What is Emotional Self-Awareness?

According to Daniel Goleman, emotional self-awareness is:

Emotional Self-Awareness is the ability to understand your own emotions and their effects on your performance. You know what you are feeling and why—and how it helps or hurts what you are trying to do. You sense how others see you and so align your self-image with a larger reality. You have an accurate sense of your strengths and limitations, which gives you a realistic self-confidence. It also gives you clarity on your values and sense of purpose, so you can be more decisive when you set a course of action. As a leader, you can be candid and authentic, speaking with conviction about your vision.

Strengthening self-awareness begins with an audit of strengths, limitations, core values and beliefs. Next comes an audit of how your behavior and your emotions are impacting those around you. 360 feedback is the best tool.

360 Feedback To Strengthen Emotional Self-Awareness

Emotional Intelligence growth is possible and the fastest way is to use 360 feedback. This feedback mechanism gains insight from people all around you: boss, peers and subordinates as well as self assessment. 360 feedback rarely works when executives are more concerned with their ego than their growth. These executives get the results and go on a witch hunt. They are more interested in who said what than what was said! Classic pushy boss. Seasoned executives understand the value of 360 feedback.

Inc posted this article entitled, How To Increase Your Emotional Intelligence. The author recommends these steps:

1. Reflect on your own emotions

2. Ask others for perspective

3. Be observant

4. Use “the pause”

5. Explore the “why”

6. When criticized, don’t take offense. Instead, ask: What can I learn?

7. Practice, practice, practice

Why 360 Degree Feedback

While the EQ-i 2.0® identifies the level of emotional and social functioning based on your responses, the EQ 360 assess­ment provides a more in-depth analysis by having those who work with you pro­vide information as well. When observer rat­ings are compared with the results of an EQ-i 2.0 self-report, a more complete 360 degree profile emerges

360 feedback isn’t for the faint of heart because it requires coming face-to-face with reality. And, it is always shocking especially for the uninitiated! The leader who wants to grow understands the importance of reality. Hence, strong leaders are willing to hear bad news especially about their shortcomings. The benefits of the EQ-i 2.0® 360 feedback mechanism I use are as follows:

• A Leadership Framework: Can used with almost any leadership or competency model
• A Leadership Comparison Group: Compare results to hundreds high-performing leaders
• Leadership Development: Explores Emotional Intelligence development strategies and best practices that address the challenges leaders face today
• Leadership Potential: examines four key leadership dimensions (Authenticity, Coaching, Insight, and Innovation) and highlights associated and relevant EI skills that help promote success in your leadership role
• Derailers: Identify the areas that may hinder leadership success

This type of feedback is also available for managers and for those in the workplace that don’t function in a leadership capacity.

The Leadership and Workplace 360 identifies key strengths that can be leveraged to the benefit of the organization, as well as impediments to high performance that could be improved. For more