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leadership.com.au

The 4th Annual

Woman in Finance and Accounting

Leadership Summit 2016

‘Self-Awareness: the key to leadership effectiveness’

11 May 2016 Prepared by Sandra Sieb

–  My aim today is to:

•  Present a broader framework of Self-Awareness

•  Build the case for a self-aware leader and present you with some of

the research supporting that argument

•  Give you some strategies to help you increase your Self-Awareness,

both at an individual and organisational level

–  A few definitions of Self-Awareness:

Self-Awareness: “Conscious knowledge of one’s character and feelings”

Self:” A person’s essential being that distinguishes them from others, especially considered as the object of introspection or reflexive

action”

Awareness: “Knowledge or perception of a situation or fact”

(Oxford Dictionary)

–  The Self

SELF Biology

Character Family Context

Societal influences Stories

Strengths/Weaknesses

Emotional Triggers Assumptions

Beliefs

–  Others

OTHERS Biology

Character Family Context

Societal influences Stories

Strengths/Weaknesses

Emotional Triggers Assumptions

Beliefs

–  Broader definition of Self-Awareness:

ENVIRONMENT

Country Political environment

Regulatory environment Industry conventions

Company Team

Colleagues Family Environment

Etc.

–  Quality of the Awareness: a mindful Awareness

Awareness: “Knowledge or perception of a situation or fact”

(Oxford Dictionary)

Mindfulness: is the awareness that arises through “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and

nonjudgmentally” (Kabat-Zinn, 1994, p. 4)

–  A definition of Self-Awareness as “a mindful awareness of the Self in a dynamic context”

OTHERS SELF Impact ? Impact ?

ENVIRONMENT

Impact ?

Impact ? Self as

Observer

–  Building the case for the Self-Aware leader

“When the 75 members of the Stanford Graduate School of

Business’s Advisory Council were asked to recommend the

most important capability for leaders to develop, their answer

was nearly unanimous: self-awareness”

(George et al., 2007, in “Discovering your Authentic Leadership”)

–  Self-Awareness and Leadership effectiveness

•  Becoming more self-aware increases your self-knowledge and

access your leadership authenticity

•  Becoming more self-aware increases your ability to self-regulate and

self-control

•  Becoming more self-aware increases your ability to grasp

complexity and to become more agile

–  Self-Awareness is a key lever of one’s vertical development journey

Source: integralleadershipreview.com Vertical Stages of Growth. This illustration cross refers to two leading developmental theories; Torbert’s developmental action-logics and Kegan’s orders of consciousness. Both track the development in mental complexity and growth in consciousness and awareness over time

Each stage has a different: •  Relation to timeframe •  Focus of Awareness •  Interpersonal Style/

feedback •  Relationship to power

Each stage has its own: •  Strengths •  Challenges •  Developmental shifts to

try

Center of gravity of our society is between the Expert and Achiever level

–  Strategies to develop Self-Awareness at an individual level

NOTICE REFLECT

DEVELOP A MINDFULNESS

PRACTICE

ASK FOR FEEDBACK

•  Thoughts •  Feelings •  Bodily sensations •  Use a mindfulness

app

•  Commit time to reflect on a regular basis

•  Start a therapy/coaching program

BE CURIOUS

–  Strategies to develop Self-Awareness at an organisational level – Organisations can act as “facilitative agents”

•  Introduce on-the job leadership developmental programs that are

supported by top-level executives

-  Focus on the conversation: “the quality of an organisation depends on the

quality of its conversation” (Dr. M. Cavanagh)

-  Start with a 360 developmental feedback programs such as Leadership Circle,

LSI, interview-based

-  Combine individual and collective approaches

-  Take your team on a leadership retreat outside of its environment for a few days

•  Introduce “Hats off sessions” at the end of meetings

–  References

Bachkirova, T. (2011). Developmental coaching: working with the self. New York: Open University Press.

Bauer, J. J. (2011). The Postconventional Self: Ego Maturity, Growth Stories...and Happiness? In A. H. Pfaffenberger, P. W. Marko & A. Combs (Eds.), The Postconventional Personality (pp. 101-118). Albany: State University of New York Press.

Bennis, W. G. (2010). On becoming a leader. . Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley Pub. Co.

Boyatsis, R. E., & Akrivou, K. (2006). The ideal self as the driver of intentional change. Journal of Management Development, 25(7), 624-642.

Buss, D. M., & Scheier, M. F. (1976). Self-consciousness, self-awareness, and self-attribution. Journal of Research in Personality, 10(4), 463-468

Cook-Greuter, S. R. (2004). Making the case for a developmental perspective. Industrial and Commercial Training, 36(7), 275-281.

Gardner, W. L., Avolio, B. J., Luthans, F., May, D. R., & Walumbwa, F. O. (2005). "Can you see the real me?" A self-based model of authentic leader and follower development. The leadership quarterly(16), 345-372.

Garvey Berger, J. (2007). Adult Development Theory and Executive Coaching Practice. In D. Stober & A. M. Grant (Eds.), Evidence based Coaching Handbook (pp. 77-102). Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons.

Garvey Berger, J. (2012). Changing on the Job. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.

Garvey Berger, J., & Fitzgerald, C. (2002). Leadership and Complexity of Mind: The Role of Executive Coaching. In J. Garvey Berger & C. Fitzgerald (Eds.), Executive coaching: Practices and perspectives (pp. 27-57). Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black Publishing.

–  References

George, B. (2010). Authentic Leaders. Leadership Excellence, 27(10), 16.

George, B., Sims, P., McLean, A. N., & Mayer, D. (2007). Discovering your authentic leadership (Vol. 85, pp. 129). United States: Harvard Business Review.

Joiner, B., & Josephs, S. (2006). Leadership Agility: Five Levels of Mastery for Anticipating and Initiating Change: Jossey-Bass.

Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994). Wherever you go there you are: Mindfulness meditation in everyday life. . New York, NY: Hyperion.

Kegan, R. (1979). The Evolving Self: A Process Conception for Ego Psychology. The Counseling Psychologist, 8(2), 5-34. Kegan, R. (1982). The evolving self: Problems and process in human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Kegan, R. (1994). In over our heads: The mental demands of modern life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Miller, P. (2012). Leader Development - what we know and where to now. Asia-Pacific Journal of Management Theory and Practice, 34(1), 61-64.

Roberts, L. M., Dutton, J. E., Spreitzer, G. M., Heaphy, E. D., & Quinn, R. E. (2005). Composing the Reflected Best-Self Portrait: Building Pathways for Becoming Extraordinary in Work Organizations.pdf. Academy of Management Review, 30(4), 712-736.

Rooke, D., & Torbert, W. R. (2005). 7 transformations of leadership. Harvard Business Review, 83(4), 1-12.

Shamir, B., & Eilamb, G. (2005). What’s your story? A life-stories approach to authentic leadership development. The Leadership Quarterly(16), 395–417.

Torbert, B., Cook-Greuter, S. R., Fisher, D., Foldy, E., Gauthier, A., Keeley, J., . . . Tran, M. (2004). Action Inquiry. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.