“Self-awareness is probably the most important thing towards being a champion.” – Billie Jean King
Self-awareness is a great skill to possess. According to Ascend research, self-awareness can boost people’s performance and usher them into a success they want. Self-awareness is also good as it leads to better decision-making, creating less workplace conflict management and boosting the chance of team success.
However, self-awareness is such a rare skill. Those who think that they are very self-aware might not really possess the skill at all. Tesha Eurich said that among the 95 percent of people who believe they are self-aware, only 10-15 percent of them are truly mastering the art of being self-aware.
See also: The Link between Self-Awareness & Self-Management
The simple reason for this disconnection is that many individuals naturally have blind spots and are wired to operate on autopilot, Eurich added. This sense of autopilot creates unawareness of our surroundings, even when we are physically present at the moment. As a consequence, those who are on autopilot might be able to hinder themselves from problems but are likely to not notice the sign of other living or important thing. In business, autopilot might result in a greater loss of team collaboration.
From the above statements, we can conclude that team will suffer and unable to reach their full potential when working with an individual who is not self-aware. Identifying 467 working adults in the U.S. across several industries, Eurich revealed that working with un-self-aware colleagues can be frustrating. The unaware employee can cut a team’s chances of success in half. In fact, teams with less self-aware individuals made worse decisions, engaged in less coordination, and showed less conflict management.
“Self-awareness is one of the rarest of human commodities. I do not mean self-consciousness where you are limiting and evaluating yourself. I mean being aware of your own patterns.” – Tony Robbins
It is obvious that un-self-aware employee can be a threat to a team’s success. If left unaddressed, lacking self-awareness might result in declined company performance. To illustrate, A works with B who is not aware of his behaviour. A feels that B is undervaluing him and B is not a good teammate because he is unable to collaborate on the matter discussed. Thus, A asks his HR manager to help him out of the situation. However, the HR manager is also not aware of the real cause so he does nothing. Feeling frustrated with the situation, A decides to seek better opportunity somewhere else.
Imagine if A is not just one person but those 50 or 100 employees who are working in your firm. What do you think will happen? Massive employee voluntary resignations could happen. When it does, the company would need to endure the pain of profit loss due to huge productivity decrease.
Therefore, as an HR leader, you should understand the internal and external factors of becoming self-aware. According to Eurich, these factors are key determinants for each individual to help boost their self-awareness. While internal self-awareness is about understanding one’s values, passions, and aspirations, the external factors are more about understanding oneself from the outside in – knowing how other people see you.
In conclusion, in developing self-awareness, leaders must not only rely on assessment but also provide time to help employees discover their true potential by giving critics and advice.
Read also: Why & How HR Help Build Employees’ Self-Awareness
