Mindful Minute – Understanding Yourself: Seeing Yourself Clearly So You Can Lead Others Well
Greetings, Leader!
Have you ever worked with someone who lacked self-awareness? How did that affect you?
Many leadership failures are not about ability. They are about awareness. Leadership begins within, so before we can consistently understand, serve, or influence other people well, we must become more aware of what is happening within us. Every one of us brings something into every relationship and every room: our attitudes and emotions, our experiences and assumptions, our strengths and insecurities, and our habits, motives, and expectations.
Whether we recognize them or not, these things affect how we communicate, make decisions, respond to pressure, and treat people.
When we lack self-awareness, we tend to react before thinking, blame others for our responses, repeat unhealthy patterns, and resist feedback that could help us grow.
When we develop self-awareness, we become better able to: recognize our emotions without being controlled by them, understand our strengths and limitations, accept responsibility for our choices, respond intentionally instead of reacting automatically, and recognize how our behavior affects others.
External self-awareness is understanding how other people experience us. It asks whether the way we see ourselves is consistent with the effect our behavior has on others. We usually judge ourselves by our intentions. Other people experience us through our behavior.
At Mind Lens, we help leaders see what they may not be able to see on their own—by turning honest employee feedback into insight they can actually use. Sometimes one insight can change a conversation. One conversation can change an employee’s experience. And retaining just one valuable employee can more than pay for the investment.
I’d be curious: How confident are you that you know what your best employees would say about working in your organization today?
If that question makes you curious too, I’d enjoy comparing notes.
