The most compelling and foundational competency of a leader is self-awareness. Before a person can effectively lead another person, they must first be capable of leading themselves. This includes knowing your stress triggers and 'go-to' responses, knowing your values, realizing and understanding how others view you, knowing your strengths, and also knowing the areas in which you can develop further from the strengths of other people. A self-reflection exercise can be one of the most challenging and humbling activities, yet a critical foundation by which to build an effective team upon.
Many managers believe they are supposed to have all the answers and unfortunately approach work each day with a fixed mindset that they know it all. We no longer have a place in professional practice to think this way; this mindset is 'managerial recklessness.' In the event the manager has significant contributions to ideas, genuine leadership is not about self-promotion, but rather, is WHOLLY about the promotion of others. If you have ever questioned whether you are a leader or a manager, answer this…in your heart of hearts, are you most concerned with demonstrating how successful you are, or how successful your team members are?
Genuine leaders have a personality that puts others first then sits in a comfortable place on the sidelines, watching and cheering on the success of their team.
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