Leading through self-awareness

Why does knowing yourself matter when it comes to leading others? Whether it’s delegation, feedback, or communication in general, how you operate impacts how your employees interact with you.

But self-awareness alone won’t improve your leadership skills; you have to put that awareness into action. This includes understanding how to manage employees who might not have the same style as you. Every person is unique, and your leadership should be tailored to make sure you’re getting the most out of your team.

For example, if you’re a leader in the Innovation & Agility quadrant and you’re pushing for a large change from your team, it’s likely you’ll have some employees eager to jump on board. However, those in other quadrants may need more time to process the change or require a more in-depth explanation of why this change is vital to the company.

There are some common leadership adjustments you might need to make when working with diverse personalities.

• Communication: Some team members will want to talk things through on the spot where others might want it in writing first to process.
• Goal setting: Some team members might need more clarity around expectations where others might just need a high level idea.
• Collaboration: Some people work better independently. Consider how work can be delegated in a manner that might fit the team’s preferences better.

These actions might not always be clear, though. The data and insights you get from using the tools in our software offer effective ways to interact with, encourage, and delegate tasks to each employee. This helps you build rapport with your team, ultimately leading to better performance.

Because each employee is unique, we suggest you sit down with each employee and confirm they prefer these strategies, then come up with a plan on how you can improve the way you work together. Consider everything from what they need to succeed and how you might be a blocker or successful in leading them.