Why Self-Awareness in Leadership is a Must-Have for Success

As a leader, you need to realise that it's normal to make mistakes and that you can't be perfect all the time. Leadership that is grounded on self-awareness is essential to any organization's success because it fosters innovation, flexibility, and integrity.

We will discuss the meaning of self-awareness, its advantages, and real-world instances of self-awareness from business leaders to help you understand why self-awareness in leadership is crucial to the success of your firm.

What is self-awareness in leadership?

As a leader, self-awareness is being cognizant of your own personality traits, actions, and motivations, as well as how these affect your performance.

How well do your own ambitions and the company's mission sync up? When things don't go as planned, how should a leader respond? How does your personality affect the way you work with other people?

If you want to grow as a leader, you should ask yourself these questions and give honest answers.

Dan Tyre, a marketing fellow at HubSpot, put it thus way: "Everyone has strengths and everyone has weaknesses." Being self-aware implies knowing your strengths and areas for improvement (or where you can transfer responsibility).

It means realising that the process of working with those qualities conveys the powerful, consistent, universal message that it is fine to be good in some areas and require help in others, which should reassure everyone. Leaders who embody the company's values are, by definition, more genuine and consistent, and they can make significant contributions to the business's underpinnings.

Why is self-awareness important in leadership?

Understanding what you bring to the table as a leader can be facilitated by cultivating self-awareness. When a leader is self-aware, they know their strengths and areas for growth, and as a result, their teams and organisations produce better results.

Benefits of Self-Awareness in Leadership

Establishing trust is just one of the numerous ways in which a self-aware organisation can succeed. Leaders that accept responsibility and are open about their strengths and weaknesses inspire more confidence in their teams. More people will be invested in the company's success if a culture of trust and honesty is fostered.

Leaders who can reflect on their own growth encourage others to do the same. When a leader demonstrates self-awareness and improvement efforts, they foster an atmosphere conducive to development. A leader who knows themselves well will encourage team members to work on themselves by serving as a mentor, hosting workshops, and providing other opportunities for professional development.

Better judgement and choice are two other outcomes of self-aware leadership. If you know what you want and how it relates to the company's mission, you'll be able to make better choices. These wise choices will result in enhanced strategy and more precise advertising.

5 Examples of Self-Awareness in Leadership

I messaged several leaders I follow on LinkedIn to hear their thoughts on the need of self-awareness for leaders and to solicit concrete examples. So, here are my takeaways:

1. Debbie Olusola Akintonde - Education Marketing & Growth Strategy Consultant at Amuseng

If a leader isn't self-aware, they can't be compassionate, much less emotionally intelligent.I once had to submit a detailed plan outlining how I would solve a genuine issue I would face on the job right away in order to get the interview. Despite being offered the position, I used my own self-awareness to delay putting my plan into action.

Instead, after I was hired, I decided to listen to the other candidates and stakeholders to make sure that our collective goals and plans were in sync so that we could get the best possible results.

"Being self-aware is essential because it enhances your ability to lead effectively and develop personally and professionally."

2. Tracy Graziani - Owner of Graziani Multimedia LLC

Self-awareness is the most important factor in my ability to recognise and control implicit prejudice. My close friend is the brilliant leader of a non-profit organisation. A group of us were having a discussion about how to improve our interview skills.

Why should I hire you, out of all the other applicants I interview? is a question I constantly pose. I went on to explain that I didn't hire people who responded to that question with something like, "I'm a single mom" or "I have loads of college loans," but that I did hire people who focused their responses on their successes. After that, my friend said something that completely changed my perspective.

"She asked, 'How likely is it that those who listed needs are in — or grew up in — poverty?'" My response? Evidently so.

She subsequently offered some insight. She said that those living in poverty must constantly provide 'evidence of poverty' in order to receive assistance. You can't get the help you need from the government, nonprofits, or even churches unless you can provide 'evidence of poverty.' They then enter the workforce with the same set of assumptions.

Jobs provides an essential commodity. They must, therefore, demonstrate why they are worthy of the position. Wow, that's mind-blowing. That's just not how I've always viewed the world. My approach to interviews has changed.

3. Dan Moyle - HubSpot Advisor

Confidence in one's leadership is essential. In my experience, the most effective leaders are those who earn their followers' trust by a combination of self-awareness and humility.

"When a leader has admitted to me, "I don't know everything, and this particular situation is beyond my knowledge b trust you know what you're doing, so go do what you're good at.," that kind of self-awareness and understanding built immediate trust within me for my leadership, and even went beyond to build a loyalty you can't demand.

4. Demetrius B. - Founder of Marro

Young leaders in the SaaS industry sometimes feel pressure to "move the needle" quickly in order to keep up with the competition in terms of product development, design, and size. Because of this, I put too much pressure on my team to meet key performance indicators and targets that were unrealistic for our small startup.

"It took time and growth for me to realise that the pressure to succeed does not stop with founders and leaders but affects everyone we collaborate with. Tight timelines, little opportunity for error, and relentless micromanagement have never been met with enthusiasm by my colleagues.

What I've learnt is that the key to building a software firm that will withstand the test of time is to give your engineers and sales staff the autonomy they need to do their jobs well from the start. "Leadership is not about being a dictator; it's about knowing what your team needs to succeed and finding ways to make that happen in the long run."

5. Jordan Bazinsky - Executive Vice President and General Manager at Cotiviti

We have a research and development and operations base in Kathmandu, Nepal. They had a 7.8 earthquake in April of 2015. Markandeya Kumar Talluri, the office manager, called me late at night while hiding in a doorway. The aftershocks were catastrophic for a country with inadequate infrastructure, resulting in an estimated 9,000 deaths and the destruction of 600,000.

While Nepal dug through the rubble and rebuilt, Kumar could have gone home to India. Instead, he stayed in Kathmandu, where he put up phone chains and efforts to find both our staff and their missing friends and family members, as well as asked families to temporarily dwell in our office.

He self-managed with the knowledge that those under his charge would mirror his demeanour and pick up clues from his demeanour. It was one of the most impressive displays of self-awareness and selflessness that I have ever seen in the workplace.

Become more self-aware as a leader by writing down your accomplishments and areas for growth, and don't be hesitant to ask for feedback from others on how you may better as a leader.

Keep in mind that followers will follow their leaders' lead if you demonstrate a willingness to develop and improve.