The Keys to Self-Awareness Part: I

The first step in developing and maintaining a consistent and strong brand is self-awareness. This brings to mind a quote from Oscar Wilde, the poet and novelist; “Only the shallow know themselves.” This drives home the point that while we may think we know ourselves it’s not until we gain feedback on how others experience us and the impact we have on them that we truly get to know ourselves. It’s important to know your own strengths and leverage them successfully. How self-aware are you?

1) Leverage past performance reviews. There is a wealth of information in your performance reviews. Yet we rarely spend the needed time reading them and seeing what they are telling us. What are your strengths? Your development areas? Are there any surprises or blind spots that you notice? What are the common themes you see emerge as you read through your review? I also recommend talking with prior managers, especially if you don’t have access to or can’t locate your past reviews. Let past managers know beforehand you are working on your brand and that you would like to talk with them to gain candid feedback.

2) Take an assessment. This will help you better understand yourself. If you’ve already taken one, pull it out and re-read it. If you haven’t taken an assessment or if it’s been some time, five years or more, it’s probably a good idea to explore taking a new one. There are a multitude of assessments on the market. Talk to friends, colleagues and associates to see what assessments they have taken and search them out on the web. Ask your company what assessments they use and inquire if you can take one of those. For a list of assessments I recommend, please click HERE.

3) Conduct your own 360 feedback survey. Ask several people to describe YOU. First make a list of the characteristics that you would use to describe your brand. Next, send an email and ask people to describe the three to five characteristics that come to mind when they think about you. Make sure you designate people who have observed you at work and can provide you with candid feedback. Chose a variety of individuals to respond; your boss, those higher up in the organization, peers, business partners and direct reports. Choose between five to ten people. Don’t go overboard, you want to get feedback and determine where there are consistencies and inconsistencies, not conduct a statistical analysis. Take a look at the responses; what common words or phrases do you see emerge as a result of this feedback? What are the similarities and differences between the list you created and from the feedback you received?

In my next blog I’ll discuss creating a SWOT analysis as a means to order the feedback you’ve gathered. This will help you zero in on your strengths and take control of your unique brand.

Sage Alliance, a Leadership Performance Company, provides coaching, teambuilding and assessments, workshops and speaking on topics including; leadership development, empowering teams, communications, lasting impressions, personal branding and building a coaching culture for executives and high-potentials – for both team and individual leaders.

Contact us today to discover how your organization can get the most through improved productivity, efficiency and direct impact to your bottom line, while leaders gain powerful insight, crystallize opportunities for growth and fine tune their strengths, enabling them to make the greatest impact. You can contact Shelley Hammell directly at shammell@thesagealliance.com.