The Self-Awareness Guy

Leadership, Self-Awareness, and Getting Rid of Workplace Hierarchy

February 11, 2023 - The Self-Awareness Guy

Leaders who possess self-awareness don’t support hierarchy because they understand that people function better and feel more valued when they’re not put in constricting boxes or compared to others based on arbitrary designations because of someone’s need for power and control.

Hierarchy is an inescapable reality in our workplaces even though it stifles creativity and independent thinking. It generally comes from what we saw in our families: One or two people who are in charge, write the law and don’t allow for any input or questioning because it’s against the order they’ve imposed. Leaders who lack self-awareness may not realize how the walls they build between people affect the functioning of their organizations. Authoritarian hierarchy creates many undesirable effects:

People don’t feel important.
People aren’t heard.
All rules are issued from above.
Creative thinking is discouraged.
Questioning is forbidden.
People are labelled and put in boxes.
Decision-making is based on rank or status.
Leadership enjoys additional perks.
People are afraid to think autonomously.
Everyone’s role is defined from the top.
Little tolerance for new ideas or approaches.

A large percentage of our workplaces are designed to manage and control employees rather than let them shine. The key to creating a self-aware, dynamic, fluid workplace is to get rid of the barriers between people and encourage them to interact freely and share ideas. Sure, there will be times when leadership has to make a final decision, but it will be less frequent because people are amazingly adept at thinking on their own when we let them.

What will you do to develop self-awareness and reduce the influence of hierarchy in your workplace?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and How to Fix Workplace Problems

February 11, 2023 - The Self-Awareness Guy

Self-awareness helps you fix workplace problems because, when people understand how their emotions, thoughts, and actions affect the workplace, they are able to work on actually resolving the issues at hand instead of perpetuating or making them worse.

During my consulting sessions the theme of how to fix workplace problems arises frequently. We tend to be fixers in our culture and, from an early age, we are taught to confront any problem with an immediate fix. This greatly affects how we deal with challenges in our workplaces. If a colleague asks us for help or just wants us to listen to him or her we often jump to an unsolicited fix. When employees talk with us about our behavior we frequently react by looking for a fix rather than learning more about ourselves.

We do a whole lot of fixing and not as much self-aware thinking and reflecting. This leads to an approach to workplace interactions where everyone reacts to everything rather than pausing a bit and doing some thoughtful planning beforehand.

While I like resolving issues as much as the next person, it’s also important to devote some attention and importance to just working on things without fixing them immediately. The next time someone comes to you with a problem in your workplace, use your self-awareness to do the following:

1. Listen without interrupting or offering advice.

2. Give yourself permission not to fix anything.

3. Let the person talk to you freely and give them the time to do so.

4. Even if you disagree, don’t rebut or become defensive.

5. Learn to recognize the things that trigger your defensiveness or anger.

6. Offer to listen to the person again in the future.

7. Always remain calm and kind.

The act of listening changes the whole dynamic in workplace interactions. Suddenly you can learn what other people really think and simply bond with them. This strategy is different because it requires that, instead of talking or jumping in, you just let someone else tell you about the things they find meaningful. This approach greatly reduces hurt feelings and anger because it encourages you to react calmly to anything another person says and helps the other person feel important.

What will you do to develop self-awareness and fix problems in the workplace more effectively?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Increasing Your Leadership Success

February 10, 2023 - The Self-Awareness Guy

Self-awareness helps you increase your leadership success because, when you understand your own and others’ emotions, thoughts, and actions, you’re able to create a dynamic workplace where you and other people consciously do things that lead in a positive direction.

There are a lot of leadership consulting programs out there that promise us that we can change our workplaces, lead better or be more successful if we just think about it hard enough. While I’m a big believer in the power of positive thinking, I like to add an extra dimension called taking real action.

When you decide to move from an idea that’s in your head to actually doing something you open a door to being more successful because you increase your commitment to changing something in your life. Try the following practical steps to increase your success.

Think of something you want to achieve.
Think of various actions you can take to achieve it.
Pick one action to do today and decide by when you’ll complete it.
Move to the next action.

If you practice these four steps over time you’ll find that you get much better at focusing on something and actually doing it. As you improve your ability to take action you will increase your leadership success.

Leadership success is about actually doing things that help you build a healthier and more productive workplace. All you have to do is commit to changing the patterns you’ve established up to now by replacing them with actions that will get you where you want to be.

What will you do to develop self-awareness and increase your leadership success?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Effective Communication

February 10, 2023 - The Self-Awareness Guy

When you possess self-awareness you’re able to practice effective communication because you’re cognizant of how you come across to people. Leaders who don’t understand their own behavior, and how they’re perceived by others, create communication glitches like misunderstandings or hurt feelings. Here are some examples of the connection between self-awareness and effective communication:

Self-awareness means that you know how your thoughts, emotions and behaviors affect others and you’re able to manage yourself so that the other person is an important part of the conversation.
Self-awareness helps you be more comfortable with yourself so you can relate to others with genuine confidence and kindness.
Self-awareness allows you to get out of the way and let people tell you what’s important to them without letting your stuff complicate the interaction.
Self-awareness gives you the ability to shift from always having to talk (the result of ego) to listening to people instead.
Self-awareness helps you communicate with others on a deeper level because you make them feel valued and important.
Self-awareness helps you understand how others see you and how you can adapt to make more meaningful connections and build stronger relationships.
Self-awareness helps you collaborate with others.

