Gina Lavery, Inc. helps corporate leaders and CEOs develop their authentic leadership edge and move through challenges with confidence.
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Much is required of leaders: to produce better results with less, to make decisions faster and to be agile in order to adjust daily priorities, approaches and communication. Leaders are also expected to influence widely and know how to motivate their teams.
But leaders often respond to these increasing demands by doing more and often overlook the importance of who they are being. For example, leaders may work longer hours and give up time on weekends to catch up, or they may say yes to more requests than their schedule allows instead of taking time out to reflect on priorities and protect work boundaries.
Being different begins with discovering who we are, what drives our behavior and how our behavior impacts others. I refer to this as "leader self-awareness."
In a TED Talk, Tasha Eurich defines self-awareness as "the ability to see ourselves clearly, to understand who we are, how others see us and how we fit into the world. Self-awareness gives us power…and this power comes from knowing ourselves."
My executive coaching clients find that as their self-awareness increases, the doors of opportunity swing wide open.
In my own quest for self-awareness, I noticed that when I returned from an intensive personal development seminar, it seemed my team had transformed. I had peeled away filters, and I was seeing each person with new eyes. As my barriers disappeared, I experienced breakthroughs in communication and problem-solving. This led to improved team performance and to sales award recognition.
In over two decades as an executive coach across all industries, from software development to healthcare, I have seen positive and surprising benefits of leader self-awareness. Here are three of those benefits.
Benefit No. 1: You'll create a zone of freedom to lead authentically.
Freedom is a natural benefit of increasing leadership self-awareness. When we feel confident to show up as ourselves and not as someone we think people want us to be, we are being authentic. A deeper understanding of what makes you you gives you permission to be yourself and creates an environment that lets others be themselves.
When I learned to relax and bring more of my authentic style, I became more fun, focused and competitive. My clients noticed this for themselves as well. As they discovered who they were, they relaxed and leaned into their gifts and talents with ease and confidence.
An increased understanding of ourselves — the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of our personalities that we think are hidden from view — lets us own these parts too. For example, learning that tardiness may translate to others as arrogance helps us understand why we need to change and provides a reason to shift behavior and prioritize timeliness. Genuine receptivity to constructive criticism creates an opportunity to make amends immediately. This allows us to own who we are and lessen the negative impact of our flaws. Dispelling the mystery of how we are perceived creates freedom to be ourselves and lead authentically.
Benefit No. 2: You'll spend less energy on managing perceptions.
Being self-aware allows us to get out of our heads and be more present and available to people. As we discover new strengths and weaknesses, we become more open to feedback, creating an ability to lean into constructive criticism, even when it stings. As Gloria Steinem said, "The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off."
Many leaders live in fear that their weaknesses will be discovered, so instead of building agility, they build defenses, becoming overly perfectionistic for fear of being "found out." Because we don't have a 360-degree view of our impact and influence on others, it is necessary to rely on others to provide a "rear-view mirror" perspective. We won't wonder if we said the right thing, but rather, ask if we did. This saves time.
Consider asking five important stakeholders 3-5 open-ended questions about your leadership behavior. This process builds relationships, and we learn to welcome feedback instead of fear it. Not only will we learn ways to improve, we may also be surprised to learn what we do well. Being proactive to learn how we are perceived saves time and energy and strengthens our feedback muscle.
Benefit No. 3: You will have way more fun at work.
Letting go of trying to be someone else and managing perceptions allows us to relax into our natural leadership style and frees us to be ourselves. An important benefit of this newfound freedom is levity. And levity can lead to fun. I had a boss that could break up serious tension with a well-timed funny comment. His solid sense of humor was essential to my effectiveness. Research proves humor boosts productivity, creativity and teamwork. People want to have fun at work.
In her article, "Leading With Humor," Alison Beard says, "Laughter relieves stress and boredom, boosts engagement and well-being and spurs not only creativity and collaboration but also analytic precision and productivity." A sense of humor at work is essential. The demands on leaders are intense, and as one of my clients says, "If you can't have fun, why do it?" My clients find as they grow in their self-awareness, they relax, become more present and start genuinely enjoying work. And those around them have more fun too.
Growth is the fuel of innovation, and leaders need to grow to keep pace with the increasing demands at work. To support higher performance, leaders must place more emphasis on who they are being, and not just what they are doing. This shifted focus on being begins with leadership self-awareness and promises unexpected benefits for leaders, team members and organizations alike.
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