Self-awareness fuels ingenuity which in turn builds better leadership skills, says James Flanagan.
 
 
 
 

 

 
Bentz (1985) identified leadership styles associated with managerial derailment in the retail industry. Researchers at the Centre for Creative Leadership similarly concluded that managers who are technically competent but fail are variously perceived as arrogant, vindictive, untrustworthy, emotional, compulsive, over-controlling, insensitive, abrasive, aloof or unable to delegate.
 
These dysfunctions usually come to the fore when people are either stressed or relaxed. When they do, people who work with them feel uncomfortable and threatened; these behaviours damage respect and reduce the constituency of support leaders' need when they are in the pursuit of their agendas. 

"A leader must rid him or herself of these dysfunctional ingrained habits, prejudices, cultural preferences and the 'we have always done it this way' attitude, the baggage that blocks rapid adaptive responses."

People who operate like this do get by but perhaps gradually failing or at least not achieving their potential. Real leaders make themselves and others feel comfortable in a changing and sometimes stressful world. They know who they are and how they operate in different situations; they have tested and know their personalities.
 
This self-awareness allows them to explore new ideas, approaches and cultures rather than shrink defensively from what lurks around life's next corner.
 
By being self-aware they become anchored by non-negotiable principles and values, they cultivate the 'indifference' that allows them to adapt confidently.

A leader must rid him or herself of these dysfunctional ingrained habits, prejudices, cultural preferences and the 'we have always done it this way' attitude, the baggage that blocks rapid adaptive responses. Core beliefs and values are nonnegotiable, the cantering anchoring that allows for purposeful change as opposed to aimless drifting on shifting currents. 

What do leaders do?

They are always teaching and learning, and in so doing they mould brilliant and eminent people. They persevere and energise themselves by the sheer ambition of their goals. They innovate by approaching their challenges in ways their predecessors never imagined. Devoting themselves to excellence they remain open to new ideas even in old age.

Leadership is not just about getting the job done it is about how the job is done. This means influencing, visioning, persevering, energizing, innovating and teaching.

Ordering one's life

An introspective journey to determine one's dysfunctional behaviours builds the foundation for success. No-one can make another person self-aware. One can only muster the will, courage and honesty to search oneself.
 
All leadership begins with self-leadership, and self-leadership begins with knowing oneself. First comes the foundation: goals and values, an understanding of personal strengths and obstacles, an outlook on the world.

People must be able to assess their strengths, weaknesses and how their working style equips them for a fast-paced, constantly changing work environment.

Self-awareness is the ability to recognise and understand one's moods emotions and drives. Self regulation is the ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods: the propensity to suspend judgement – to think before acting.
 
People derail because they never fully understand their weaknesses, weaknesses that typically revolve around risk taking, interacting with others, the dysfunctional habits that come to the fore when situations become stressful.

Self-awareness allows us to exercise ourselves of disordered affections. It is the taking stock of who I am, where I want to go and what is holding me back. We need to understand our attachments; understanding them means overturning our personal rocks to see what crawls out. We need to identify the internal fears, drives and attachments that can control decisions and actions.
 
When we do this we create the conditions that allow ingenuity to come to the fore. Ingenuity inspires the confident optimism that the solutions are out there and with imaginative out-of-the-box thinking, solutions are uncovered.
 
Ingenuity is the ability to innovate, to absorb new perspectives, to respond quickly to opportunities or threats and to let go of strategies that no longer work and embrace new ones. It is the willingness to work without a script and dream up imaginative new approaches to problems. It is the creative embrace of new ideas.
 
Ingenuity blossoms when the personal freedom to pursue opportunities is linked to a profound trust and optimism that the world presents plenty of them. Ingenuity inspires the confident optimism that the solutions are out there and with imaginative out-of-the-box thinking solutions are uncovered.
 
Corporate ingenuity is cultivated and won one person at a time. We free people from personal obstacles to ingenuity. Self-awareness is the cornerstone of ingenuity.

Three aspects of self awareness are essential for pursuing personal ingenuity. Indifference-inspired freedom from unhealthy attachments; knowledge of personal non-negotiables, values, goals and ways of working and the internal drives, fears and prejudices that prevent flexibility and openness.
 
Personal fears cripple initiative: fear of falling out of favour with managers, fear of taking risks, fear of looking foolish in front of others. Paralysis and incoherent lurching indicate the problem of a lack of core values and principles. The time to hack these out is not when faced with a problem.

Attaining indifference and knowing non-negotiables are only preludes to what brings real ingenuity. Key to identifying self-awareness is identifying our dysfunctional habits. Ingenuity encourages the embrace of new approaches, strategies, ideas and cultures. The two are in intimately linked; they are an integrated way of living.

Conclusion

Self-awareness roots and nourishes the virtue of leadership. The person who figures out what he or she wants has taken the first step towards developing their leadership skills. Those who have pinpointed and begun to remove their weaknesses and unhealthy attachments are building the indifference essential to ingenuity.

Ingenuity disposes people to live outside the box - most challenges have solutions, and indifference is vital because it banishes parochialism. By freeing ourselves we become poised to pounce imaginatively on new opportunities.
 

 

James Flanagan, ia a training director of a consultancy specialising in positive leadership and has worked as a trainer and a management development consultant in a broad range of companies including IBM, Lilly, Harley Davidson, BUPA and UNICEF.