Self-Awareness in Leadership Archives – Page 20 of 20

Self-Aware Leadership and the Compassionate Workplace

A lot of leaders think that it’s impossible, or impractical, to behave with compassion in the workplace. Self-aware leaders understand that building a compassionate workplace is possible. You can design any type of workplace you wish, from the harshly autocratic to the kind and compassionate.

You can consciously promote compassion in the workplace by doing things like:

Behaving with kindness.
Treating people like human beings.
Supporting flexible work hours.
Providing benefits.
Allowing people to grow.
Allowing employees to think for themselves.
Encouraging diversity and inclusion.
Listening to people’s ideas and concerns.
Giving people responsibility.
Understanding that people have lives outside work.

I can hear the steam coming out of some leaders’ ears as they struggle with the idea that you can actually create a compassionate workplace and get stuff done. For too long, the norm has been to build workplaces that subjugate and control people instead of helping them grow and succeed. You can be the one to use self-awareness to break that cycle, especially if you’re in a leadership position.

What will you do to increase self-awareness and promote compassion in your workplace?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Aware Leaders Help Their Employees Succeed Rather Than Bossing Them Around

January 14, 2023 - The Self-Awareness Guy

A lot of leaders who lack self-awareness are great at bossing their employees around but less adept at helping them succeed. Self-aware leaders understand that helping is different from directing because it focuses on what you can do to support your employees so they can thrive and excel instead of forcing them to complete tasks. The standard leadership model is like sports coaching, where you talk at people and push them to do something, whether they want to or not, rather than finding ways to have them motivate and educate themselves from within.

Helping is a valuable tool to improve staff morale, increase productivity, build stronger teams and promote excellent workplace communication. You can delegate more effectively and give your staff the opportunity to demonstrate what they can do. Here are some tips you can use to begin being more self-aware and helping instead of giving orders:

Offer educational opportunities.
Praise the things they do well.
Support employee skills and talents.
Don’t discipline, help people learn from their experiences.
Let employees have independence.
Give employees decision-making ability.
Use employees’ ideas.
Allow various points of view and approaches.
Brainstorm.
Listen to employees.
Problem-solve collaboratively when appropriate.
Help employees find their own solutions.
Direct less.
Meet regularly to listen to employee feedback.
Help people keep growing and advancing.

Self-aware leaders know that, when their employees feel their skills and abilities are being recognized and utilized, the organization benefits. By helping instead of bossing, you get to create a happy workplace environment which, in turn, reduces turnover, hiring costs, morale problems and other glitches.

Helping is an ongoing process that encourages employees to learn and grow. When you help someone, you move from directing to encouraging them to succeed based on their own interests, talents, and abilities. What will you do to increase self-awareness, boss less, and help more?

Cheers,

Guy