What is self-awareness?
Researchers Duval & Wicklund (1972) described self-awareness as being able to shift between focusing on ourselves and focusing on the external environment. When we are self-aware, we compare our behaviour and true self to our internal values and standards. When our behaviour is in line with our beliefs and values, the more self-aware we are, and the more satisfied we are. If someone is high in self-awareness, they can objectively evaluate themselves and their behaviour and understand fully how others view them.
There are two types of self-awareness: internal and external self-awareness. This image (download here) by Dr Tasha Eurich for HBR explains the differences very clearly.
Why should we try to increase our self-awareness?
It is the skill to see yourself clearly, 95% of people think they are self-aware but studies would lead us to understand that 10-15% of people actually are.
Research shows relationships between high levels of self-awareness and higher levels of self-esteem and creativity. This means that those who are more self-aware would tend to be more confident in themselves and their ideas, encouraging them to become more creative. This is beneficial in the workplace as your level of self-awareness sets the standards for success in almost every area of your career and life. It is one of the most powerful tools to help successful people gain even more success.
Evidence has found that people who are self-aware are more likely to be promoted, more likely to outperform at work, have stronger relationships personally and professionally and have better communication skills.
How to increase self-awareness in the workplace:
- Turning “why” questions into “what” questions – they give us better answers and increase our self-awareness. Searching for the answers to these “why” questions is unattainable as research shows we simply cannot access the unconscious thoughts and feelings that we are looking for. One study also found that asking “why” questions encourages negative rumination (pervasive thoughts) and this fixation on why turns off rational processing which can be dangerous for mental wellbeing, so instead we should ask “what…”. For instance… instead of asking yourself “why didn’t I achieve that? / why did that happen?”, ask “what can I do differently next time? / what feedback can I get from this? / what haven’t I tried yet? / what is different today compared to other days?”.
- Seeking feedback from the right people. Organisational Psychologist Dr Tasha Eurich expresses the importance of finding “loving critics” not “uncritical lovers”. This simply means that we should seek feedback from those who care about us and will give us constructive criticism because they want us to be successful, rather than people who assure that everything you are doing is perfect because they are afraid to speak the truth.
- Learn from your experiences and recognise your strengths and weaknesses. Take some time to reflect and analyse these situations. This will increase confidence in your strengths, allow reflection on your weaknesses and offer opportunities to learn from and build on these. By recognising weakness and failure we allow ourselves to overcome these, grow and continue learning.
- Keep a diary – writing is good for reflection. When facing a situation, it can be useful to write down how you are going to approach it, and if something does not go to plan, you can look back to your diary and assess what you can do next time, or how you can better prepare next time.
- Practice mindfulness or space for some reflective thinking. By allocating time to reflect on your thoughts, you can focus on your emotions at a given time, recognising how they are affecting you. Acknowledging and being aware of your emotions increases self-awareness.
Give some of the above tips a try and let us know how you get on…
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Written by Siobhan Headd
