This concept makes perfect sense, but gives rise to the question “HOW can leaders improve their self-awareness?”

Let’s take a look and see.

How To Improve Self-Awareness As a Leader

Increasing your self-awareness takes intentionality and effort, but pays off in all facets of your life – personal and work-related.

Here are 11 tips to improve your self-awareness:

1. Be mindful

This first strategy may sound vague, but it’s actually a very concrete, foundational starting point for self-awareness.

Being mindful means many things. First, it means being aware of your emotions in each situation, and how they may be affecting your actions.

If you are feeling frustrated, being mindful of that fact means you are consciously aware of your frustration and how it will impact your body language, verbal communication, and decision-making.

You also need to be mindful of how you show up to others. If you feel rushed, pressured, stressed, or frustrated, you may translate that into how you present yourself: your body language may appear more closed off (crossed arms, distracted by phone or computer) and send a message that you aren’t interested or invested in the people you are working with or the topic at hand.

1. Feel your feelings

This strategy is directly tied to tip #1.

Once you are mindful of what you are feeling, it’s important not to dismiss those feelings. By sitting with your feelings you can examine what is causing them and why you are feeling a certain way, which in turn allows you to identify and address the underlying issues.

Remember that your emotions are there for a reason. They are not good or bad, they are genuine responses that you have to validate and use to understand why you might be responding in a certain way.

Know your strengths and weaknesses

Another result of being mindful is being aware of your strengths and weaknesses. Self-aware individuals not only are aware of strengths and weaknesses but are comfortable owning them.

This means they are OK asking for assistance if something is not their strong suit, and are willing to speak up and share their strengths when they see there is a need.

1. Strive to better understand your personality traits

Don’t solely rely on your own intuition to increase your self-awareness.

Personality tests such as the Myers-Briggs and the DiSC tests help you better understand your personal traits and default habits and behaviors.

Another great option to help you increase your self-awareness is by hiring a coach. An experienced and certified coach not only helps you identify your default habits and behaviors but can also help you process feedback and use it as a tool for change.

1. Solicit feedback and process it with an open mind

Feedback is only as valuable as the attention you give it and your openness to learning from it.

A self-aware leader is comfortable receiving feedback and views it as a tool to learn more about themselves and how others perceive their words and actions.

1. Trust your instincts

Self-aware leaders acknowledge and trust their intuition.

Having confidence in your instincts means trusting your instinctive response if your intuition is telling you to handle something in a certain way, or taking a risk and moving ahead when your intuition is telling you to do so.

Successful leaders learn to be more aware of, trust and act on their instincts.

1. Listen and watch

Many times we become so distracted in the project at hand, or so wound up in our emotions, that we don’t truly listen to those around us.

Being aware of people’s reactions to us during conversations and interactions is a valuable opportunity to become more self-aware.

Leaders who listen openly and watch body language learn how they affect those around them. If they sense or hear that people are intimidated (a common emotional response to speaking with leaders), they can adjust their words or body language accordingly.

If leaders listen openly and validate what they are hearing, they will become more aware of what behavior enhanced their ability to have productive and enjoyable interactions.

1. Ask yourself how your actions will affect others

A great exercise in self-awareness is to look at your actions throughout the workday and ask yourself how they might affect others.

Being self-aware not only involves being mindful of your own feelings; you also need to consider how others will be affected by actions, decisions, and communications before proceeding.

1. Admit your mistakes

Leaders who are self-aware acknowledge to themselves that they are human and will make mistakes, and are willing to admit mistakes to others and apologize when appropriate.

Mistakes are a natural part of learning about yourself and should be seen as part of developing self-awareness.

1. Develop awareness of your emotional triggers

We all have emotional triggers; self-aware leaders learn what their triggers are so they can temper their responses and take a pause in situations where they are likely to have an emotional response.

Awareness of emotional triggers not only results in better communication but helps leaders understand why they react in certain ways in different situations.

1. Define your values – and follow them

It can be easy to lose track of your values when making fast-paced work decisions; you may find yourself feeling uncomfortable about a decision or interaction that is not sitting well.

Developing awareness of your values helps you make decisions that align with them and identify the source of discomfort for decisions or actions that you don’t feel good about.

Great Leadership Starts With Self-awareness

Self-awareness is an essential trait of any great leader. Awareness of your personality, emotions, values and unique abilities will result in better decisions, actions, and leadership.

The benefits of self-awareness extend beyond your own leadership skills; your actions and awareness will trickle down and across your organization and motivate others to become more self-aware as well.

Do You Need More Time In Your Day?

Robin Kramer is an Online Business Manager that has been working with small businesses for 23 years. She can help you analyze your overwhelming to-do list to identify what tasks need your executive expertise, and which ones she can manage for you to free your valuable time.

To learn more about Robin’s skills and how she could help your business