1 What is self-awareness?
In their detailed review, Carden et al. (2021) found the literature on self-awareness ‘characterized by multiple definitions’, rarely recognising ‘the complexity of the construct’, and frequently confusing self-awareness with concepts such as self-consciousness and self-knowledge. Following detailed analysis, they offer the following definition:
Self-awareness consists of a range of components, which can be developed through focus, evaluation and feedback, and provides an individual with an awareness of their internal state (emotions, cognitions, physiological responses), that drives their behaviors (beliefs, values and motivations) and an awareness of how this impacts and influences others.
One of the primary effects of successful mentoring or coaching is to help you to enhance your self-awareness.
Dr Julia Yates explains in the following video.
Transcript
As Julia infers in the video clip, self-awareness can be difficult to understand and develop. Tasha Eurich’s research (2017) backs this up. She found that ‘while 95% of people think they are self-aware, the real figure is closer to 10–15%’. She says, ‘Not only are our assessments often flawed, we are usually terrible judges of our own performance and abilities – from leadership skills to achievements at school and work.’ She also picks up on the idea of inner and outer aspects of self-awareness, describing two specific types of insight:
- Internal self-awareness – an inward understanding of our passions and aspirations, strengths and weaknesses etc.
- External self-awareness – knowing how others see you and understanding yourself from the outside in.
You’ll start by focusing on your internal self-awareness. You’ll look more externally later in the week.