Increase self-awareness

- Being a leader implies having followers and no I don't mean on Instagram or Twitter, but real live people who can take their cues from you. Naturally it would seem like our journey to become a strong leader would start with improving our interactions with others. But guess what? It doesn't. Leadership actually begins with enhancing your personal growth, specifically increasing your self awareness. In this video I want to share with you three pivotal steps you can take to increase your self awareness and more importantly to become the kind of leader who has real followers. The first is to evaluate your strengths and opportunities for growth. Second, know your value. And finally manage your impact. Let's talk about making a thorough self assessment. Take some time to reflect and objectively evaluate your strengths and weaknesses. What are your most developed skills? Which ones could use some work? Think about the emotions, motivations and, hardest of all, the temperament and personality traits that drive the way you lead others. How do they impact your attitudes and behaviors? What improvements can you make to become a more strong and flexible leader? Here's an example. If you tend to express anger, even when the smallest things go wrong, recognize that broadcasting this emotion is undermining your ability to be seen as a calm, poised and collected leader who works well under pressure. It's a natural response but it's working against you. Next we'll move forward to think about your strengths and weaknesses on a much deeper level. What's your real value? What do you bring to the table in a unique way that sets you apart from others? You might have strong skills in say IT and operating systems but your value is keeping the business running efficiently, solving problems and helping every department work at top speed. You're not just tech savvy, you're innovative, resourceful and insightful. To upgrade the way people perceive your value is to communicate it from their perspective. What are the problems and pain points you solve for others? Instead of saying, "I uncovered the root cause "of our sever failures." You might say, "I minimized downtime for our internal "customers, resulting in seamless and high-speed "order processing for our external clients." If you get it they will too. You can help to establish your leadership by more effectively communicating your value. Finally, making the transition from manager to leader requires understanding and managing your impact. What your colleagues and co-workers really think of you? How are you perceived? What's your reputation? You can get feedback in a number of ways: by asking a trusted colleague, a former or current boss, participating in a 360 assessment, or event crafting your own anonymous online survey. But if you want to know you have to ask. Yes, I know it's a little uncomfortable, even awkward, and most of all it can be hard to hear the truth. In fact that's why so many people shy away from rich information that can help them better pinpoint their professional development. The key is to ask goal-oriented questions that will elicit more useful answers. Instead of, "Hey, how am I doing?" Say, "It's my goal to be seen as influential and resilient. "This is what I want people to say it's like "to work with me. "Is there anything that I'm doing "that's adding or detracting from this profile?" Getting the feedback is great but if you don't apply it it does no good. If you discover differences between your intentions and their experiences take action to make the things that matter match. If you've uncovered blind spots, work to fix them. If you've learned more about your strengths, leverage them. It's an ongoing process. Be aware of your own strengths and weaknesses, pay attention to the way you're perceived, make adjustments and then repeat. Successfully managing your impact is a full time job but it comes with a big pay off. When you earn the reputation for being an open, accessible and responsive leader. Self awareness is one of the most critical components in high level leadership. When you really know yourself you'll have the knowledge you need to better impact and influence the people around you and you can use that as the unique blueprint for your leadership style.