Leading starts with looking in a mirror

It was a day full of in-depth conversations, beneficial strategies and tactics, and moments of enlightenment. Much of the work we do at Leaders is centred around the concept of emotional intelligence, which demonstrates the ability to understand, use and manage your own emotions positively, as well as understanding the emotions of those around you.

Research has repeatedly shown that emotionally intelligent leaders experience greater productivity, increased sales, and higher staff retention.

Excellent leadership begins with having emotional intelligence and one of the five elements that contributes to this is self-awareness.

The self-aware leader can take an objective view of themselves, evaluate their character, qualities, skills, and talents, and see themselves as they truly are. Most importantly, they can do something with all that. And it is the call to act upon our self-awareness that is so important. Whether it’s strengths to lean into or blind spots to tackle, we need to have a clear plan of how we are going to go about doing this.

Some questions to help with this process might be:

• How do you see yourself?  

• What might you miss?  

• Do you have someone you trust that will encourage and challenge you? If not, why not seek someone out and allow them to speak with compassionate honesty?  

• Take a moment to reflect on what you do day-to-day. Are you personally utilising your greatest strengths? 

In the same way that knowing ourselves is essential to being able to lead ourselves, we need to understand others to lead them. That means knowing theirpersonality style and mindset - what they care about, what drives them, and what motivates them. This is essential if we are to lead them well. 

According to research carried out by Gallup, satisfaction and productivity in the workplace come from people having the opportunity to lean into their strengths and do what they do best. But this is not always evidenced in every workplace – quite often, people’s strengths are not being utilised fully.

Many different things drive a person, and we must take this into consideration as leaders. We can’t assume everyone is driven in the way we are or sees things the way we do. There are six particular mindsets that we see drive and motivate people: 

• Knowledge - opportunities to learn, acquire knowledge and the discovery of truth. 

• Utility - practical results, maximising both efficiency and returns for their time, talent, energy, and resources. 

• Aesthetics - experience, subjective viewpoints, and balance in one’s surroundings. 

• Helping - assisting others to satisfy themselves by being helpful or supportive. 

• Independence - position, recognition, and control over personal freedom. 

• Principles - traditional approaches, proven methods, and a defined system for living. 

Understanding that people will have different mindsets and adapting ourselves to see from other people’s perspectives is crucial if we want to lead well.  

As leaders, we need to think not just about ourselves but about our team:  

• Are they in positions that play to their strengths?   

• Do we know our team well enough to know what their best looks like?   

• When we hire people, do we consider the nuance of strengths and weaknesses and how this is likely to play out? 

• How do you get to know your team better? 

• Do you take the time and effort needed to understand and see things from a different perspective?  

• When planning a meeting or preparing for a project or task, are you mindful of the different personality styles and mindsets that will be present?

Today’s leaders need to prioritise emotional intelligence, and it starts with knowing ourselves, leading ourselves, knowing others and leading others. 

If you and your team would like to know more about the use of psychometric surveys in enabling greater self- and team awareness, then please do not hesitate to contact Leaders.