presentation

Self-Awareness in Management & Leadership

Questions to ask yourself1. What areas of self-awareness

exploration and reflective practice can you identify as useful in your current role?

2. What further areas of your leadership and management practice do you see as needing development through further self-awareness processes?

Source: LM unit 08 MBA Course Handout

The importance of knowing yourself

• Reason 1• Reason 2

• “Success in the knowledge economy comes to those who know themselves – their strengths, their values, and how they best perform.” WHERE DID THIS QUOTE COME FROM?

Who am I?(Eysenck)

How much do I really know about me?England/Johari

Window)

Is that all?Argyris

Taking this knowledge to the

topDrucker

How can put this knowledge at

work?Holland

David England (2002)Inner Leadership – personal

transformationOverview of ArticleThe article purports Inner Leadership provides a systematic method to display the qualities required for a successful business leader. Inner Leadership allows people to utilize their “deepest resources and self-leading potentially” (England, 2002, pp. 21) in the search for effective leadership.

Inner Leadership – Personal Transformation

David England England (2002) concludes the article with the following attempt to provide a tangible personal transformation process:

1. Understanding ourselves through personality’s maps and exploring the various parts. The author provides a map called the Johari Window

2. Explore the parts of our personality, how they behave, the qualities they bring to our personality and how they interact with the other parts

3. Realizing that we have always have a choice with our personality and have the power to change our personality to enable better leadership

4. Implementing Inner leadership into our daily lives by following the above steps

Inner Leadership – Personal TransformationDavid England

CHOICE

The article suggests we have the ability to change our personalities to enable better leadership. England goes further

to propose we must continually review our inner personality, never assume our reaction or action is the correct

method and realize that personally transformation creates change \

The Key Theories of the Article areR-E-A-L

Constituents

Centre of Identity

Will

Transformation

Johari Window


R-E-A-L

• Recognizing our main personality traits

• Exploring our inner personality and discovering beliefs which narrow our thinking

• Actualizing our thinking though letting go of our habitual ways and new make conscious decisions

• Leading. Through self awareness we see the real needs of each situation and apply new thinking to each situation


Constituents

England highlights the need to understand the parts of our personality which inhibits us and parts that make us perform or feel confident. Understanding these can help to deal with the negative situations in a more confident manner


Centre of Identity

Is the ability to direct each of the constituents to withdraw the incorrect immediate reaction and allow for time to reflect and make the correct choice in a situation. This gives us freedom from our inner beliefs and allows a situation to be observed and reacted to in the correct form

Will

Will is the ability to successfully achieve what we want to achieve. Will is the Achiever constituent that allows us to perform and achieve our desires.

Transformation

Transformation often requires inner conflict, which can stunt ideas or positive action. Inner conflict should not be avoided, but effectively managed to ensure a win-win

situation is achieved where both parts of our conflicting constituents are satisfied.


Johari Window• Step 1: Personal perception. The following lists seven key phrases that I think describe me. Driven,

Hard working, Intelligent, Enthusiastic, Emotional Awareness, Insightful, Integrity

• Step 2: I checked my personal perception with another person. The phrases will be placed in the relevant part of the window. Indicating if I am open or hidden with my personal perception, if I have

other traits that I don’t know about (blind)

OpenDriven, Hardworking, Intelligent, integrity, enthusiastic

Blind

Organized, knowledgeable,

HiddenInsightful, emotional awareness

Unknown


Step 3: Statement that convey an image of me to someone who does not know me. These

statements show the Open self:• I work hard at achieving my goals• I enthusiastically approach most of my job tasks• I tend to see the deeper understanding or meaning to a problem or a followers issue. I try to look at the emotional

side of people to ensure they fell as thought their opinion counts• I try to make decisions and act with honesty and integrity

Step 4: Blind spots – Statements about me that I need answered. Answers from the

recipient of the questions are in italics:• Can I be arrogant in views and opinions – some times I can be too confident in my views and believing they are

always correct• Can I come across as a know-it-all - no• Do I allow others to express their ideas freely – most of the time. Some times I can cut people off to express my

opinion.

