# Personal awareness

## How to use

Personal awareness is a key skill for both new and experienced managers in health and social care and it is one of the four basic building blocks of the fully rounded caring manager. This is because a reflective understanding of self can enhance your effectiveness as both a manager and a leader of other people.

Developing your personal awareness means examining aspects of yourself such as your level of self-confidence, emotional intelligence, resilience and self-esteem. It also means taking a broader, proactive approach to changes in your professional and personal life, to maintain an appropriate balance and remain effective in both.

This tool comprises four sets of questions designed to help you reflect on your current self-perception, your ideas about management and leadership, and your personal and professional goals (based on Chambers et al., 2006). You should answer these questions honestly to get the most from the tool. The final part of it gives you an opportunity to challenge any personal barriers to effectiveness – such as self-defeating beliefs – by creating a self-affirming statement based on your newly acquired personal awareness.

Tip Use this tool to develop your personal awareness as part of the foundation to adopting a proactive approach to management and emotionally intelligent leadership.