by Katia Lossano Curated by Humahub
Today I present the 7th and last attribute of the ETHICS Leadership Model: Self-awareness.
ETHICS Leadership Model:
Ethics
Empathy
Trust
Humility
Intention
Commitment
Self-awareness
Self-awareness. I think you can never say enough about this topic. For me, it feels like everything starts and ends here. Self-awareness is important in all aspects of our lives. It is only when we open ourselves to it that we can truly begin to see (and to know) who we are. People with a clear view of who they are, tend to feel more confident, reliable, creative and to develop and nurture stronger relationships. Leaders with increased self-awareness perform better, are better decision makers, manage conflicts better, have more satisfied relationships with their teams and are perceived as more effective.
To Dr. Tasha Eurich, researcher and author of the book “Insight: How To Succeed By Seeing Yourself Clearly”, there are two types of self-awareness: internal and external. She describes the internal as how we perceive ourselves and the external, how others perceive us. According to her, internal self-awareness is “how clearly we see our own values, passions, aspirations, fit with our environment, reactions (including thoughts, feelings, behaviors, strengths, and weaknesses), and impact on others.” And external is how others see us considering the same topics.
A few interesting findings from her research:
95% of people think they are self-aware, but only 15% actually are.
Internal and external self awareness are completely independent. If you are high in one type does not mean you are high on the other. The leader must find a way to balance both.
The more experience and power a leader has, the more chances this leader has to be blindsided and not open to listening, because usually senior leaders will find less people willing to offer honest feedback and might think they know more than their employees.
Yet, she found that the top leaders, who showed high self-awareness, found a way to work this out. These leaders would seek constant critical feedback, from people who really had their best interests in mind and would speak the truth. They would also cross check some of the hardest feedback with other people to make sure they got a good understanding of it.
Also, they would investigate more about themselves by asking "what" instead of "why". Because she realized that "what" questions might open possibilities and keep us curious, and "why" questions on the other hand can limit us.
Are you ready and willing to check your level of self-awareness?
Here are some questions to warm you up along the process:
How well do you know yourself?
What are your values, passions, dreams?
What drives your decisions?
What triggers your emotions?
How often do you check-in? Do you have breaks that allow you to take a step back and observe: your emotions, decisions, learnings, possible blind spots?
Do you observe the impact you have on others and how they react to you?
Do you have people around you who would give you honest and critical feedback?
How frequently do you seek their feedback?
What do you do with their feedback?
Did you ever notice any patterns in situations, relationships, regarding the way you deal with things?
What can you do to improve your internal and external self-awareness starting today?
Lao Tzu once said, “Knowing others is intelligence, knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength, mastering yourself is true power.”
Here I finish this series of posts on the ETHICS Leadership Model! Leave your comments regarding this leadership model! If you want to continue this conversation, please contact us!
This model was developed with the intention of inspiring and provoking reflections about how we want to build relationships in leadership, consciously.
Check out the blog for the other posts and tools related to this model.
If you want to take part in the research on the ETHICS Leadership Model let us know to send the link and later the results.
Katia Lossano