• Am I too judgmental of people or their ideas – no


Step 5: Revised Johari Window based on the information collected in Steps 3 and 4


Step 6: Using the table below I will list things that I am more open about and things that I discovered about myself:

Where you will use this self knowledge in your life

How you will use this knowledge in your life

Where you will use this self knowledge in your work

How you will use this knowledge in your work

New Disclosed Aspects on OPEN self

I display more emotional awareness and opening show consideration for peoples feelings

Friends, family People will warm to me easier and feel comfortable in expressing themselves freely

when dealing with all work colleagues

I will managed people based on their skills and ability rather than managing all the staff the same.

New awareness of BLIND self

I can be arrogant in my opinions

Friends, family I will need to listen more and not always express my opinion


I will need to listen more to the advice of people around me. I will seek their opinion. I will ask the site foreman the best process

I need to let others express their feelings opening

Friends, family I will need to listen more and not always express my opinion


I will need to listen more and not always express my opinion. Listening more will enable me to learn more


My work in Construction Management will be added by England’s inner leadership work as it will allow me to critically reflect on the way I behave and respond to people. The Johari window has been used in my dealings with the site foreman. Given the fast paced nature and often the need for a quick decision, I can be short and blunt with people. This window highlighted my blind spots of

being arrogant and realizing that I must listen more.

Weakness of Theory

The Johari window is an effective tool for self analysis and feed back from peers. The theory relies on the reviewer to provide constructive criticism which may be difficult in a work environment. Some times honest feedback is difficult to receive.

John Holland• John L. Holland was a psychologist who theorized that all humans can be described by six major

personality types (Holland codes), although they can also be represented by a combination of attributes from multiple types.

• The Holland Codes represent major psychological groupings related to the subject’s core desires and needs. In a similar manner to Maslow's hierarchy each personality type requires certain forms of stimulation in order to achieve satisfaction or productivity.

• Modern organizations use the Holland Code system to identify and screen potential candidates, stream workers into productive units, and enhance staffing rates such as retention & utilization, and improve organizational cohesion.

Holland Personality Types• Realistic

Practicality, Physical, Tool Oriented, Physically Driven

• Investigative

Analytical, Intellectual, Scientific, Explorative

• Artistic

Creative, Original, Independent, Chaotic/Random

• Social

Cooperative, Supporting, Nurturing, Helpful, Healing

• Enterprising

Competitive, Assertive, Leading, Persuading

• Conventional

Detail Oriented, Organized, Clerical

Holland Code Relationship• The Holland personality types are

relationally arranged into a hexagon, showing the correlation between each personality type and its relationship with the others.

Several key points should be remembered:

• Personality types which are diametrically opposed often do not work well together within the same team as they are driven by different incentives.

• Personality types which are the same or closer to each other in the model share key drivers.

• Aligned personalities make for a better team, with greater cohesion and group dynamics, often resulting in greater success.

Holland Testing• Holland Personality Tests are based on individual responses to a self-awareness questionnaire.

• The self-awareness questionnaire is based on three primary areas:

– Motivations/Incentives

– Capabilities/Competencies

– Satisfaction Drivers

• Motivations form the basis for an individual to execute work or to be enticed into being productive. They could range from creative incentives associated with the artistic personality, through to purely financial incentives associated with an enterprising personality.

• Capabilities and Competencies are task based questions which identify what a subject’s core skills and attributes are. During development an individual will have aligned their core skills into a matrix that will be similar to the capabilities related to a particular personality group.

• Satisfaction Drivers are activities, roles or tasks which the subject gains personal satisfaction in performing, such as painting, driving, tinkering, etc.

• Drivers, Motivators and Capabilities may be repeatedly identified to gain a holistic view of the subject’s personality.