Many leaders burst into the room and start talking when all they really need to do is relax a bit and listen. Effective communication means that you understand how not to get in the way of meaningful conversations. Self-aware leaders understand that there’s more than one person in the room and that everyone’s input matters. How will you use self-awareness to practice effective communication?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Aware Leaders Delegate Well

February 10, 2023 - The Self-Awareness Guy

I’ll often hear leaders who lack self-awareness talk about the importance of delegating and in the next breath describe how they micromanage things and check up on everything their employees do. There’s a big difference between saying you delegate and being self-aware and actually doing it. Here are 10 signs that you might need to delegate a little more.

1. Your employees keep giving you hints they’d like to take on more responsibility.

2. Your employees keep reminding you that they’re able to do certain things without supervision.

3. You notice conflict or dissatisfaction arising when you give orders or assign tasks.

4. People don’t tell you key things or avoid consulting with you on important matters.

5. Your employees don’t seem all that happy or motivated.

6. There’s not a whole lot of creativity going on in your workplace.

7. Things are always done your way.

8. People aren’t encouraged to come up with new ways of doing things.

9. Employees seem dependent or can’t get things right when you’re not there.

10. People you supervise keep leaving the company.

How many of these occurrences do you recognize? If you do then you might want to make some small changes to create a more balanced workplace where people can think and act independently. An additional benefit is that your employees will feel more valued and you won’t have to be on top of them all the time.

What will you do to develop self-awareness and delegate more?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Aware Leaders Avoid Quick Fixes

February 9, 2023 - The Self-Awareness Guy

In the course of consulting for organizations to help them build self-aware leaders, the idea of fixing things comes up frequently. Our culture values the quick fix and most of our workplaces are centered on immediately fixing any problem that comes our way. The instant an event transpires in the workplace, we immediately leap into action and look for ways to fix it. While I appreciate that issues need to be resolved, leaders who lack self-awareness sometimes perpetuate workplace problems by forgetting to look a little deeper before they offer a fix.

Sometimes it’s the process of working on the issue that generates better results than a hastily constructed, reactive fix. The next time someone comes to you with a problem, consider the following approach:

Listen carefully, without interrupting or offering advice.
Give yourself permission not to fix anything at the onset.
Let the person talk with you freely and give them the room to do so.
Even if you disagree, try not to react negatively, rebut or become defensive.
Learn to recognize the things that trigger your feelings, including defensiveness or frustration.
Offer to listen to the person again in the future.
Always behave calmly and kindly.

When you listen instead of immediately searching for a fix it changes the whole dynamic of your workplace interactions. You get to learn what your employees and co-workers really think and connect with them on a deeper level. This approach is different because it requires that, instead of talking or jumping in, you demonstrate the self-awareness to encourage people to share what they find meaningful. You also allow the space and time so that people can generate solutions autonomously rather than by being directed.

You don’t have to spend vast quantities of time or endless conversations on this method. All you need to do is sit back and support people so that they are more likely to come up with creative ideas. You’re promoting a workplace environment that genuinely values people and gives them the power to arrive at their own solutions. What will you do to develop self-awareness and avoid the quick fix?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and the Benefits of Deeper Team Building

February 9, 2023 - The Self-Awareness Guy

Leaders who possess self-awareness understand the benefits of deeper team building, which helps leadership and employees connect with each other meaningfully and work together more effectively.

A lot of team building programs help people bond on a casual, superficial level. That’s great for situations where you want people to have a good time for a few hours but I prefer team building that encourages people to connect on a deeper level by building self-awareness and learning how their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors affect them and those around them. Here are seven benefits of deeper team building:

Interacting meaningfully, building stronger interpersonal relationships.
Increasing mutual respect and understanding, learning about others.
Allowing space and time for everyone to express his or her point of view.
Dealing well with emotions, building emotionally intelligent employees and leaders.
Developing active listening skills.
Behaving with kindness, empathy, and compassion.
Being able to achieve more in less time.

Imagine your workplace functioning based on these concepts. It probably seems strange because it’s so different from the toxic environments we’re used to, but it makes for a far more enjoyable work experience. Thankfully, you can design any workplace you want, including one where people have self-awareness and genuinely behave as a team.

The way I reach these goals is to consult with groups of people (especially leaders) how to communicate on a deeper level and build relationships based on kind, attentive listening, and empathy. What will you do to develop self-awareness and promote deeper team building in your workplace?

Cheers,

Guy