The Importance of Self-Awareness in Leadership

Self-knowledge is important in leadership as it forms the foundations in decision-making and effective leadership. Among the many attributes of a leader, self-awareness is the most important. In my understanding, a person who knows his limitations both intellectually and career-wise has self-knowledge. After receiving a promotion at work, I think this is the chance to combine my leadership skills with my level of self- awareness in executing my responsibilities.

 High level of self-awareness will increase my effectiveness and leadership acumen. I intend to apply my understanding-to-understanding fellow workmates and serve as an example to workers subordinate to me. In addition, I will be able to help colleagues identify their strengths and thus improve their productivity at the company.

Consequently, knowing the areas that am weak in or have no knowledge about will assist me in making the necessary amendments and improvements. Moreover, acknowledging and accepting my weaknesses will strengthen my relationship with my fellow workmates. My understanding of human limitation is important in assigning and judging work done in my docket. Initially, I gauged productivity on intellectual capacities and ignoring emotional intelligence. This approach affects their productivity and relationship with me as their supervisor. I, therefore, think, the new revelation of the effects my critical and perfectionist character on others will help me in controlling my undesirable characteristics.

I feel that my inability to be a team player attributes to my introverted personality. Introversion amounts to lack of confidence in both my work and me, which is an obstacle in leadership. As a leader, my demeanor should reflect success and confidence instead of fear. Primarily, the lack of self-efficacy will affect my future as a career person and as be an obstacle in achieving my long-term goals. However, the lack of effective leadership on my part will terminate my long-term objective of opening my own company.

Initially, I achieved short-term goals and postponed the long-term goals due to the avoidance of teamwork. However, due to the new level of self-awareness, I can motivate myself into achieving long-term goals by achieving many short-term goals and maximizing the benefits. Continued achievement of  personal short-term and long-term goals will increase my capability of being an effective leader.

Ideally, the promotion came as a surprise to me since I was the least experienced in the department. The new situation called for adjustments and changes so that I could fit into the executive position. Since adjusting is a long process, my newly acquired level of self-awareness provides a lot of insight on how to carry on the process with ease.

However, there are a few challenges presented after learning about myself. Despite the improvements self-knowledge has brought, I feel it has made me vulnerable. Consequently, I can understand and relate to the frustrations of my subordinate staff at a personal level.

I conclude that an effective leader is one that has strength in his weakness. By acknowledging ones, weakness one discovers their strengths. Moreover, self-awareness sheds light on what areas to improve and how our behavior and personality affects others. Therefore, as a leader, my personality should positively affect my staff's productivity instead of causing them psychological stress. In brief, leaders should increase their emotional intelligence and balance it with intellectual intelligence to increase team cooperation and productivity in an organization.