LEADERSHIP AWARENESS
The Secret to Great Leadership: Self, Social and Contextual Awareness
Many of my coaching clients ask me what makes a great leader. The mere fact that they are asking the question means it's a tricky one to answer because leadership is a felt experience . . . and it's felt differently by everyone who experiences it.
That's not to say there aren't specific leadership skills that must be cultivated. Amongst the more important, but also the more nuanced, is awareness. In my experience, there are three types of awareness, and they are equally important to cultivate.
1. Self-Awareness
Self-awareness is the foundational requirement of awareness. It begins with an honest assessment of our strengths and weaknesses, but more importantly, how these play out in the work context. It is also about our emotions and moods, and how these impact colleagues in our space.
We, as leaders, can be authentic, we can build trust and credibility. This means that we must understand our tendencies, and certainly our triggers.
I have seen and had direct exposure to leaders who are invested in the details. Leading billion-dollar companies, leaders with this tendency keep their teams mired in the small stuff, for fear of being caught unaware of the tiniest technicality. The consequence is that people work longer hours and have shorter business runways.
Self-awareness, in my mind, is closely linked to mindfulness. It enables us to become sufficiently self-aware that we can manage ourselves well enough to create space for the brilliance of others not to be impacted by our capabilities, tendencies, moods or emotions.
There are a few great ways to become more self-aware. These include taking part in personality assessments, such as Enneagram, Lumina and Discovery Insights, each of which provides a slightly different lens on your personality preferences.
Other helpful ways to enhance self-awareness include daily reflection and a more in-depth journaling or mindfulness practice at the end of each week, checking in to notice what we did well, and what improvements are possible for you in the coming week.
2. Social Awareness
Great leaders don't just understand themselves; they excel at understanding others. Social awareness involves empathy, emotional intelligence, and paying sufficient attention to identify and understand the dynamics within your team.
Social awareness allows leaders to connect with their teams on a human level. It's about making the time to truly listen to your team, getting to know them as people with families, children and struggles outside of the work context, and creating a space where they can feel heard and appreciated. It requires practiced active listening, presence in the moment and creating (and of course upholding) that feeling of safety and confidentiality.
Participating in a 360 process is a great way to grow your social awareness (Thornhill is a tremendous tool). Additionally, by undertaking team assessments (like Discovery Insights, Lumina, Belbin and Enneagram) team members can celebrate the differences in others and appreciate how these balance and strengthen the team.
3. Contextual Awareness
People leadership is essential, but business leadership is equal in its weight. You can lead a team fantastically, but if the business isn't in capable leadership hands, you're likely to go downhill fast.
Therefore, awareness of the external environment - contextual leadership - is critical in identifying market trends, industry shifts, cultural changes, and global impacts. And of course, skill in adapting to these forces is vital.
This requires time and focus, reading, conversations with customers and other industry participants, connecting with academics as theoretical experts in your field, attending global conferences, enjoying podcasts on topics of relevance, and in general, doing what it takes to recognise early shifts in markets. In short, being successful in contextual leadership awareness is about continuous learning and agility.
This awareness and practice enables leaders to steer the ship towards the organisation's North Star. Poor contextual awareness is what sinks ships. The corporate graveyards are littered with the remains of the once admirable organisations like Nokia, Blockbuster, Kodak, and hundreds more.
Practical tips to build awareness
There are some key actions that can help to build these three essential awarenesses:
Reflection: There's that great saying that we learn through experience. This isn't actually true. We only learn when we reflect on our experience and make sense of what worked and what needs to change. Reflection is thus a key practice for successful leaders.
Assessments and feedback: Working with powerful tools like Discovery Insights, Enneagram and Lumina assessments can provide new and compelling insights into personal and team awareness. Additionally, 360 feedback like Thornhill offers a strong platform to identify areas for improvement. If you'd like more information about any of these tools and how they might work for you and your team, reach out to me at hello@greatnessworx.com to schedule a connect.
Continuous learning: Technology is moving at a rate we've never seen before, and change is only going to move faster and drive even deeper change. Staying on top of consumer preferences, industry trends, market shifts and broad economic insights will serve you well in anticipating and adapting to change.
Grow your networks: As a senior leader, you must have conversations with your customers, suppliers, industry players and even academics who may bring new knowledge into play. Growing your network and having powerful conversations will enhance your ability to innovate new solutions.
Work with a coach: This may sound like a trite self-serving recommendation, but the truth is old knowledge will not solve new problems. One of the key benefits of coaching is that it expands choice. It can help you think of new opportunities not previously on your radar. Time with a coach enables time to think and space to reflect.
If you'd like to connect, to explore how I can help you with your self, social and contextual awareness, reach out to me at hello@greatnessworx.com.
