Improve Self Awareness to Increase Impact
Having a realistic understanding of how you are perceived by others is critical to being a good leader and to being impactful in all areas of your life. Do you have an accurate read on how others see you? Do people see you as a person with integrity? When you speak do others listen intently? Are you respected by your team and does your team feel respected by you? Do you motivate and inspire those around you or are people afraid of you? Being congruent with they way you think others see you and the way you are actually perceived is directly linked to how impactful you are at work and in your personal life.
A study by psychologist Tasha Eric states that 95% of people believe that they are self aware but in reality, only 10-15% of people are accurate about their level of self awareness. Increasing your self awareness or emotional intelligence results in better performance at work. Better performance at work means being more likely to get promoted, having a higher salary and being impactful. Companies with leaders and teams that have high emotional intelligence are more successful and perform better financially.
How do you go about understanding and Improving your own levels of self awareness or emotional intelligence?
Get Honest Feedback
Asking trusted colleagues, friends or team members for feedback can be a great indicator of your level of self awareness. Consider doing a 360 review which is offered by many companies. A 360 review includes a self assessment as well as feedback from others on your team including peers, direct reports and your boss if applicable. Feedback from six to twelve people will provide a comprehensive report that shows how your assessment compared with the assessment of your team. There are several companies that offer 360 reviews but they can also be created on Survey Monkey or a similar platform.
If you are not comfortable doing a 360 review, consider taking an online emotional intelligence test to see how you score. There are several emotional intelligence tests available including Emotional Intelligence 2.0 which is a test that I’ve taken and highly recommend. This test corresponds with the book Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves.
Receive Feedback With Grace and An Open Mind
One of the most important aspects of a 360 review is allowing the people participating to feel safe in sharing honest feedback in a non-threatening environment. One way to allow this is to have the survey be anonymous or at least give people that option. It is imperative to receive the feedback that you get with grace and an open mind. Avoid being defensive even if the feedback you receive is difficult to hear.
Take note of the strengths listed in your feedback and be honest with yourself about opportunities for improvement. Remember that this is a chance to grow and become more impactful.
Take Action
After you have reviewed the feedback received, identify areas for improvement and create an action plan. Getting feedback or information isn’t valuable if it is not used to take action. Create a plan for improvement including regular follow up to measure your progress.
Enlist Help
As you assess your areas of opportunity, consider getting a mentor that excels in the areas that you need to improve. Hiring a coach can also be very valuable in keeping yourself on track and for receiving honest feedback. The right coach will help you stay motivated and accountable. You will make improvements faster with a coach than you could on your own.
Having high emotional intelligence is a better predictor of success than education, experience or IQ. Understanding and improving your emotional intelligence will help you to build strong relationships, improve your communication, reduce conflict and foster overall well being and success in all areas of your life.