Have you ever been assigned a task from your manager and didn’t understand what he wanted after an hour of clarification? Have you ever given directions to your coworkers and later discovered that they got it wrong while doing it? Are you interrupting people while you are talking and don’t want to be interrupted? If the answer is “yes,” then your communication skills are weak. This is due to a lack of self-awareness, which leads to missed deadlines, the frustration of employees, and poor performance. Today, as the world turns towards remote work trends, communication becomes more difficult. So, to excel in your career and assume leadership positions, you must develop your self-awareness to maintain effective communication skills, leading to increased productivity, engagement, inspiration, and employee retention.
So, what is self-awareness?
Self-awareness is how you see yourself and how people see you. When you are self-aware, you become a leader with high-performance levels, decision-making skills, excellent communication skills, and high self-confidence. Although many people think that they are self-aware, but the truth is that only a few are truly self-aware. In a Harvard Business Review article, they mentioned that only about 5,000 participants, or about 10-15%, are truly self-aware. Moreover, the study found that when the leader and the team have a single view of the leader, efficiency and productivity increase, and the team learns new skills and will have more power. Leaders relegate this to changes in the work environment and systems. Now, giving feedback and formally giving orders leaves a negative impact on work progress. Employees are now placing more confidence in friendly managers and those they communicate with, not against them. The good news is that you can start developing your self-awareness now. Here are some tips to boost your self-awareness
Get notes
“Feedback is the breakfast of champions”… “Feedback notes” have become a buzzword in today’s business world. So, it’s the driven key. Getting feedback from people in top positions and getting feedback from team members is essential for building a true picture of yourself. Try to keep asking questions regularly anonymously, which will show how your team sees you. This will help you learn, grow, and develop.
Rate your successes and failures
Spend more time assessing your successes and failures to determine the factors that lead to both outcomes. This will help you learn from your mistakes, develop more steps, and maintain the factors that lead to successful projects.
Keep learning
Learn new things every day, be it professional or personal. Continuous learning is essential to deal with the ever-changing world of today that only needs professionals. Plus, as you keep learning, you become more humble because you always remember that you are not the only person who’s an expert in everything. Stay inspired and be patient because it really pays off. And there are still new skills to learn and achievements to achieve.
Maintain your mental health
Practicing meditation for a few minutes has been shown to increase focus and allow people to pay more attention to detail. This mental stimulation will help you be an effective listener by being able to deal with external distractions. You avoid all of the stressors and be able to focus on just what you’re doing.
Take part in self-awareness tests
While we live in a world of numbers, assessments, and measures, many tests can help you assess your self-awareness and discover new traits in your personality. Some of the tests identify the skills you have developed over time and the changes in your mindset. On the other hand, assessments can help you gauge your emotional intelligence and recommend steps you can take to develop weaknesses. If you want to be a leader who can successfully: Empower his team, inspire people, transfer his plans, develop more personal and professional relationships that open more doors of opportunity which means greater success, then you have to keep increasing your self-awareness all the time because at some point coherence of self-awareness will be a skill that must be enjoyed by everyone.