Example IncentivesDescribing Your Motivators

Efficient Energetic Curious

Outgoing Persuasive Sociable

Understanding Creative Precise

Mechanical Practical Self Reliant

Assertive Insightful Direct

Observant Responsible Intuitive

Inventive Idealistic Presentable

Understanding Scientific Rebellious

Methodical Friendly Imaginative

Analytical Mechanical Naturalist

Helpful Self Confident Money

Example CompetenciesDescribing Your Competencies

Team Player Event Coordinator Trainer

Artist Scientist Outdoorsman

Leader Scout Mathematician

Thinker Loves Detail Project Manager

Debater Electrician Cooperative

Computer Literate Handyman Propagandist

Machine Operator Painter Public Speaker

Supervisor Sportsman Mediator

Accountant Singer Writer

Metro-sexual Businessman Negotiator

Improver Interior Decorator Solutions’ Provider

Office Manager Lawyer Medicine

Example MotivatorsSatisfaction Drivers

Mechanics Project Management Meetings

Performance Monitoring Team Sports People Management

Using Computers Making Decisions Book Keeping

Working Independently Team Projects Paper Work

Marketing Ideas Photography Scientific Experimentation

Working Outside Office Work Manual Labor

Dancing Youthful Cultures Conservative Cultures

Cooking Technical Reading Fiction Reading

Following Procedures Politics Volunteer Work

Individual Personality Matrix

Subject Three, Core Attributes

Artistic

Investigative

Realistic

Social

Enterprising

Conventional

Team Personality Matrix

CLN Team Members -Personality Types

Artistic

Investigative

Realistic

Social

Enterprising

Conventional

Team Matrix Results• The CLN team has displayed an interesting series of results, including some level of diversity.

However it is clearly demonstrated that the majority personality type of “Enterprising” accounts for more than 50% of the working group.

• Team dynamics have included the following competencies

– Highly Organized

– Highly Motivated

– Task Oriented Approach

– Results and Reporting Driven

• The competencies displayed by the CLN have been directly consistent with the Holland Enterprising Personality type,

• Within our CLN no opposed personality type (Enterprising/Investigative) is present, perhaps accounting for the positive dynamic and improved team harmony.

• Further removed personality types are related to each other, further reducing conflict and improving team unity.

Holland Thoughts• The Holland Personality Test is susceptible to self-bias, in that subjects may be hesitant to

answer truthfully or prefer answers not related their true motivations.

• Respondents may prefer answers which they perceive as positive towards the corporate culture that they have observed, rendering the results subjective.

• Team results may also be influenced by the self-awareness level of subjects, and the same potential source of bias.

• Holland Personality Testing when conducted in a controlled manner, and taken with a reasonable level of scepticism towards individual result guarantees, provides a powerful tool for organizations to monitor team formation and assist in aligning personality traits with work groups

Managing Oneself

Drucker. PSource: Harvard Business Review; Jan2005, Vol. 83 Issue 1, p100-109, 9p, 3 color

Know Your Self First

• “Success in the knowledge economy comes to those who know themselves – their strengths, their values, and how they best perform.” (Drucker. P 2005)

Self Challenge

• I invite you to take this journey and to do an honest evaluation of your current situation, not your desired one. This self assessment will help you map the path between now and your desired future far better than setting a few goals and having a “mission”.

What Are My Strengths?

It is more important in recent times to understand your strengths in order to know where you belong. The only way to discover your strengths is through feedback analysis.

These self assessments identifies your personality style’•Dubrin Model•Myers-Briggs

Simple Self Assessment ActivitySelf Reflection:My believed strengths are: (Using ratings exercise: Personality, motivational and cognitive

traits (Dubrin, 2003)

Personality Traits: Motivational Traits: Cognitive Traits: Self confidence Tenacity Openness to experience Enthusiasm Drive Insight into situations Trustworthiness Creativity Extroversion Knowledge of the business

Myers Briggs Personality Profile

ENTP type personality with the following traits at work:

ENTPs are adept at seeing opportunities and then analyzing them strategically. They are good at understanding how systems work. They have a lot of imagination and initiative for starting projects and a lot of impulsive energy for carrying them out. ENTPs are stimulated by difficulties, quickly devising creative responses and plunging into activity.

Your Own Reflection:Dubrin’s Traits:

Myers Briggs Profile:

Go to https://www.mbticomplete.com/en/index.aspx to check out your profile.

Personality Traits Motivational Traits Cognitive Traits

https://www.mbticomplete.com/en/index.aspx




How Do I Perform?

There are performance measures and indicators of strengths and weaknesses, but the question here is HOW do you perform?

These self assessments identifies your personality style’•xxx•xxx

Am I a reader or a listener?

• This would seem to be a fairly innocuous question at first, however, not knowing the answer to this question can have an impact on managing others.

