By John Muller, MD Candidate
The first component of emotional intelligence (EQ), and the most crucial, is that of self-awareness. This skill enables clarity to your role in the workplace.
Self-awareness refers to one’s ability to recognize one’s feelings, to differentiate between them, to know what one is feeling and why, and to know what caused the feelings provides a tremendous understanding of your position in the workplace.
Self-Awareness consists of three competencies
The first competency of self-awareness is emotional awareness. Individuals with emotional awareness recognize how their feelings affect themselves, those around them, and their performance. This is important both at work and in their personal life.
We have all had a bad day at work, only to go home and snap at an innocent bystander. With emotional awareness, this situation is prevented.
The emotionally aware person anticipates how a bad day affects their emotions, how it may affect those around them, and what positive changes can be made. They realize the links between their feelings and how it affects the way they think and act.
The second competency of self-awareness is accurate self-assessment. These individuals know their strengths and weaknesses and they are honest with themselves and with others.
Importantly, accurate self-assessment requires a thirst for constructive criticism. In this competency, one should be reflective and learn from their experiences.
Someone with strong self-assessment is one who is honest when admitting failures, and often times, talk about their failures with a smile. Try it!
The hallmark of self-awareness is a self-deprecating sense of humor
The third and final competency of self-awareness is self-confidence. This is having sureness about one’s self-worth and capabilities. These people know their limits and when to ask for help. Importantly, they actually ask for help; something that is hard for many of us.
Self-confident people take calculated risks and play to their strengths. Most importantly, they know where they are headed and why. They have clear goals that align with their values and principles.
Someone lacking self-confidence may accept the highest paying job offer only to realize months or years later that they feel no sense of fulfilment. They took the job for reasons not aligned with their values and principles. But this is easier said than done!
The self-aware person will find their work energizing and fulfilling.
Studies show that there is a significant relationship between self-awareness and job performance. This research highlights the importance of EQ and recommends that organizations develop training programs in improving emotional competencies of their managers and workers.
If EQ is a journey, self-awareness is the skill of map reading.
We now see that in order to have strong self-awareness, one must be competent in having emotional awareness, accurate self-assessment and self-confidence. Practicing and strengthening these skills will enhance one’s EQ, helping them to be a stronger leader.