Leadership: Self-Awareness and Blind Spots

• The leader as an individual is the most important capability for leaders to develop

Importance of Self-Awareness

• Self-awareness is being aware of the internal aspects of one's nature like personality traits, emotions, values, attitudes, and perceptions, and how patterns affect other people
• Leadership experts agree that effective leaders know who they are and what they stand for
• Leaders who deeply understand themselves remain grounded and constant, so people know what to expect from them
• Self-awareness is easier said than done
• Many people have blind spots that hinder seeing who people really are and the effect patterns of thought and behavior have on others
• Careful self-reflection is essential for recognizing blind spots

Leader Blind Spots

• Many leaders have blind spots
• Blind spots are characteristics or habits that people are not aware of or don't recognize as problems, which limit their effectiveness and hinder their career success
• A damaging blind spot is displaying an aggressive, confrontational style which is being a jerk
• Jerks hurt the people they work with, which damages organizational performance
• One type of jerk is the perpetual jerk, the second type only occasionally acts that way
• Perpetual jerks are leaders who bully, humiliate, and emotionally abuse others, particularly people in less powerful positions
• People who aren't perpetual jerks can suffer this blind spot; as leaders move up the hierarchy, people skills become more and more important, and leaders at lower levels don't see that their approach is less effective as they advance in their careers
• Another blind spot some leaders have is being too nice
• Leaders who are constantly trying to please everyone can't lead; they often make poor decisions because they can't tolerate even a mild degree of conflict
• "People pleasers" have a blind spot that prevents them from seeing that they are damaging their relationships and careers by being overly concerned with what others think of them
• When leaders understand themselves, and overcome blind spots, it becomes easier to understand and interact effectively with others
• Understanding personality differences is one aspect of knowing how to maximize effectiveness and that of the people led
• Personality is the set of unseen characteristics and processes that underlie a relatively stable pattern of behavior in response to ideas, objects, or people in the environment
• Understanding and accepting individual personalities is essential for effective leadership

Personality and Leadership

• Five general dimensions describe personality called the Big Five personality dimensions: extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience
• These factors represent a continuum, in that a person may have a low, moderate, or high degree of each of the five dimensions
• Extroversion refers to the degree to which a person is outgoing, sociable, talkative, and comfortable meeting and talking to new people; someone low on extroversion may come across as quiet, withdrawn, and socially unassertive
• This dimension also includes the characteristic of dominance; a person with a high degree of dominance likes to be in control and have influence over others
• Both dominance and extroversion could be valuable for a leader, however, not all effective leaders necessarily have a high degree of these characteristics
• Agreeableness refers to the degree to which a person is able to get along with others by being good-natured, cooperative, forgiving, compassionate, understanding, and trusting
• A leader who scores high on agreeableness seems warm and approachable, whereas one who is low on this dimension may seem cold, distant, and insensitive
• Today's successful leaders are not the tough guys of the past but those men and women who know how to get people to like and trust them
• Conscientiousness refers to the degree to which a person is responsible, dependable, persistent, and achievement oriented
• A conscientious person is focused on a few goals, which he or she pursues in a purposeful way, whereas a less conscientious person tends to be easily distracted and impulsive
• Emotional stability refers to the degree to which a person is well-adjusted, calm, and secure
• A leader who is emotionally stable handles stress well, is able to handle criticism, and generally doesn't take mistakes or failures personally
• Leaders who have a low degree of emotional stability are likely to become tense, anxious, or depressed and generally have lower self-confidence and may explode in emotional outbursts when stressed or criticized
• Openness to experience is the degree to which a person has a broad range of interests and is imaginative, creative, and willing to consider new ideas
• People lower in this dimension tend to have narrower interests and stick to the tried-and-true ways of doing things
• Open-mindedness is important to a leader because leadership is about change rather than stability; early travel experiences and exposure to different ideas and cultures were critical elements in developing open-minded qualities in leaders
• Researchers have found considerable evidence that people who score high on the dimensions of extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability are more successful leaders
• The value of the Big Five for leaders is primarily to help them understand their own basic personality dimensions and then learn to emphasize the positive and mitigate the negative aspects of their own natural styles

Personality Traits and Leader Behavior

• Two specific personality attributes that have a significant impact on behavior and are of particular interest for leadership studies are locus of control and authoritarianism
• Locus of control defines whether a person places the primary responsibility for what happens to him or her within himself/herself or on outside forces
• People who believe their actions determine what happens to them have a high internal locus of control (internals), whereas those who believe outside forces determine what happens to them have a high external locus of control (externals)
• Internals are more self-motivated, are in better control of their own behavior, participate more in social and political activities, and more actively seek information; people with a high internal locus of control will take responsibility for outcomes and changes, which is essential for leadership
• People with a high external locus of control typically prefer to have structured, directed work situations
• Authoritarianism is the belief that power and status differences should exist in an organization
• Individuals who have a high degree of this personality trait tend to adhere to conventional rules and values, obey established authority, respect power and toughness, judge others critically, and disapprove of the expression of personal feelings
• A highly authoritarian leader is likely to rely heavily on formal authority and unlikely to want to share power with subordinates
• New leadership paradigm requires less authoritarianism; leaders should also understand that degree to which followers possess authoritarianism influences how they react to the leader's use of power and authority
• When leaders and followers differ in their degree of authoritarianism, effective leadership may be more difficult to achieve

Values and Attitudes

• Individuals may differ significantly in the values and attitudes they hold, which affects the behavior of leaders and followers
• Values are fundamental beliefs that an individual considers to be important, that are relatively stable over time, and that impact attitudes, perceptions, and behavior
• End values known as terminal values, are beliefs about the kinds of goals or outcomes that are worth trying to pursue
• Some value security, a comfortable life, and good health above everything else as the important goals to strive for in life; others may place greater value on social recognition, pleasure, and an exciting life
• Instrumental values are beliefs about the types of behavior that are appropriate for reaching goals
• Instrumental values include being helpful to others, being honest, or exhibiting courage
• Individuals vary in how they prioritize values
• Understanding one's values is essential for effective leadership

