I was walking around with blind spots, fully convinced that I was driving with perfect vision!
This was when I was in the corporate world.
I believed I knew myself very well.
And how wrong I was…
We all believe we know ourselves very well!
But we hardly do!
Only 10-15% of people are truly self-aware, despite 95% of people believing they possess this quality.
And this is according to organisational psychologist Tasha Eurich, who studied over 5,000 professionals.
Surprising…but this is the uncomfortable truth.
We do not know ourselves as well as we think we do.
Self-awareness is very critical!
I did little study on this. I aligned it with my corporate experience. I discovered that self-awareness and some emotional intelligence involve understanding the four critical dimensions. These dimensions greatly impact our professional journey, especially for leaders.
And these four dimensions are: –
- Your Triggers– what affects you and, in the process, derails your performance. This could be due to the spoken words of others, such as your colleagues or boss. It could also be their behavior or even when you are questioned or challenged. Let not these triggers hijack your ‘rational thinking’ and turn you into a reactive version of yourself!
The objective is not to eliminate triggers as they are part of being human. The goal should be to recognise them quickly. This allows you to choose your response instead of being hijacked by it.
- Your Patterns– The behaviour that you repeat without being conscious about it. These patterns are the behavioural loops that you used many times and have now become comfortable with. But these patterns might not serve you anymore…like slogging (overworking), being a perfectionist, being an individual operator (no delegation etc.).
Remember, what got you here will not get you there! – Marshal Goldsmith. Your patterns got you here, but now they might be the biggest obstacles to your future growth.
- Your blind spots – The gaps between how you see yourself and how others experience you. Blind spots are the aspects of your professional presence that are obvious to everyone except you! One example I can think of myself is when I thought I was adequately confident. However, my colleagues, and for that matter, my Bosses, perceived me as arrogant! You may believe you have strong relationships with your colleagues. They, however, might consider you an acquaintance at best!
- Your feedback loops – How you process information about your impact. Create a system for yourself to receive continuous feedback and ensure timely action on it. And when you receive feedback, do not become defensive by explaining, justifying, or rationalising every piece of critical feedback. And also, do not cherry-pick (only accepting feedback that confirms your existing self-image while dismissing anything that challenges it!).
Self-awareness is uncomfortable as it requires looking at parts of yourself that you would rather ignore.
Don’t ignore!
Cheers!