• Few listeners can be made, or can make themselves, into competent readers -- and vice versa. To try will likely result in being unable to perform or achieve. (Drucker. P. 2005)

Simple Self Assessment Activity

My score was: (out of 20)•Visual: 5 •Aural: 5 •Read/Write: 2 •Kinesthetic: 4

The three highest scores, Visual (seeing), Aural (hearing) and Kinesthetic (doing) mean that I can choose and adapt to the learning style being presented.

My Self Reflection: The VARK Learning test is an online questionnaire that points you in the right direction of

understanding your learning style. I took this questionnaire and found that I was like 60% of the population, a Multimodel, meaning I learn in different ways.

Your Own Reflection:What style of learning do you think you fit? Take this quick

and easy assessment and find out! http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=questionnaire

http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=questionnaire



Working With People

Some people work best as:

• Subordinates

• Team members

• Alone

• Decision makers

• Advisors

Team Work• Your primary weakness as a team member is what limits your overall

team working ability and, in turn, limits your team. Knowing your greatest weakness allows you to consider and actively improve your skill in that area - therefore increasing your teamwork results.

• Utilizing your strongest teamwork skill allows you to best help achieve your team's goals. Emphasizing your strength enables your team to gel quicker and more effectively, and allows others to overlook any potential flaws.

Simple Self Assessment Activity

AssessmentSelf Reflection:• The 15 teamwork skills are defined as 1. Trust, 2. Patience, 3. Respect, 4.

Cooperation, 5. Organization, 6. Tension, 7. Interaction, 8. Control, 9. Persuasion, 10. Disposition, 11. Responsibility, 12. Perseverance, 13. Determination, 14. Understanding, 15. Listening

Taking the assessment highlights my own strength and weakness as;

• Weakest Teamwork Skill is: Tension

• Strongest Teamwork Skill is: Cooperation

Your Own Reflection:What do you think your strength and weakness would be? Go on give it a try!

This self assessment identifies your preferred style when working with people

http://www.testcafe.com/team/?affil=

http://www.testcafe.com/team/?affil



Decision Maker Or Advisor?

Ask yourself, do I produce results as a decision maker or as an adviser?

Your Own Reflection:• The below link is a self assessment that

identifies your preferred style in Decision Making, you might be surprised what you learn!

http://www.testcafe.com/all.html




What Size Suits Me?Few people work well in all kinds of environments,

Structured and predictable, big organisation or a small one?

What environment do you best perform?

Your Own Reflection:• This self assessment identifies your preferred working

environmenthttp://www.????


What Are My Values?

• To be able to manage yourself, you finally have to ask, What are my values?

• This is not a question of ethics. With respect to ethics, the rules are the same for everybody, and the test is a simple one.

• It’s the "mirror test.”

As I always say the rules are the same for everyone

The Mirror Test

• What kind of person do I want to see in the mirror in the morning?

As I always say the rules are the same for everyone

The Question Of Belonging

Ask yourself these three questions:

• What are my strengths?

• How do I perform? and,

• What are my values?

And then you can and should decide where you belong. Or rather, decide where you do not belong.

What should my contribution be?

• To answer it, you must address three distinct elements:

• What does the situation require? Given my strengths, my way of performing, and my values,

• How can I make the greatest contribution to what needs to be done? and finally,

• What results have to be achieved to make a difference?

Responsibility for Relationships

Very few people work by themselves and achieve results by themselves.

Managing yourself requires taking responsibility for relationships.

This has two parts.• The first is to accept the fact that other people are as

much individuals as you yourself are.• The second part of relationship responsibility is taking

responsibility for communication.

Know These Elements• Work on improving your strengths. “Analysis will rapidly show where

you need to improve skills or acquire new ones. It will also show the gaps in your knowledge -- and those can usually be filled.”

• Find out where your intellectual arrogance is disabling your outcomes.

• Understand and remedy your bad habits.

• And don’t forget your manners! “Manners are the lubricating oil of an organization

• Comparing your expectations with your results also indicates what not to do.

Do You Act On This Knowledge?

• The next most important question is, "Do you act on this knowledge?“

• What are you going to do! Will you be true to yourself?

The Message

• “Do not try to change yourself -- you are unlikely to succeed. But work hard to improve the way you perform. And try not to take on work you cannot perform or you will only perform poorly.”

