Mirror Mirror on the Wall...

C. K. Prahalad, a well-known management consultant, and the father of the core competency concept, once wrote this about leadership, “Leadership is about self-awareness, recognizing your failings, and developing modesty, humility, and humanity.”  Teachers, mentors, coaches agree - self-awareness is the first step in the creative process for an individual on the road to happiness.  It’s a way to explore an individual’s personality, value system, beliefs, inclinations and tendencies.  By taking a look at who we are, we can become empowered to make the changes necessary to reach our personal goals for self actualization. 

Whether you are interested in raising your self-awareness in order to build your leadership skills, develop yourself for advancement or a career change, or curious about how to improve as a person, it’s important to utilize all your avenues for collecting honest and insightful feedback.  This feedback helps you raise your awareness to those areas where you are excelling as well as failing, and guides you in determining what goals to set and what areas you should pay more attention to.  Work on self-awareness can not be accomplished in a vacuum – you need to not only explore what makes you tick, but also the perceptions others have of you.

Usually developmental feedback is given by a close friend, family member or a supervisor.  Someone who is honestly and sincerely interested in your professional and personal growth.  Feedback can be difficult to hear, but it’s useful and necessary. We should accept it as a gift, because we often don’t see ourselves as others see us and without their willingness to reflect back to us what they see – we are operating in the dark.  We see what we want to be, not necessarily what we are. Conversations about developmental issues usually occur in the employment arena during the annual performance review.  However, if you’re working with a mentor, coach or therapist you may be gaining insights on a more frequent basis.  Armed with the insight and perceptions from others about your strengths and developmental areas you can choose to do nothing or you can:

• target specific training courses and learning opportunities that will strengthen your mix of skills and knowledge
• align your skills and interests with specific jobs and career opportunities
• transition to a different career path that matches more appropriately with your interests and preferences

In addition to the perceptions and insights from others, another helpful method for looking inward for clues about who you are and why you do what you do can be obtained by incorporating a self assessment into the mix of avenues for feedback. Utilizing a self-assessment allows you to take a look at who you are, not through anyone else’s lenses but your own. Naturally, the more honest you are in answering the questions, the more relevant and helpful the feedback will be.

Perhaps you’ve already experienced a self-assessment?   If you have, then consider re-reviewing your debrief materials to determine if the feedback is still relevant.  If it’s been a while, or you have never taken a self-assessment before, check with your HR Department for options available to you.  Many internal HR Departments provide employees access to assessment tools as part of their career development benefits.  If you don’t have access to internal options, you might consider working with a Career Development Coach or contact a university Career Development Center to learn what options they might offer.

Assessments such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI), DISC and Emotional Intelligence (EI) each provide a different snapshot of your preferences along with information that can be thought provoking and inspiring of personal change.

So what should you expect when you decide to seek information about yourself through self-assessments?   You should expect the:

• assessment will be accessible on-line.  
• price will vary depending on the sophistication of the assessment and the extent of the debrief and coaching you will receive to assist you with the reflection and planning phases.  
• assessment questions have no right or wrong answers – it’s all about understanding and reflecting on the preferences your assessment choices display.
• debrief to always be conducted utilizing a written report of results and a personal conversation focused on reviewing the appropriateness of the results as well as assistance with interpretation.   
• debrief could be offered over the phone or in person.
• professional conducting the debrief to be certified by the producer of that particular assessment.   This certification provides you assurance that the professional has received sufficient training to properly interpret the assessment results, as well as design and facilitate a meaningful and directed debrief meeting.
• assessment data to be handled in a confidential and proprietary manner.

If you’ve never been exposed to the type of information offered through self-assessment tools such as those I’ve noted above, here is a glimpse at some of the developmental areas you might find yourself reflecting on based on your results, interest and feedback:

• Communication style
• Leadership style
• Careers that match your work style preferences
• Interpersonal skills
• Supervisory style
• Preference for addressing issues such as change and conflict
• Learning style
• Decision-making style
• Working with others and team development

The EI assessment takes a different approach from the MBTI, HBTI or DISC type assessments.  As our society is becoming more comfortable talking about feelings and emotions in the work setting, we continue to see the popularity of Emotional Intelligence assessments grow.  Daniel Goleman is often credited with the introduction of EI to the workplace.  In 1995, however, his work was difficult for many leaders to get their arms around since it dealt with emotions and sounded too “touchy, feely”.  Today however, we are experiencing more and more research, writings and consulting being directed to better understand and acknowledge the emotions and feelings of our workforce.  Just look to the popularity and insights the work of the Heath brothers, Dan and Chip, is having on organizational change as a result of their book, Switch which deals with the emotional side of successful change. As you consider assessments, don’t shy away from gaining some insights to your EI – you’ll be glad you took a look.

Self-awareness is nothing new.  Remember Socrates’ advice – “Know thyself”.  Through the use of self-assessments you can gain a better understanding of your preferences and raise your awareness to your own feelings as they are occurring.  With this expanded knowledge of yourself you can improve personal and professional relationships, your abilities to supervise and lead others, abilities to work better with your team mates, and to align yourself with a profession and a job that best suit the styles in which you like to work.   It may be a little scary to turn the mirror on yourself, but with the guidance of the right professional at your side, the experience can be exhilarating and powerful! 

I’m curious – what have your experiences with self-assessments been like?  I particularly like the HBDI, MBTI and EI.  What assessments do you prefer and why?

Resources:

Time Magazine, October 2, 1995, Volume 146, No. 14 The EQ Factor, Nancy Gibbs

Working with Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman

The Artist’s Way:  A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, Julia Cameron 

Do What You Are, Paul D. Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger 

The Whole Brain Business Book, Ned Herrmann

Blogs:

Look Far – The Art of Self Awareness

Enlightened Living