shows up.
Ask - and listen
Ask people what they think your strengths and potential weaknesses are. Ask for informal feedback on your performance on a recent project.
Listen. Even if you disagree with what you hear, perception is reality and it’s helpful to know how others see you. Don’t wait for performance-review season either. As a client recently said to me, “Bad news doesn’t get better with age.” But even good news feels better when it’s box-fresh.
Show people that you’re open to their feedback
Asking for feedback is only part of the story. Because when we are asked to tell people what we think of them, it’s often easier to sugarcoat what we see so as to spare the feelings of a friend or colleague. If you’re senior to them in the organizational hierarchy or in terms of tenure at the company, the challenge is compounded. They are likely to feel uncomfortable sharing anything other than glowing praise.
Saying that you value critical feedback can help - but sharing an example can be more effective still. E.g., “Earlier in my career, my manager told me I had a tendency to talk over others in meetings. I was taken aback at first, but sure enough, she was right. If she hadn’t mentioned it (which would have been the easier option!) I’d probably still be doing it today.”
Consider personality profiling.
We prefer Insights Discovery - for its rigor and professional-development applications - but all good personality-profiling tools will help you see a fuller picture of yourself. For example, if you are excellent at big-picture, strategic thinking, you might sometimes struggle to stay on top of the details of a project. If you’re someone who takes a lower-key, more introverted approach during meetings, you might sometimes find it hard to make a quick decision. Much like feedback, we don’t have to agree with every line of the profile to find aspects of it useful.
It’s easy to brush off or overlook aspects of what we learn about ourselves, but knowing how you show up is a vital element of bringing your best.
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Ellie Hearne is founder of Pencil or Ink – a leadership-communications practice in New York City. She works with leading companies to enhance performance through culture and is currently studying Organisational Leadership at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School.