Self-Awareness Training for Leaders (2024)

FAQs

Why is self-awareness important for leaders? ›

It enhances decision-making capabilities and other outer core competencies by enabling leaders to understand their thought processes, biases, and emotional triggers. Leaders who are attuned to their own emotions and behaviors can better understand and manage the emotions and behaviors of their team members.

There are many different ways to think about self-awareness, but four keys that are often mentioned included mindfulness, self-compassion, reflection, and feedback. Mindfulness allows people to become more aware of themselves in the present, while compassion allows them to do so without passing judgment on themselves.

Even though most people believe they are self-aware, only 10%—15% of the people we studied actually fit the criteria. Researchers have proposed two primary explanations for this phenomenon. First, by virtue of their level, senior leaders simply have fewer people above them who can provide candid feedback.

[iii] That same research shows that a leader's lack of self-awareness negatively impacts decision making, collaboration, and conflict management.

Successful leadership is grounded in self-awareness. If you are self-aware it means you have made (and are constantly updating) an accurate appraisal of your personality, of what motivates you, and what your strengths and weaknesses are. Without self-awareness, your effectiveness will always be limited.

Self-aware leaders know how to balance what they want their team to accomplish with the creative vision they bring to the group. For example, a self-aware leader may set achievable goals because they consider their strengths and weaknesses and envision the final outcome depending on their team's abilities.

Most researchers agree that we can influence our self-esteem, and Nathaniel Branden suggests six practices that form our self-esteem: living consciously, self-acceptance, self-responsibility, self-assertiveness, living purposefully, and personal integrity.

The 4 Pillars Self

These pillars include the body, heart, mind, and soul aspects. Each pillar represents a different element of our whole being and must be addressed from the child's standpoint and development in order to progress into a healing process.

Practice mindfulness and meditation

Both practices can help you become more aware of your internal state and your reactions to things. They can also help you identify your thoughts and feelings and keep from getting so caught up in them that you lose your hold on your “self.”

Why do people lack self-awareness? ›

Causes of Low Self-Awareness

Fear of vulnerability, change, or the unknown People who aren't very self-aware often have a hard time trusting themselves and others. They're afraid to be vulnerable because they worry about what someone might do to them if they let down their guard.

Eurich and her team of researchers discovered that while 95% of people claim to be self-aware, research shows that only 10-15% of people actually fit the criteria for self-awareness. Contrary to what you might assume, CEOs and top-tier leadership are less likely to be in that top percent.

Self-aware leaders are better able to understand themselves, regulate their emotions, and show empathy towards others. This increased self-awareness also leads to more self-confidence, the ability to make informed decisions, positive influence on employees and the organization, and success in their careers.

It helps us to become better decision-makers It gives us more self-confidence — so, as a result, we communicate with clarity and intention. It allows us to understand things from multiple perspectives. It frees us from our assumptions and biases. It helps us build better relationships.

As self-aware leaders, when we're able to take a good, hard look at ourselves in the mirror and question our own thinking, values and actions, we're not only able to encourage growth, adaptability and honesty within ourselves, but we also cause a ripple effect of self-awareness on those we are tasked with leading.

Self-awareness through feedback creates a more effective servant leadership model by helping leaders create an environment of give and take, instead of total dependency and power imbalance.