How to Coach Yourself and Others Influencing, Inter Personal and Leadership Skills | Page 69

2. Self-Reflection Self-reflection is another method for increasing self-awareness. Self-reflection is the ability to “hit the pause button” and critically assess yourself or a situation. Importance. Why is self-reflection important to leadership?  Self-reflection helps you ensure that you are taking actions that are sound and not simply running on “auto pilot,” but rather are conscious about doing what is most important in any given situation.  Self-reflection can help you learn from your experience to avoid the trap of simply repeating things that aren’t working.  Self-reflection allows you to notice your habitual ways of responding so that you have the option of approaching things differently. Methods. There are many ways to reflect, and some methods may work better for you than others. One approach is just to take a short time-out in which you simply stop and think. Other approaches include:  Journal writing.  Note taking.  Talking to others (“thinking out loud”).  Speaking into a tape.  Meditation.  Drawing pictures 3. Authentic Feedback The third technique for increasing self-knowledge is soliciting authentic feedback from others. Leaders who know themselves and let others know them are those who command respect and trust. Soliciting feedback is one of the most effective methods for increasing the open area of the Johari Window, “Known to Self and Others.” Feedback is critical to self-knowledge and thus, your ability to lead. It helps you to know if you are leading in ways that are effective for those whom you lead. Feedback can be informal. We usually think of feedback as a formal process that happens once or twice a year. But you don’t have to wait for a formal process to get feedback. In fact, the more informally and frequently you get feedback, the better. It is vital to ask for and receive feedback in a way that encourages others to tell us the truth as they see it. Feedback requires trust. People may be reluctant to give you honest feedback if they don’t trust you. That willingness to be honest is built on trust that develops over time. And to some extent, most of us have a tendency -usually unconscious - to do things that inhibit others from giving us truthful feedback. Down deep, we may not really want the truth.