(Drucker. P 2005)

The Challenge

• The challenges of managing oneself may seem obvious, if not elementary. And the answers may seem self-evident to the point of appearing naïve. But managing oneself requires new and unprecedented things from the individual, and especially from the knowledge worker.

• In taking this journey of Self we hope that it has you seeing with clarity your strengths and weakness which will aid you in becoming the effective leader that you inspire to be.

Peter F. Drucker

• Peter F. Drucker is the Marie Rankin Clarke Professor of Social Science and Management (Emeritus) at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California. This article is an excerpt from his book Management Challenges for the 21st Century (HarperCollins, 1999).

Aims of Action Science

• To help reduce individual and group ineffectiveness caused by defensive interpersonal and organizational relations by removing barriers to change.

• It does not simply focus on improving the participants' problem-solving skills or making incremental changes in the external environment.

• It focuses on looking inward, learning new frameworks, and establishing new routines

Notes for slide 1.• The "action science" strategy of organizational development was defined and

vigorously advanced primarily by Dr. Chris Argyris (with important help from Donald Schon and others) over a period of more than 50 years. 1.

• Argyris is the author of the paper we will discuss in the section of the presentation:

• ARGYRIS, C. (1991) Teaching Smart people how to learn. Harvard Business Review, 69 (3), 99-109.

• The arguments strongly support the Drucker Article

Action Science• The main distinction in action science is between theories of

action.

• Reducing ineffectiveness involves shifting from using Model I to

using Model II in resolving difficult problems

Model I Theory-in-UseGoverning Variables -1. Define goals and try to achieve them (unilaterally). 2. Maximize winning and minimize losing. 3. Minimize expressing or generating negative feelings. 4. Be rational and minimize emotionality.

Model II Theory-in-UseGoverning Variables -1. Maximize valid information. 2. Have free and informed choice for all concerned. 3. Have high internal commitment to the choice and constant monitoring of its implementation.

Notes for slide three• Theories of action are the master programs, patterns, designs, sets of rules,

or propositions that people use to design and carry out their actions. These are the governing variables, values, theories, beliefs, concepts, rules, attitudes, routines, policies, practices, norms, or skills that underlie actions.

• Action Science is about providing tools to move from Model 1 which leads to Defensiveness , mistrust, anti-learning and decreased effectiveness to model 2 which leads to COLLABORATION, Trust, Effective problem solving and decision making Increased long-run effectiveness.

• Argyris introduces these models in the article through use of what he calls single loop and double loop learning

Learning

• Argyris – business success is highly dependant on the ability to learn.

• Deem 2009 - interrelationship between organisational learning and Balanced score card effectiveness was evident

Barriers

• Leaders do not know how to learn• Leaders fail to reflect on own behaviour• Single Loop verses Double loop• Espoused theory verses Theory–in-use• Organisations can reverse the cycle and can be taught to understand the

difference between their espouses and actual theories of action. ‘They can face up to the fact that they unconsciously design and implement actions

they do not intend’ (Argyris, 1991) p. 106.

Notes for slide 6• The barrier most organisations face however is that people, and particularly the people in key leadership positions

do not know how to learn. The primary reasons that leaders do not know how to learn is that they define learning as problem solving and they fail to reflect internally on their own behaviour and understand how it contributes to the organisations problems. In particular leaders need to understand that the way they go about solving problems in particular can be the source of the problem in the first place. (Sostrin, 2008) identifies Learning-Cognitive-Developmental Barriers as one of eight key factors of prominent barriers to learning and identifies the right type of learning will directly evolve business leaders mind set and elevate their capacity to learn and perform (Sostrin, 2008) p.158

• Drucker (management of self) posits that to make yourself a better leader – that is to get where you want to be the most valuable asset is to manage yourself. He puts forward that the only way to know oneself is through feedback analysis.

• Argyris introduces single loop and double loop learning models. Single loop learning goes on within a persons given belief system double loop learning involves questioning ones own belief systems and assumptions. When single loop learning strategies go wrong highly skilled professionals become defensive and blame others. Effective double loop learning is not just about how people feel it is a reflection on how we think. That is professionals are focused on improving but are often the biggest obstacle because of their framework of thought.

• Managers focused on external organisational factors (single loop) like process were enthusiastic about change and growth but the moment the focus came on their performance (double loop) they became embarrassed and defensive and learning shuts down.

