See how self-knowledge can improve your leadership skills!

Have you ever stopped to think that the way you express yourself directly affects the people around you?

Each individual can be more receptive or not to a command, an orientation, or a criticism, taking into account two factors: the profile of the speaker and the one who receives the information.

In a company, the relationship between the manager and the team must include fluid communication and sensitivity to perceive each person's work style.

Therefore, the manager must be aware of his role as a leader, acting to motivate team members to generate results.

Leadership development primarily involves self-knowledge and continuous learning about its characteristics. This includes how he expresses himself and consequently how he is seen by others.

What is Self-Awareness?

You may have heard the phrase "I only know that I know nothing" by Socrates. The point here is to understand what the philosopher said in full: "I just know that I don't know anything and the fact that I know that puts me at an advantage over those who think they know something."

The main point of this sentence focuses on self-knowledge as a starting point for improving your characteristics.

Self-knowledge is the ability to perceive oneself in the world, in social relationships, and in everyday activities. Realize how your characteristics stand out and how this affects your tasks and the perception that others have of you.

A good leader can reflect on his actions and how they will affect his team daily. So, let's get to know some techniques to map your characteristics.

Self-knowledge tools

We will highlight some methodologies and tools for those seeking self-knowledge, and how to use this information to become a great head.

1. DISC

This tool has a methodology that identifies the behavioral characteristics of an individual based on four types of profiles. To identify your dominant DISC profile, you can critically self-assess your attitudes and how they look with you in leadership. The following is a description of the profiles:

• D (Dominance): This profile indicates results-driven people, take risks, are persistent, and like to take action. They usually compete,  win and tend to be more authoritarian. This profile has low sensitivity towards other people, and because they are so intense, they tend to lose patience.
• They are capable of influencing other people, encouraging the collaboration of team members, and adopting a more sociable and communicative profile. They tend to start projects and not finish them, denouncing the lack of organization.
• Always concerned about the stability and harmony of the environment, he is a good team player, being able to listen and be patient. However, this profile has difficulties in decision-making and does not deal well with changes.
• As the S profile, it likes stability and likes to acquire knowledge. It is an analytical profile and always attentive & aggravates quality. They are perfectionists, critical and systematic about their performance and that of others.

DISC tests are based on a questionnaire of personal questions about individuals, analyzing the answers based on each attitude taken, and are an excellent self-knowledge tool.

There is no right or wrong profile, has the potential for success, or can adapt to a style. Individuals who carry out activities aligned with their profile become more accomplished, as they are, naturally, acting in more comfortable situations.

Tips for each profile:

D: be aware of how your information is received so as not to appear authoritarian or rude, making professional relationships difficult.

I: use organizational tools to make your team well-oriented and assertive leadership must be an example for the team.

S: good leadership works on important decision-making for the company every day, guide yourself and be sure of your decisions.

C: Be careful that self-criticism does not leave you isolated, this is part of the leadership functions to understand your limits and your team.

With this kit you will receive 3 templates to

analyse and present the KPI's from your company.

See below which presentation templates

are included in this kit.

2. SWOT

The SWOT matrix is widely used in administrative environments to draw strategies for a company. It is divided between the internal and external environment, according to the identification of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

It can also be used as a self-knowledge tool, thinking about the internal environment as the individual's questions about himself, and external issues such as his relationships with others and the environment in which he is.

A great leader is increasingly interested in exploring new opportunities while being aware of the threats that will appear. Identifying your strengths and weaknesses helps you understand what you can exploit and what should be improved. 

3. Body language

Body language can convey some of who you are to your viewer.

An assertive example of leadership has a high ability to express their opinions and a good oratory, so their bodily expressions must always follow their words, and what it signifies so that the listener can better assimilate the transmitted information.

Therefore, a good tip to improve self-knowledge, through the observation of body language, is to memorize speeches and presentations. With this, you can watch yourself and critically see where you can improve, always paying attention to gestures and intonation.

4. Ikigai

Another self-knowledge tool is Ikigai. It is a Japanese concept meaning "Reason to be" and is based on four questions:

1. What do you love?
2. What are you good?
3. What can you get paid?
4. What does the world need?

The intersection of answers to these questions can help to understand the differences between profession, vocation, passion, and mission.

The intersection of all answers would be balance or your Ikigai and is directly related to the quality of life. After all, being good at something you're paid for and can do with love, as well as contributing to the world, would be a perfect accomplishment.

Ikigai provides self-knowledge that goes beyond those already mentioned here. Instead of exploring specific characteristics of your profile, it shows you how to use these characteristics in every aspect of life.

What are the 3 main leadership styles?

There are three main styles of leadership depending on the relationship between their subordinates, they are:

1. Autocratic Leadership 

In this style, the leader determines, without the help of the group, the work to be developed and the techniques used. Considered dominant, he is personal in criticizing and praising each member.

1. Democratic Leadership

The leader encourages the group to debate the guidelines and works as a technical advisor, is part of the group. He acts objectively and limits himself to the facts in criticism and praise.

1. Liberal Leadership  

The group has total freedom in decisions and divisions of tasks. A leader has minimal participation and only comments about the members if asked.

The styles mentioned are directly related to the personality of each leader according to the profile. Some profiles may or may not fit the lead group, and it depends a lot on the leader's perception.

But calm down, no leadership can not be improved through self-knowledge. Let's talk about that below!

Strategies to improve leadership through self-knowledge

Regardless of the personality, the ability to lead can be developed through a sequence of 4 types of leadership, which involve taking the position of leader, starting to bring results, consolidating the results, and transforming the culture of the members.

Here comes the importance of self-knowledge, it is not trivial to identify your leadership style or the stage you are in if you have not yet performed a personal

analysis of your behavior.

And as already mentioned, in addition to self-perception, it is important to observe and understand other people's particularities. For this, it is worth checking out some tips:

1. Observation: always be aware of how people receive the transmitted information and how they behave in relationships within the company. In this way, you can shape the way you express yourself to improve the work environment.

2. Distribution of tasks: when delegating and distributing tasks on a day-to-day basis, you must always be aware of the profile of the team members, always look for efficiency in the results, always with the ability to guide them in the execution of procedures and solve problems that may occur during the process.

3. Feedback: Offer and ask for feedback from team members so that you can exercise constant self-knowledge and offer it to others. Constructive criticism helps the team to be in continuous improvement.

Good leadership can improve the general well-being of a company's employees, making communication more effective and proposing continuous improvement in team performance.

Thus, we have in self-knowledge the principle for leadership success, through the perception of their actions and how they affect others.

Always aligned with the understanding of the member's profile, adjusting to new teams and challenges!

Don’t stop here! 

Want to know how to jumpstart your career and become a true leader?

Discover the Leadership Development Program for FREE, which prepares you to be a complete leader through personal development, communication techniques, feedback practices and coaching concepts to help you achieve high performance.

Do you know the importance of self-knowledge in shaping a true leader? Knowing your options and weaknesses is fundamental for you to be ahead of a team and be prepared for the most adverse situations.