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The following is a summary of “Consciousness of Self” by Justin Fincher, a chapter in Leadership for a Better World. The full citation is below.
The next chapter in our exploration of the Social Change Model (SCM) of leadership development is Consciousness of Self. The previous aspects I’ve summarized have all been “group values,” or aspects of leadership that pertain to the group in which the leadership happens. The next three values will all be “individual values,” or aspects of the leader as an individual that impact her or his effectiveness.
As conceived in the SCM, Consciousness of Self can be equated with self-awareness. It refers to how aware you are of your “personality traits, values and strengths” as well as your ability to observe your “action[s], feelings and beliefs” (Fincher, 2009). Without this self-knowledge, you cannot have an (accurate, useful) idea of your strengths and weaknesses, which in turn probably means you can’t intentionally improve on your weaknesses, hire others in your organization who can make up for your weakness, play to your or others’ strengths, and so on. If you are not very self-aware, chances are you are also not very culturally competent, as a sense of your own culture and history is important in understanding cultural differences and clashes. For example, if you are a typical American, you are future oriented but if you work with a key team member who is from a culture where the past is venerated, you may have some clashes and not work as effectively as you could if you understood yourself a little better. Self-awareness is a critical leadership skill.
Consciousness of Self is more important the further up the hierarchical ladder you climb. There is a large body of research that supports what Dr. Robert Sutton (2010) calls – and please excuse the term -- “asshole poisoning.” This extensive research has found that even a small amount of power leads most people to care less about what others think, think the rules don’t apply to them, pursue their own wishes without regard to others, and so on. Basically, when many (most?) people obtain any amount of power, the controls that make them behave and play nice begin to fall away. Thankfully, not everyone in power gets poisoned (and those who don’t apparently lead more effective organizations) but because of the prevalence of this phenomenon, understanding the importance of Consciousness of Self is particularly important.
So how do you increase your Consciousness of Self? Fincher (2009) notes three ways: taking time to practice reflection, being open to feedback from others, and learning about yourself through various types of assessments.
Reflection simply means cultivating the habit of looking back on an experience – whether it’s the day, the month, a particular interaction, and so on – noting what happened and what you learned from it. Journaling is a time-tested method of doing this and technology now makes this easier, with voice memo aps on smart phones. Other methods include discussion with a trusted other, as many people do with a spouse or mentor. Retreats, in which you go away from your daily life (and, gasp, your gadgets) for a day or longer to think and reflect, are also powerful reflective tools.
Seeking feedback from others is helpful as well. To do this, you must do more than just ask. You must build a reputation for being able to handle compliments gracefully, by saying, “thank you” instead of discounting them, and receiving negative feedback non-defensively. You must also ask for specifics, when appropriate. This does not mean you have to believe every piece of negative feedback (or positive feedback, for that matter) given to you. Feedback can occasionally be more about the other person than you, so it’s important to listen, think about it, ask others about it and reject it if the consensus is that it isn’t accurate.
Using existing assessments for self-knowledge can be helpful as well and there are a wide variety, such as StrengthsQuest and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.
Increased Consciousness of Self often leads to greater mindfulness, or awareness in the moment of the actions and mental states of you and others. Such mindfulness helps you, as a leader, see what’s really going on in a given interaction and react to it less. It slows that knee from jerking and allows more intentional, thoughtful responses.
Consciousness of Self is critical for leadership because it’s almost impossible to understand others without some knowledge of yourself. An on-going, ever-developing awareness of yourself and others is where leadership begins.
Questions:
I have found that mindful, curious travel has dramatically influenced my self-awareness. What other experiences have you had that made you more self-aware?
What tools have you used (or do you use now) to reflect on your life and work?
What tips have you learned to decrease defensiveness when faced with negative feedback from others?
References:
Fincher, J. (2009). Consciousness of self. In Komives, S. R., Wagner, W. & Associates (Eds.), Leadership for a better world: Understanding the social change model of leadership development (pp. 299 - 334). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Sutton, R. (2010). It isn’t just a myth, power turns people into assholes. Work Matters. Retrieved from http://bobsutton.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/01/it_isnt_just_a_.html
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