Self-Awareness Leads to Self-Management

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Click here to view and download this month’s worksheet to utilize on your own or with a Group and/or Team over the next 12 months.

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“EQ (Emotional Intelligence) is the single biggest predictor of performance in the workplace and the strongest driver of leadership and personal excellence.” 

Patrick Lencioni, The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive


Welcome to year three of the Tool of the Month! We have been tremendously grateful for the positive feedback we have received about the value the Tool of the Month has brought during the first two years of publication and appreciate the support and encouragement to continue writing.

Without leaders who care about the quality of work and quality of life of others, and who are dedicated to creating environments where others can be and become the best versions of themselves, we would undoubtedly not have the opportunity to do the most rewarding work we could imagine.

As we embrace a new year, we are not going to debate the merits of setting goals, reaching goals, the benefits of goals, or how to reframe the concept of goals. We are simply going to continue our focus on being and becoming the most effective versions of ourselves each day.  

For that endeavor, we believe there is no calendar, no timeline, no ticking clock. Simply a choice to keep putting one foot in front of the other each day recognizing a few truths, 1) there is no perfection this side of heaven, 2) we are wired the way we are wired for a good purpose, and 3) all progress is some progress!

So onward and upward as we step into the first quarter of 2023 and face the certainty of the unknown, get comfortable being uncomfortable, and seek tools to help us be the most effective leaders we are capable of being and becoming. 

Throughout 2023, we will be sharing four tools and methods we use in our 1-1 coaching and development practice, internally with our Team and externally with our coaching clients to help gain self-awareness.   

  • No 1. / Q1 – we will begin with the DiSC Communication Profile

  • No 2. / Q2 – we will explore the Change Ready Profile

  • No. 3 / Q3 – we will build on our talents with the StrengthsFinder Tool

  • No. 4 / Q4 – we will close the year seeking 360° feedback with the Leadership Practices Inventory

 

Our reading material/companion will be:

  • Q1 – Emotional Intelligence 2.0, by Travis Bradbury and Jean Greaves – The focus in this book is developing self-awareness which leads to self-management. Developing a deep understanding and knowing of oneself means focusing on yourself so you can, ironically, more effectively focus on others. 
    Coincidentally the book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0, also has an EQ quiz that you may find helpful as well. Without tools like this, it can be challenging to develop self-awareness. We have chosen this book for the first quarter as the material provides an excellent framework for thinking about how to become more self-aware.

  • Q2 – We will reference Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers authored by Drs. Robert Brandt and David Kriegel as that is the source of an extraordinarily effective self-awareness and coaching tools we use, the Change Ready Profile. Based upon their research, they have identified seven traits of change readiness that provide tremendous insight into one’s level of ability to navigate change well.

  • Q3 – We will introduce StrengthsFinder 2.0 from Gallup with Tom Rath, as the StrengthsFinder tool identifies a leader’s talents and provides a platform for developing talents into strengths.

  • Q4 – We will end 2023 turning our focus to seeking 360° feedback as we explore the 5 practices of extraordinarily effective leaders from the classic Kouzes and Posner book, The Leadership Challenge.  Their research identified the five practices in which the most effective leaders around the world consistently engage.

Developing self-awareness is the pathway to understanding your communication filters and framework, perspectives, gifts, talents, paradigms, and preferences. You are wired the way you are wired for a good purpose. The challenge all leaders have is how to learn empathy (the ability to think and feel into another person’s perspective and experience) for the purpose of helping others be and become more effective. 

Becoming more emotionally intelligent is the foundation of Developing a Leadership Mindset which we explored throughout 2022. In Emotional Intelligence 2.0 authors Bradbury and Greaves introduce the framework for developing emotional intelligence and it begins with self-awareness. A few statistics from the research about the importance of developing emotional intelligence:

  •  EQ accounts for 58% of an individual’s effectiveness

  •  90% of high performers are also high in EQ, not just IQ

  •  For every point your EQ increases, it results in an average of $1,300 higher salary

  •  Individuals with high EQ average $29,000 more per year in salary

  •  83% of people high in self-awareness are top performers

 

We encourage you to pick up a copy of Emotional Intelligence 2.0, take the EQ quiz, and use the attached worksheet to measure your EQ and chart a course for enhancing your self-awareness in 2023.  Next month we will discuss the DiSC Communication Profile and how that tool can provide insight into your preferred communication style and the preferred communication style of others.

As leaders we are not capable of developing others unless we are more fully developed and capable than the person we are developing. Our challenge, as we move onward and upward always, is to choose to be and become more effective each day. We commend you and encourage you to stay the course as you step into the new year and commit to yourself that 2023 will your most effective year ever, and each and every year that follows.

-LS

This Month’s Worksheet

Click here to view and download this month’s worksheet to utilize on your own or with a Group and/or Team over the next 12 months.

Recommended Quarterly Reading

Emotional Intelligence 2.0
By Dr. Travis Bradberry & Dr. Jean Greaves

2023
Managing From The Inside Out

Winter 2023

February 1, 8, 15, 22
March 1, 8, 15

AM Classes: 8:30-11:30 A.M.
PM Classes: 1:30-4:30 P.M.

Spring 2023

May 3, 10, 17, 24, 31
June 7, 14

AM Classes: 8:30-11:30 A.M.
PM Classes: 1:30-4:30 P.M.

Fall 2023

October 4, 11, 18, 25
November 1, 8, 15

AM Classes: 8:30-11:30 A.M.
PM Classes: 1:30-4:30 P.M.

Register today to engage in professional growth and development as a Leader Manager and join us for Managing From The Inside Out! Simply email Katie Williamson at katie@lauraschanz.com to reserve a seat for yourself or a Team Member. The 2022 Registration Fee is $1,195.