Tag: Self-awareness

Self-Awareness

The ability to be self-aware and self-evaluate is easier said than done. The difficulty exists in recognizing the inward truths that often escape reality.

Marianne Williamson said, “Take stock of your thoughts and behavior. Each night ask yourself, when were you negative when you could have been positive? When did you withhold love when you might have given it? When did you play a neurotic game instead of behaving in a powerful way? Use this process to self-correct.”

When we ask the kind of questions that challenge painful answers, we find ways to improve the influence of our leadership and help others follow with confidence.

Awareness

Leadership awareness involves a knowledge or perception of the situation or fact.

Leaders need self-awareness, i.e. an awareness of their own strengths and weaknesses, an awareness of who they are, where they are going, and how they plan to achieve their vision.

Leaders also need an awareness of others, i.e. an awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of those who follow, an awareness of how to help others reach their greatest potential and achieve goals.

Leaders should also be aware of the environment, i.e. an awareness of available resources, an awareness of the obstacles, the reality of progress, and open doors of opportunity.

Good Leaders

God alone is unequivocally good. Jesus indicates this in his discussion with the rich young ruler (Mk. 10:18).

As leaders, we are created with the capacity and potential for goodness, stemming from our being created in His image.

If God alone is good and humans are capable of good only through Him, then knowing what counts for good can also only be determined under the guidance of God’s Spirit.

Leaders can cultivate goodness by learning to acknowledge wrongs, attending to God’s word, and imitating the saints.

When leaders are characterized by goodness, a self-awareness, an upward attention, and an outward activity follow.

Leadership Awareness…

Leadership awareness involves a knowledge or perception of the situation or fact.

Self-awareness, i.e. personal strengths and weaknesses, who we are, where we are going, and how we plan to reach the destination.

Others-centered awareness, i.e. the strengths and weaknesses of those who follow, how to help others reach their greatest potential and achieve the goals of the organization.

Environmental awareness, i.e. available resources, obstacles, the reality of progress, and open doors of opportunity.

Spiritual leaders must lead from a dual-world mindset: physical and spiritual.

Self-Differentiated Leaders…

Edwin Friedman is one of several who discuss concepts associated with a self-differentiated leader. Three main areas stand out.

1) They know who they are: There is clarity about life-goals and they possess strong self-awareness.

2) They are part of the system, but not controlled by it: They rarely get lost in the anxious emotional processes around them.

3) They are able to take stands at the risk of displeasing others: They have the ability to deal with the super responsible and vulnerable.

Spiritual leaders face situations where leadership maturity is needed. The process of developing into self-differentiated leader is a journey to that maturity.

Goodness…

Goodness is a fruit to be cultivated in the midst of a self-help culture. Three thoughts introduce the idea of goodness.

One, the consistent testimony in scripture that God alone is unequivocally good.

Two, if sin makes us incapable of goodness apart from God, as those created in His image, we possess the potential for goodness.

Three, knowing what counts for good can only be determined under the guidance of God’s Spirit.

We cultivate goodness by naming our sin, attending to God’s word, and imitation.

When leaders are characterized by goodness, self-awareness, upward attention, and outward activity cultivate this fruit.