5 Easy Steps That Successful Leaders Take to Increase Self-awareness

Self-awareness is one of the keys of being a great leader. But learning to be self-aware does not come easy for most people. Being aware of your emotions, understanding your personality and what motivates you are some factors that are important to developing effective managerial ability. If you cannot manage yourself, you will not be able to manage anyone else.

Here are 5 steps to increase self-awareness for managerial success:

 1. Seek honest feedback

We may not always be aware of how we come across to others, hence it is important to seek out someone we can trust to give us honest and direct feedback. You do not have to ask for feedback from each and every person that you work with. Instead, seek out a handful of people (3 to 5 people) who have your best interests at heart, have a good understanding of your current job role and can be completely honest with you because they want to see you grow and develop. This could be a fellow manager, a mentor, a personal coach or your best friend. These are people whom you can rely on to give you critical and objective perspectives in your daily dealings.

 2. Keep a journal

Writing entries in a journal is a good way to help you learn from your experiences. Describe your feelings and how your reacted in certain situations. Furthermore, these entries could include your records of how someone else handled a situation well or badly, comments about interesting issues or your thoughts from articles you have come across in your work or seminars. Writing down information can help you reflect on your own interactions with others and think about how to do better for future encounters.

 3. Meditate

Meditating is not just for stress reduction. One of the best ways to reconnect with our true selves is through meditation. Set aside time in the morning or end of the day to meditate. You could schedule a regular time each day for about 10 minutes where there is no chance of you being interrupted and you can be alone. Take this time to reflect on situations and responses that happened during the workday. Try to gain a better understanding of what happened and what you can learn from each situation.

 4. Analyse your performance

For every goal that you have set, measure the progress towards the goal. When you assess the progress made, it can help you gain an understanding of your strengths and weaknesses. When you make big decisions, write down what you think will happen. Then compare the actual outcome with your expectations. This method can help you discover which areas you have exceled in and which areas you are not competent in.

 5. Mentor others

Mentoring is a win-win relationship. If you are making a commitment to help by being a mentor to someone, you should also be clear about the benefits to you personally. Mentoring facilitates your own professional growth, strengthening your coaching and leadership skills by working with individuals with different personalities and backgrounds. As you ask questions such as “why do this rather than that?” or “why are we taking this approach?”, they also help you take a critical look at your own performance and identify areas for improvement. Leaders in particular are expected to have high levels of self awareness so that they can guide their staff to achieve organisational goals.