Notes from Slide 6

• Argyris explains that defensive reasoning happens as a result of the difference between a persons espoused theory of action and their theory in use. ‘Put simply people consistently act inconsistently, unaware of the contradiction between their espoused theory and their theory in use, between the way they think they are acting and the way they really act.’(Argyris, 1991) P 102

Single Loop Verses double loopSingle loop – a very defensive chicken not preparedto look at how it contributed to the problem

Double loop – The monkey at least challenged its own process

Single loop -Not your fault Not my fault

Espoused theory verses Theory–in-use (cont)

• (Argyris, 1991) also posits that most theories in use rest on the same set of governing values

• To remain in unilateral control• The maximise ‘winning’ and minimise ‘losing’• To suppress negative feelings and• To be as rational as possible- by which people mean

defining clear objectives and evaluating their behaviour in terms of whether or not they achieved them

Notes from slide 9• The purpose of these values is to avoid embarrassment. According

Ryan and Oestreich fear in the work place has a crippling effect on an organisations effectiveness and ability to improve. Employees believe that not saying what they think is often an important compromise for being a team player.(D.Oestreich, 1998)

• Based on these values there is an incredibly high fear of failure – any negative feedback can lead to a ‘doom zoom’ (Argyris, 1991)p. 104 When met with a situation they cannot handle they suddenly fall apart. In this situation defensive reasoning becomes cyclic. Feedback to an individual intended toward learning and growth actually has the opposite effect. This can be most evident during performance management when instead of taking feedback on board people are inclined to blame external factors.

Productive Reasoning

• Argyris posits that organisations can reverse the cycle and can be taught to understand the difference between their espouses and actual theories of action. ‘They can face up to the fact that they unconsciously design and implement actions they do not intend’(Argyris, 1991) p. 106.

• In order for this to happen analysis of actions must be data driven. Argyris calls this approach productive reasoning. In line with model 2 in slide 3

Change Starts With Senior Management

• Ryan and Oestreich agree with Argyris in stating that this change must start with senior management having a look at their own behaviour. (D.Oestreich, 1998) A simple approach to learn this technique is to connect learning to real life experience.

Write A Live Case Study

• Writing a live case study and all the possible outcomes so that all participants can discuss the case study and reason a way through it and then begin to apply back to themselves in a safe atmosphere. Productive reasoning and self analysis will lead to personal and organisational effectiveness in that real causes of problems can be addressed and overcome.

Work Example

• Fairfax Community Network – Launch of Manningham Weekly

• Led to financial loss, poor sales results, staff turnover, low morale

• First stage was to blame implementation process and middle management

• A case study and 360 degree review including clients revealed senior management had launched wrong product

• A new gloss magazine was launched 12 months later taking on all feedback – quickest revenue growth on record. All stakeholders learnt and grew

Final Questions to ask yourself

1. What concepts from this presentation have salience for you in exploring self-awareness?

2. How will you use these concepts to build self-awareness to improve your leadership and management practice?

Source: LM unit 08 MBA Course Handout

ReferencesAction Science:Arygris,C. (1991) Teaching Smart people how to learn, Harvard Business Review, 69 (3), 99-109.

D. Oestreich, K. R. A. (1998) Driving Fear out of the Workplace - Creating the High Trust, High Performance Organisation, San Franciso, Jossey-Bass Inc.

Deem, J. (2009), The relationship of organizational culture to Balanced Scorecard effectiveness, Dissertations & Theses: Full Text.

Sostrin, J. (2008) Establishing and validating a conceptual framework of barriers to workplace learning and performance: A Q-method study. Dissertations & Theses.

Action Science, <http://www.actionscience.com/actinq.htm>, viewed on August 12, 2009.

England:Sanchez, R. 2002, Understanding competence-based management, Identifying and managing five modes of competence, Journal of Business Research, Volume 57, pp. 518- 532

Bandura, Albert (1977), Social Learning Theory, Alexandria, VA: Prentice Hall, pp. 247, ISBN 0138167443

Bandura, Albert (1997), Self-efficacy: The exercise of control, New York: Freeman, pp. 604, ISBN 9780716726265

http://www.actionscience.com/actinq.htm

http://www.actionscience.com/actinq.htm

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