Better self-awareness equals better leadership. Here’s what it takes

Those who are self-aware are the best leaders. They understand how they impact others, which strengths they can deploy and which traits support or hinder them in their leadership of themselves and others. They use their self-awareness to make better choices and increase their effectiveness in their role. 

Self-awareness allows you to be your best self and lead your way effectively. Personal growth and development results when you reflect on your behaviours, emotions and thoughts. Self-awareness requires an intentional shift in gears where you engage in self-reflection and consider your progress, decisions, rationales and choices, and how these impact your leadership and those around you. 

By looking in the virtual mirror, you can gain further insights to discover what is working well and where you can improve as you lead your way. Unlike your IQ, emotional intelligence (EQ) can be improved during your lifetime. Researchers have found that developing emotional self-awareness helps us ‘improve judgement, develop bonding and connection, and… identify opportunities for professional development and personal growth’.

Self-reflection allows you to identify how you are performing day-to-day under normal working conditions, and also how you perform while under pressure. It can help you discover how you might be limiting your effectiveness through adopting automatic negative thinking, including the imposter syndrome. Perhaps you might discover how effective you are as you interact with others. You can consider how you are utilising strengths, how you are motivating and engaging yourself and others towards your goals, and how you are performing as you lead your way. Through self-reflection you can see how you are setting yourself up for success, or how you are impeding your leadership. It requires more than a passing glance. You must make time for self-discovery and insight.