Self Awareness:
Self Awareness knows your motivations; preferences, personality and understanding how these factors
influence your judgment, decisions and interactions with other people. Through self-awareness one
“develops the ability to know how you are feeling and why, and the impact your feelings have on your
behaviour. But it involves a capacity to monitor and control those strong but subliminal biases that all us
harbor and that skew our decision making”. Internal feelings and thoughts, interests, strengths and
limitations, values, skills, goals, abilities, leadership orientation and preferred communication style are just
a few elements that self awareness comprises.
Benefits:
Self-awareness or self-knowledge is the starting point for effectiveness at work. Machiavelli, the astute
author and statesman, wrote, “ To lead or attempt to lead without first having a knowledge of self is
foolhardy and sure to bring disaster and defeat.” Self-awareness has many benefits, among them.
· Understanding yourself in relation to others
· Developing and implementing a sound self-improvement program
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· Setting appropriate life and career goals
· Developing relationships with others
· Understand the value of diversity
· Managing others effectively
· Increasing productivity
· Increasing your ability to contribute to Organizations, your community and family.
In others words it helps one to know what one is good at and choose a career they enjoy. Depending on
others thoughts or beliefs in terms of what is good for us leads to personal and professional unhappiness.
By knowing our strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes by ourselves -
Self-awareness is also important for managers and Organizations as one who have attained heightened
states of self-awareness tend to be superior performers. This is because they can relate and understand
others better and thus will be capable of reducing the potential of conflict. Usually this kind of person will
be open to feedback and make positive modifications to personal behavior so as to create trusting and
productive work environments. Working effectively with others will therefore increase managerial and
Organizational effectiveness.
Self-awareness is also a crucial component in understanding the Organization in which one is operating, as
each of us can be thought of as an instrument for assessment and change. By asking us a series of
questions we can diagnose our situation and develop some solutions to problems our Organizations or we
are experiencing. Doing this requires strong self-awareness of our emotional reactions, initial perceptions,
biases and judgments.
Lack of self-awareness can lead to poor decisions, to an unrealistic notion of one’s competencies and to
even career derailment.
How to Gain
The first step in becoming aware of ourselves is to recognize our weaknesses, strengths, biases, attitudes,
values and perceptions. There are many ways to enhance our self-awareness. Some of these include
analyzing our own experiences, looking at ourselves through the eyes of others, self-disclosure, acquiring
diverse experiences and increasing our emotional intelligence.
· Self-analysis requires people to examine themselves as an object in an experience or event. It
requires a person to step back and observe the positive and the negative impact that may have
influenced behaviours, attitudes, thoughts or interactions. Self-analysis is not always an easy
process, yet it is a necessary skill for synthesizing information relevant to professional or personal
effectiveness.
The self-analysis process should begin with reflection on and exploration of thoughts and feelings
associated with effective events. By reflecting on these feelings and thoughts, individuals can
obtain new perspectives relevant to their lives based on these learning experiences. From
obtaining new knowledge and perspectives, individuals can become more effective by
implementing new behavioural and cognitive changes in future situations.
One of the means to gain insight about our self is through reflecting on, examining and analyzing
our behaviour, personality, attitudes and perceptions.
o Behaviour is the way in which we conduct ourselves-the way in which we act. Our
behaviour is influenced by our feelings, judgments, beliefs, motivations, needs, experience
and opinions of others. Patterns of behaviour develop through our reactions to events and
actions over a period of time. Behaviour consist of four components:
 Motivation: The drive to pursue one action over another. Being aware of our core
drivers, those things that motivate you positively or negatively- can help you
understand the roots of your behaviour and make adjustments as necessary to
modify your behaviour.
 Modes of thinking: the way you process the various inputs your brain receives.
Being aware of how you take in and make sense of information can help you
understand how you make judgments or decisions that lead to choosing one
behaviour or course of action over another.
 Modes of acting: the course of action you apply in a given situation. Being aware
of how you express your reaction to the things that happen to and around you can
help you understand the alternatives available to you when certain events arise.
 Modes of interacting: the way in which you communicate and share ideas, opinions
and feelings with others. Being aware of how you talk and work with others can
help you understand how your preferred style meshes with those with whom you
work and live.