
Self-Awareness and Why It’s Critical By Reggie McNeal

Great Leaders Pursue Self-Awareness
Self-awareness is the most critical piece of information a leader possesses.
I didn’t say self-absorption or self-centeredness. Ironically, these characteristics are most likely to occur in leaders who lack the critical component of self-awareness.
What Is Self-Awareness?
The dictionary uses various words to portray the meaning of awareness: knowledge, mindful, vigilance, conscious, alert, to note a few. When you add the word self to these, you get a good idea of what self-awareness includes: self-knowledge (knowing who you are), self-mindfulness (understanding your motives for doing what you do), self-vigilance (knowing what makes you tick and what ticks you off!), self-consciousness (knowing how you come across to others), and self-alertness (maintaining your emotional, physical, and spiritual condition).
The leader’s pursuit of self-awareness is the leader’s intentional quest for self-understanding.
Why It’s So Critical?
The hazards for leaders of not being self-aware are serious, even disqualifying, or deadly to their leadership. Leaders lacking it are besieged from within. They often are their own worst enemy. And they don’t even know it!
Without this insight into themselves, their behavior, and their motivations, leaders become subject to unknown or underappreciated forces that influence their actions and can sabotage their work. Without appropriate levels, hidden addictions or compulsions may guide leaders to behaviors that create huge problems and may dismay, exasperate, and bewilder those they lead.
Leaders without self-awareness risk being blindsided by destructive impulses and confused by emotions that threaten their agenda and leadership effectiveness. They may also overestimate or underestimate their abilities and respond unpredictably. For followers, credibility rides or falls on consistency, which leaders without self–awareness usually lack.
The Gift
Contrary to the negative consequences of non-self-awareness, leaders who know themselves have gained their best ally—themselves! Self-awareness gifts leaders with significant insights. They understand why they are on the planet and what contribution they intend to make – and they are in hot pursuit of making it.
They know :
- behaviors and values that support their mission
- how to measure their success
- what they bring to the table regarding talent and abilities
- how to push their learning in strategic areas that support their personal growth and missional effectiveness.
Self-aware leaders are at home with themselves. This stands in sharp contrast to the legion of leaders who are attempting their assignment with nobody home.
The Time
Leaders do not arrive at self-awareness all at once. It takes time for some more than others.
In a normal progression, the learning curve for self-awareness is typically steeper early on as the leader grapples with and works through early leadership assignments and life passages. However, not all leaders work on self-awareness in their early years. For some, it is postponed life. Learning about oneself may be jumpstarted or accelerated by precipitous events or challenges that thrust the leader into a journey toward self-awareness that has been delayed or disrupted.
Self-awareness is not automatic, even with time. It only comes to those leaders who see themselves as appropriate and crucial fields of study. Some areas of exploration include the family of origin issues (mainly how this has shaped the leader’s relational intelligence and conflict management style), hidden addictions and compulsions, boundaries, talents and gifts, the leader’s internal narrative, personality traits, and key life events that carried formational impact.
A Paradox
Intriguingly, the journey toward acquiring self-awareness is not something the leader can do on his or her own. It requires input and reflection from those around them, from people in their personal and leadership constellations.
This paradox of coming to self through the input of others requires the leader to cultivate a culture of truth-telling. This means the leader must have trusted people empowered to challenge the leader’s assumptions, actions, and attitudes.
Dig In
Gaining insight into who we are and how we have become who we are requires some serious digging and inspection, much the way an archaeologist unearths the origins and artifacts of ancient civilization by excavating long-buried ruins.
Leaders who want to foster greater self-awareness must uncover and understand the sources of their own identities.
Is it time for you to dig in?
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Reggie McNeal is a Christian thought leader. For over thirty years, he has dedicated himself to helping everyday people and other leaders pursue more intentional lives. His professional experience is wide-ranging, including serving as a denominational executive, congregational leader, leadership coach, and founding pastor of a new church. He has also lectured and taught as adjunct faculty for multiple seminaries, served as a church ministry consultant, and advised in the business sector.
This is the first post in a seven-week Monday series Practicing Greatness.