Self-awareness is understanding who you are. Being aware of your thoughts, beliefs, emotions, personality, strengths and weaknesses.
Self-awareness is a core component of Emotional Intelligence (EI or EQ). Many people lack self-awareness about their knowledge, skills, abilities or experience.
It is true when people say there is a difference between who you believe you are and how people view you. Everyone has blind spots.
In practice, I have noticed there is a disconnect between performance and accurate self-awareness. I will commonly see that an individual believes they have better skills in an area than they actually have. Their colleagues know they need to improve these skills.
The issue becomes when the person doesn’t see the need for improvement or development in this area.
Some examples of a lack of self-awareness:
- the team member who believes they are a great communicator, yet they give people too much detailed information, that leaves clients confused
- the individual who leaves behind a wake of upset people due to a brisk communication style when they are stressed
- the employer who makes promises yet never takes action
- the veterinarian who makes recommendations and bookings for procedures only to have clients complain and cancel later as they felt pressured
- the veterinarian who believes they are efficient and productive, yet no one wants to work with them due to their dictatorship style
- the individual who justifies, complains or refuses to listen after being given feedback as they don’t believe it applies to them.
What should you do?
- When you are given feedback, listen!
- View the feedback as constructive information, not criticism
- Become self-aware
- Identify the areas for development and take action
- Focus on life long learning
HBR wrote an article which is worth reading: We’re Not Very Self-Aware, Especially at Work
Last year I undertook further training and become a Certified Social + Emotional Intelligence Coach. Contact me to enquire about S+EI Coaching to assess your EI skills and develop your Emotional Intelligence competencies that are essential for your career success.
Natasha