How Attitudes Affect Leadership

• Values help determine the attitudes leaders have about themselves and about their followers
• An attitude is an evaluation-either positive or negative-about people, events, or things
• An optimistic attitude or positive outlook on life is often considered a key to successful and effective leadership
• Attitudes have three components: cognitions (thoughts), affect (feelings), and behavior
• The cognitive component includes the ideas and knowledge a person has about the object of an attitude, such as a leader's knowledge and ideas about a specific employee's performance and abilities
• The affective component concerns how an individual feels about the object of an attitude
• A leader may resent having to routinely answer questions or help the employee perform certain tasks
• The behavioral component of an attitude predisposes a person to act in a certain way
• A leader might avoid the employee or fail to include him or her in certain activities of the group
• A leader who highly values forgiveness, compassion toward others, and helping others would have different attitudes and behave very differently toward subordinates
• One consideration is a leader's attitude about himself or herself; self-concept refers to the collection of attitudes we have about ourselves and includes the element of self-esteem, whether a person generally has positive or negative feelings about himself
• A person with an overall positive self-concept has high self-esteem, whereas one with a negative self-concept has low self-esteem
• Leaders with positive self-concepts are more effective in all situations
• Leaders who have a negative self-concept, who are insecure and have low self-esteem, often create environments that limit other people's growth and development, which sabotage their own careers
• A leader's attitudes toward followers influence how he or she relates to people; every leader's style is based to some extent on attitudes about human nature in general-ideas and feelings about what motivates people, whether people are basically honest and trustworthy, and the extent to which people can grow and change
• One theory to explain differences in style was developed by Douglas McGregor, where identified two sets of assumptions about human nature, called Theory X and Theory Y, which represent two sets of attitudes about how to interact with and influence subordinates
• Theory X: the assumption that people are basically lazy and not motivated to work and that they have a natural tendency to avoid responsibility and need to be controlled
• Theory Y: the assumption that people do not inherently dislike work and will commit themselves willingly to work that they care about and are self-directed

Social Perception and Attributions

• Perception is the process people use to make sense out of their surroundings by selecting, organizing, and interpreting information; values and attitudes affect perceptions, and vice versa
• Perceptual Distortions are errors in perceptual judgment that arise from inaccuracies in perception; these include stereotyping, the halo effect, projection, and perceptual defense
• Stereotyping is assigning individuals to broad categories and attributing generalizations about the group to the individual
• The Halo Effect is developing an overall impression of a person or situation based on one characteristic
• Projection is seeing one's own personal traits in other people
• Perceptual defense is protecting oneself against unpleasant ideas, objects, or people
• Attributions are judgments about what caused an event or behavior, like something about the person or situation
• Many people attribute the success or failure of an organization to the top leader, when in reality there may be many factors that contribute to organizational performance and make attributions or judgments as a way to understand what caused their own or another person's behavior
• Internal attribution: Blaming characteristics of the person for the behavior
• External attribution: Blaming situational factors for the behavior
• Fundamental Attribution Error: Underestimating the influence of external factors and overestimating internal factors on others' behavior
• Self-Serving Bias: Overestimating internal factors for successes and external factors for failures in one's own behavior

Cognitive Differences

• Decision-making and problem-solving processes are influenced by an individual's perception, processing, interpretation, and utilization of information
• Different ways of thinking are linked to the hemispheres of the brain where thinking with the left brain is analytical and logical and thinking with the right brain is creative and intuitive
• Ned Herrmann's whole brain model identifies four quadrants (A-D) that correspond to different thinking styles
• People may show preferences for one or more quadrants, which can have an impact on their behavior, leadership, and communication styles
• By adopting a balanced approach to cognitive diversity effective leaders identify and capitalize on the variety of thought processes present in their teams, which encourages creativity and problem-solving
• The left hemisphere of the brain is linked to logical and analytical thought processes, while the right hemisphere is linked to creative and intuitive thinking where neuroscientists and psychologists have discovered that the brain's hemispheres have an impact on thinking
• Herrmann's model includes four quadrants (A-D) that represent various ways of thinking, going beyond hemispheric dominance; people have different levels of preference for each quadrant, which affects how they lead and communicate
• Leaders can modify their approaches to better inspire and communicate with members of their team who have different cognitive styles by being aware of their dominant quadrant preferences

Problem Solving Styles

• The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a popular instrument for evaluating personality preferences in problem-solving and decision-making, was developed as a result of Carl Jung's theories
• MBTI is based on preferences for introversion/extroversion, sensing/intuition, thinking/feeling, and judging/perceiving; the MBTI divides people into 16 personality types with gained insight into these preferences improves team interpersonal dynamics and self-awareness
• By customizing their approach, leaders can improve collaboration, communication, and conflict resolution within their organizations by utilizing MBTI insights

Working with Different Personality Types

• Leaders encounter different personality types, which can either encourage creativity or cause friction in their teams
• If you are aware of your own personality qualities, by treating team members with dignity, recognizing each person's unique abilities, aiming for understanding, and promoting positive norms within the organization, leaders may improve team dynamics
• Good leadership fosters inclusion, teamwork, and productivity by identifying and utilizing the advantages of varied personalities
• Understanding cognitive and personality differences is critical to effective leadership because it allows leaders to modify their communication approaches, capitalize on personal qualities, and promote an inclusive and cooperative workplace culture
• Embracing differences in personality and way of thinking, can improve team performance, spur creativity, and succeed as an organization