“Self-awareness is the meta-skill of the 21st century — self-aware people are more successful, more confident, build better relationships, and are more effective leaders.”
– Tasha Eurich, Harvard researcher and author of Insight
The greatest problem all organizations faces is the unknown. Nobody can prepare for the obstacle they don’t see coming. We must beware of our blind spots! The same is true on an individual and team level.
Blind spots are the root of ignorance, over-confidence, and conflict. Fortunately, we have a powerful antidote. Self-awareness. This is the ability to see oneself as you truly are rather than how you wish to be seen. It means having accurate understanding of one’s abilities and shortcomings. Most of us are really good at noticing shortcomings in others and exceedingly bad at recognizing shortcomings in ourselves. Team members have to routinely rely on the feedback of other team members to see clearly. When members do this, everyone benefits. Studies show that, as individual self-awareness grows, so does team performance.
Highly Self Aware teams perform better as shown below in the targeted areas of decision-making, coordination and conflict management.
Self-Awareness is a true catalyst for change. We can’t “unsee” what we have seen, so we might as well do something about it! The fact that it leads to stronger teams shows how impactful the contribution of each member can be. How impactful do you want to be?