The Power of Self-Awareness for a Passionate Leader
He is passionate about the mission of his service organization and he loves to champion it in any way he can. As a seasoned professional, he considers this work his calling and he applies all his knowledge and experience to the role. He leads a team of people who are also passionate about their work.
Unfortunately, his lack of self-awareness is causing angst among the team. His passion often translates into aggressive and overly direct questioning at team meetings. In his drive to motivate the team to achieve the organization's goals, he nitpicks at details and focuses more on what's "wrong" than on what's "right". The team appears to be deflated much of the time and has difficulty sustaining their own inspiration.
Sadly, he seems to be unaware of his impact. He's clueless as to how his own emotions and intentions are translating into behavior that is negatively impacting the team. Because of his many abilities, he's considered to be valuable to the organization. So much so that the more senior leaders have tended to overlook this impact.
It's much easier than you might imagine for a seasoned professional to fall into this trap if he or she hasn't developed and nurtured a self-awareness practice. They might mistakenly believe that their knowledge, experience and intellect are all that's needed to be successful. So valuable, in fact, that their impact on others isn't important. Regrettably, this kind of "blind spot" has led to the underperformance of many teams and, ultimately, the downfall of many leaders and even some organizations.
According to psychologists Shelley Duval and Robert Wicklund in their work A Theory of Objective Self Awareness, self-awareness is the ability to focus on yourself and how your actions, thoughts and emotions do or don't align with your internal standards. They go on to say that if you're highly self aware, you can objectively evaluate yourself, manage your emotions, align your behavior with your values, and understand correctly how others perceive you (emphasis added).
In short, self-awareness has two aspects: private and public. Or as organizational psychologist and executive coach Tasha Eurich describes them: internal self-awareness and external self-awareness. In her research article published in Harvard Business Review she says:
"When it comes to internal and external self-awareness, it's tempting to value one over the other. But leaders must actively work on both seeing themselves clearly and getting feedback to understand how others see them. The highly self-aware people we interviewed were actively focused on balancing the scale."
Back to our story of the seasoned professional with a self-awareness blind spot. His passion for the organization's work and the desire to contribute to it's success are wonderful. However, as The Power of Passionate Leadership model illustrates, he will only be able to maximize both his and the organization's impact when he balances his passion for purpose with a passion for people.
At Total Life Leadership, we partner with purpose-driven non-profit leaders and service entrepreneurs to help them answer the question "How Do I Become a Better Leader?" Using The Six Pillars of Passionate Leadership, we equip leaders to be the best they can be. The result is a passionate leader whose team and organization are operating for maximum impact.
View The Six Pillars of Passionate Leadership here.
Strengthening Passionate Leadership Pillar #1 - Deep Appreciation for Self and Others with the adoption of a self-awareness practice will be a clear indication that our seasoned professional is on his way to generating energy and excitement around leading others thus creating momentum for maximum impact.
About the Author
Gayle Ely is a Leadership Coach, Trainer and Facilitator who believes Passionate Leadership can change the world. She works with non-profit leaders and service entrepreneurs to help them perform more effectively so they and their businesses can thrive.
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