Building awareness in the workplace
Building awareness in the workplace to develop leadership capabilities
Great leaders are able to observe and interpret their internal and external environment constantly to make the best decisions for their organisation. Awareness is one of the most important capabilities for leaders to develop and can take time to put into practice. Asking yourself questions about how you’ve executed a task and where you’ve struggled in what you’re doing can help highlight and learn where you can do things better.
In senior positions, leaders are constantly time poor and tend to fast track to the next task without taking the time to consider the impact of their decisions on others. With limited self-awareness, however, leaders miss opportunities to factor in the multiple perspectives that are affected by their choices. When leaders miss the mark the negative impact on their team can be massive, conversely when leaders effectively develop this skill the positive result will be substantial for the team.
Recognise your talent
To begin improving your leadership style you should be able to reflect on the days events and challenges and evaluate where your natural strengths and areas of development are. Accepting external feedback from your colleagues and team members can provide further insight and awareness into your talent and motivate you to work on areas that can be improved and celebrate your strengths.
Emotional Understanding
Some people naturally have a stronger sense of the emotional state of those around them as well as their own. With practice and by focusing your effort this skill can be always be refined. It is important for leaders to gauge how their team is reacting to situations and how they are feeling about their workplace. Making small changes to better working conditions can increase job satisfaction and drive productivity.
Situational Awareness
To be aware of your environment and the world around you it is important to be present and have a non-judgemental approach when assessing situations. Focussing your attention to the stimuli that is relevant to the task at hand can also help to remove unnecessary ‘noise’ when making decisions.
Source: Jordan, J., Wade, M., & Yokoi, T. (2022, January 11). Finding the Right Balance — and Flexibility — in Your Leadership Style. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2022/01/finding-the-right-balance-and-flexibility-in-your-leadership-style
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