How Well Do You Actually Know Yourself at Work?

There can be a gap between the leader you believe yourself to be and the leader others experience. This article explores how self-awareness, assessments, and 360 feedback give leaders an honest starting point for growth.

Not your job description. Not whether you meet your goals. Not what you're good at.

How do you respond to conflict? How does your communication land with other people? What happens to your leadership style when you're stressed? Do the people around you experience you the way you think they do?

These are questions that many of us do not consciously think about in our daily lives, but I would argue that these are some of the most important questions leaders need to ask themselves.

Most of us have a pretty established idea of who we are. Maybe you consider yourself a great communicator, someone who handles conflict well, or a leader who is approachable and supportive of your team. But what if you're wrong? Not completely wrong, but what if there is a gap between the leader you believe yourself to be and the leader the people around you actually experience?

Mind the Gap: Do You Know Yourself at Work?

That gap is where self-awareness becomes so important. Self-awareness is a critical part of emotional intelligence, but developing it requires more than simply reflecting on our own behavior. Sometimes we need information that challenges the way we see ourselves.

Sometimes we need information that challenges the way we see ourselves.

Assessments and 360s

One of my favorite ways to do this is through assessments. There are a wide range of assessments available to help leaders better understand themselves in areas such as conflict, communication and leadership. Each provides a different lens through which we can examine our behaviors, preferences, strengths and opportunities for growth.

Then we can take that even further with 360 assessments. Instead of only asking you to evaluate yourself, a 360 brings in the perspectives of the people who work around you. Imagine believing that communication is one of your greatest strengths, only to find that 10 of the people you work closest with don't experience your communication the same way.

When this happens with clients that I work with, there can be a range of emotions that accompany a report that doesn't reinforce how we see ourselves. It can be a pretty large shock. But the purpose of an assessment isn't to hand someone a report and say, “This is who you are.” It is to give us a starting point and an opportunity to decide what we want to do with that information.

Know Your Starting Point

Think of it in terms of financial reports and strategic plans. Before you can determine how you will get to your end goal, or even whether that goal is realistic, you have to know where you are starting. The same is true of leadership development.

If an assessment shows that you tend to avoid conflict, what are you going to do with that information? If your team experiences your communication differently than you intended, what behaviors could you change? Sometimes our starting point may not be exactly where we thought it was or even where we want it to be, but becoming a better leader requires being willing to honestly examine those gaps and decide what we're going to do about them.

So, how well do you actually know yourself at work?

Whether you lead in Yuma or anywhere across the country, if you want support using assessments and 360 feedback to know yourself at work and find your starting point, I'd love to talk. Schedule a consultation.

Let's Talk!