What is Self Awareness and Why is it Important at Work

Summary

Self-awareness is a practical workplace and leadership skill. It involves understanding your emotions and mental state, recognizing your strengths and limitations, and noticing how you come across to others.

Self-awareness can help people make better decisions about which roles, projects, strategies, and teams suit them. It can also help employees stay focused amid competing demands, reduce stress, build better working relationships, and set boundaries by saying no. Recognizing your emotional triggers can make it easier to understand others’ perspectives and handle tense discussions constructively.

Business and leadership takeaways

• Check your emotional state before reacting. Stress or an earlier conflict can affect how you respond to colleagues. Recognizing that context may help prevent an unintentional snap or escalation.
• Match work to strengths and development needs. Honestly assess what you do well and where you need help when choosing roles, projects, and collaborators.
• Protect focus. Self-awareness can help distinguish important priorities from distractions and reduce the feeling of being pulled in every direction.
• Set boundaries. Being clear about your priorities makes it easier to decline commitments that would dilute your focus or capacity.
• Build empathy through self-understanding. Knowing your own perspective and “hot-button” issues can help you consider someone else’s viewpoint, especially during disagreements.

Examples and evidence cited

• Jacob Morgan describes snapping at a colleague after project stress or an upsetting interaction as an example of acting without awareness of one’s emotional state.
• Morgan cites Jeff Bezos and Amazon as an example of a CEO practicing self-awareness in strategic decision-making.
• Former Ford CEO Alan Mulally is quoted as calling self-awareness a major opportunity for continual growth, performance, and improvement.
• Morgan says Korn Ferry found that self-awareness is among the topics executive coaches commonly work on with CEOs.
• Morgan references a Harvard Business Review article titled “Self-Awareness Can Help Leaders More Than an MBA.”

Metrics and timelines

No business KPIs, numeric targets, or timelines are provided.

Presenter and sources mentioned

Jacob Morgan; Jeff Bezos and Amazon; Alan Mulally and Ford; Korn Ferry; Harvard Business Review.