Did you know you may be leaving money on the table at work? Many companies offer a Personal Development budget and if you don’t use it in 2023, you may lose it. Personal Development budgets vary from company to company, but they can range from $500 to $2,000 or more depending on your leadership role. When planning to allocate your funds in 2023, it’s a good idea to look at the gaps in your skill set. Good leaders tend to have a blind spot and they lack self-awareness. Great leaders have high self-awareness and regularly seek feedback to understand the impact they have on others.
According to an article in Forbes, titled, Why Self Awareness Is The Most Important Skill For Hybrid Leadership, they say “Ask 100 leadership experts what the most important leadership skill is for the new hybrid workplace and you may get responses like listening, vulnerability, emotional intelligence, humility, coaching, etc. There have been many studies and articles with solid reasoning for developing all of those soft skills in leaders. But many of these abilities are based on one truly important attribute that accelerates our growth in most aspects of life: Self-awareness.”
Self-awareness is about recognizing and understanding our personalities, emotions, and skills. There are two types of self-awareness: First, is internal self-awareness, which is to know your values, understand your feelings, and choose responses that represent your brand. You understand your strengths and weaknesses, which allows you to grow your self-confidence. Second, is external self-awareness which is about understanding how others view you. It helps leaders create more collaborative working environments, and helps to build trust.
In essence, soft skills are people skills, and they are highly sought-after in many companies. Here are five ways that increasing self-awareness can impact your professional success:
- Make decisions with other people in mind, like how an ask may impact someone’s work-life balance.
- Bring your core values to work and embody them with each decision you make.
- Take time to understand your team members’ needs and viewpoints.
- Be honest with yourself and others when you’re stressed or upset and have tools to bounce back from disappointment.
- Allow yourself and others to express emotions without judgment, which will increase team trust and safety.
This list may seem daunting, however, you can partner with a certified professional coach who can guide you to create customized strategies to improve your self-awareness and leadership. If you’re in a leadership role – whether new to it or seasoned – you likely would benefit from working 1:1 with a certified professional coach and you can use your Personal Development fund to supplement the cost.
To find out how professional coaching can help you be a more effective leader, schedule a 30-minute conversation with Tracy Pajer from Tracy Pajer Coaching System and learn more about leadership development via 1:1 coaching, team workshops, or presentations to your organization. Tracy is a Certified Professional Coach with the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and Master Practitioner of the Energy Leadership Index. The Tracy Pajer Coaching System develops influential leaders so that your organization and everyone in it can reach their growth goals faster and with less stress.
By Tracy Pajer, Resident since 2009