{"id":1234,"date":"2021-12-17T10:00:06","date_gmt":"2021-12-17T10:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tivian.com\/uk\/?p=1234"},"modified":"2023-05-30T08:18:20","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T08:18:20","slug":"benefits-of-self-awareness-in-leadership-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tivian.com\/uk\/benefits-of-self-awareness-in-leadership-development\/","title":{"rendered":"The benefits of self-awareness in transformational leadership development"},"content":{"rendered":"

Self-awareness is a key driver of successful leadership, benefiting both the individual and the wider organisation. <\/span>Research from the Stanford Graduate School of Business<\/span><\/a> identified it as the most important skill for leaders to develop, while <\/span>a study by the Korn Ferry Institute<\/span><\/a> found that \u201cleaders who are self-aware are more likely to be high-performing, to meet their business goals, and save on turnover costs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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What is self-awareness and how can leaders develop it?<\/b><\/h2>\n

Self-awareness is the ability to examine and understand your own emotions and reactions. Mastering self-awareness gives you better situational awareness, and enables you to know your strengths and weaknesses, what motivates you and ensures you evaluate your actions objectively. Self-aware leaders develop skills to ensure they are active listeners, have a drive for continual improvement, greater empathy and high levels of emotional intelligence.<\/span><\/p>\n

Feedback is central to unlocking the benefits of self-awareness and becoming a good leader. However, honest and open feedback is not often given, and the higher leaders get in an organisation the more likely it is to be in short supply. Studies show that as executives become more senior, they become more confident \u2013 but are less likely to consider the perspectives of others. Essentially, they over-value their skills and are blind to areas for improvement.<\/span><\/p>\n

Requesting 360 degree feedback about your performance overcomes these issues. Collecting feedback from a variety of different viewpoints instead of just one (e.g., colleagues, manager\/supervisor, direct reports, customers etc) provides richer and more balanced insights.<\/span><\/p>\n

Accepting this feedback, however unexpected or even critical, helps build higher levels of self-awareness, identifies strengths, and areas for development and actions, improving performance and ensuring you become a better leader. Backing this up, research finds that <\/span>83% of people with high self-awareness<\/span><\/a> are top performers.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The importance of self-awareness to transformational leadership<\/b><\/h2>\n

Experts identify two key leadership models – transactional and transformational leadership:<\/p>\n

\u2013 Transactional leadership, where leaders use rewards and their position of power to achieve results<\/p>\n

\u2013 Transformational leadership, where leaders work with their teams, inspiring them to grow, develop new skills and perform at their best. Transformational leadership is increasingly key in today\u2019s people-oriented world of work.<\/p>\n

Self-awareness is a key trait of the transformational leadership style, making it a critical skill to build. Gartner lists developing current and future leadership as one of its top 5 priorities for HR<\/span><\/a> in 2022, and highlights a need to equip midlevel managers to lead with empathy. This is essential in leading transformational change.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Areas to focus on for developing self-awareness<\/b><\/h2>\n

As with every other form of feedback it is essential to ask the right questions \u2013 focusing on these topic areas ensures that the right behaviours are being evaluated in order to develop transformational leadership skills:<\/span><\/p>\n