The Importance Of Self Awareness
I believe everyone can benefit from understanding more about themselves and others.
It’s so easy to throw shade and project the parts of us we don’t like onto others : this not only impacts our relationships it equally impacts how we feel.
By seeking to understand yourself you’re opening up to improved communication and relationships as well as reducing the drama.
This is exactly what our training clients report : participating in coach training isn’t only about skill development it’s personal development too which is why so many of our students rave about how life changing our courses are.
A pivotal area where coaching has been found to make a big difference is self awareness: this is a critical leadership skill and part of emotional intelligence as described by the well known psychologist Daniel Goleman. Coaching skills enable leaders to cultivate self awareness so they’re able to create more inclusive spaces, play to their strengths and make better decisions. Self reflective skills which are cultivated through coaching have been shown to support leadership development and performance (Lanaj, Foulk and Jennings, 2022).
When you’re aware of your strengths you can more easily build a team around you and identify areas of additional support. Equally, you can start to recognise your unhelpful behaviours and develop strategies to decrease their frequency and impact. For example, under pressure, some leaders can become very directive which may be seen as rude, but by understanding what can influence you to act like this you can change how you behave.
Plus, if your team is struggling in some aspect or simply not performing, you need to be able to understand if and when you’re contributing to the problem— and find solutions.
The more that we understand ourselves, the more that we can understand others.
I truly believe that self-awareness is at the core of improved communication and improved relationships. In this episode, I discuss how we can identify our own behavioural preferences and how they can affect the decisions we make and the people around us.
Here are the highlights:
- (01:07) People should behave like me
- (03:40) Discovering our behavioural preferences
- (06:44) Recognising our stress response
- (10:32) Moderating our stress
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I'd say, yes, it's an investment. And you know, everyone has to think long and hard about where you put your time and your money, but the me. If you want something comprehensive, well rounded, you want an experience to be able to grow as a person, to grow as a coach, to be more business minded, and to have a community of people around you and great trainers and mentors. This for me, hands down is the best training out there. And I think just three months down the line, I don't regret it at all, if anything, I'm happy to sort of encourage other people to jump on it and do it, it's really worth it is more than worth it.”
I think if you want to be a coach, work as a coach, be successful as a coach, be confident as a coach, then this is the course for you. It's unlike any training that I've ever done before, it's just great. I never worry about coaching someone now. I feel like I always know where to go. I can respond and I don't go in thinking what I am going to ask them. I can be completely curious and open to what they want to do in the session and it works: it is so much better for them and I just love it. I'm so happy to take the full joy out of it.”
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