Awareness Know Thyself. ~ Socrates Chapte r 1 12 Copyright 2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations Slides by Caroline Juszczak Chapter Objectives Determine your strengths and understand how they can guide you in personal and professional choices. Figure out what motivates you in order to find personal and professional success. Assess your limitations and develop a plan for improving those areas. Gain understanding and insight into your personality, attitudes and behaviours. Identify the biases you have that preclude your understanding and appreciating others. 13 Copyright 2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations Slides by Caroline Juszczak What is Self-Awareness? Knowing your: Motivations Preferences Personality Understanding how these factors influence your: Judgment Decisions Interactions with other people 14 Copyright 2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations Slides by Caroline Juszczak Benefits of Self-Awareness Understanding yourself in relation to others. Developing and implementing a sound self- improvement program. Setting appropriate life and career goals. Developing relationships with others. Understanding the value of diversity. Managing others effectively. Increasing productivity. Increasing your ability to contribute to organisations, your community and your family. 15 Copyright 2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations Slides by Caroline Juszczak Importance to Managers Tend to be superior performers. Have a greater understanding of others. Can relate to or empathize with co-workers. Tend to be more trusted. Tend to be perceived as being competent. Are able to reduce the potential for conflict. Are more likely to be open to feedback. Are able to create trusting and productive work environments. Managers who are self-aware: 16 Lack of Self-awareness Who lack of Self-awareness: Can lead to poor decisions. Can result in decisions that lead to negative consequences. Can result in situation that lead to career derailment. Can result in the opposite incompetence, because individual does not realize the gap between his or her perception and reality of strengths and competencies in question. Are less able to see themselves accurately and are therefore less able to midcourse correct. Are less able to make improvements necessary for changes and improvement. Copyright 2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations Slides by Caroline Juszczak The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none. Thomas Carlyle Scottish Author, essayist, and historian (17981881) 17 Copyright 2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations Slides by Caroline Juszczak How to Gain Self-Awareness Recognise your weaknesses, strengths, biases, attitudes, values and perceptions Enhance your self-awareness: Analyse your own experiences Look at yourself through the eyes of others Self-disclose Acquire diverse experiences Increase your emotional intelligence There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know ones self. ~ Benjamin Franklin 18 Copyright 2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations Slides by Caroline Juszczak Means for Obtaining Self-Awareness Figure 1.1 19 Copyright 2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations Slides by Caroline Juszczak Self-Analysis Examine yourself as an object in an experience or event. Step back and observe the positive or negative impact. Not always easy. Begins with reflection on and exploration of thoughts and feelings associated with affective events. Become more effective by implementing behavioural and cognitive changes. 110 Copyright 2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations Slides by Caroline Juszczak Behaviour Influenced by our: Feelings Judgments Beliefs Motivations Needs Experience And the opinions of others Patterns develop through: Reactions to events Actions over a period of time Behaviour is the way in which we conduct ourselves the way in which we act. 111 Copyright 2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations Slides by Caroline Juszczak Behaviour (cont) Motivation Modes of thinking Modes of acting Modes of interacting Behaviours four components: 112 Copyright 2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations Slides by Caroline Juszczak Personality Extroversion Agreeableness Emotional stability Conscientiousness Openness to experience The Big Five Model Personality describes the relatively stable set of characteristics, tendencies and temperaments that have been formed by inheritance and by social, cultural and environmental factors. 113 Copyright 2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations Slides by Caroline Juszczak Attitudes Determined by the emotions we choose to act on. Vary from situation to situation. Derived from parents, teachers, peers, society and our own experiences. Easier to influence and change than our behaviours or values. Can have an impact on our professional and personal relationships. Attitudes are evaluative statements or learned predispositions to respond in a consistently favourable or unfavourable manner with respect to a given object. 114 Copyright 2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations Slides by Caroline Juszczak Perceptions Person-specific May not always be consistent with reality Important to be aware of ours and those of others Influenced by many factors Tend to be formed based on our biases Perception describes the process by which individuals gather sensory information and assign meaning to it. 115 Copyright 2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations Slides by Caroline Juszczak Perceptions Diagram 116 Copyright 2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations Slides by Caroline Juszczak Perception Filters Stereotyping Selective perception Projection Expectations Interest 117 Copyright 2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations Slides by Caroline Juszczak Attribution Theory Attributions or judgments are based on our personal observation or evaluation of the situation. Future decisions and behaviours are based more on our perception of why something happened rather than on the actual outcome. According to attribution theory, individuals tend to decide that behaviour is caused by a particular characteristic or event. 118 Copyright 2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations Slides by Caroline Juszczak Attribution Theory (cont) Attribution to controllable factors tends to be a stronger indicator of future behaviour than to uncontrollable factors. Greatly affected by personal biases: Self-serving bias Fundamental attribution error 119 Copyright 2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations Slides by Caroline Juszczak Others Perceptions Social mirror Understanding how others view us, and also understanding how we are shaped by others opinions of us. Based on our memory of how others have reacted toward us or treated us. Learning to read accurately how others see us enhances our self-map, our images and judgments of ourselves. 120 Copyright 2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations Slides by Caroline Juszczak Self-Disclosure Sharing your thoughts, feelings and ideas with others Key factor in improving self-awareness Clarifies your perceptions Verifies your own beliefs Affirms your self-concept Validates data received from an objective source 121 Copyright 2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations Slides by Caroline Juszczak Diverse Experience Living or studying in a foreign country Learning a new language Travelling Reading books on new subjects Acquiring broad work experience Facing a life-threatening illness Experiencing divorce Overcoming a personal problem 122 Copyright 2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Interpersonal Skills in Organisations Slides by Caroline Juszczak Summary Self-awareness is an essential skill for developing personally and professionally. A high degree of self-awareness allows you to capitalise on your strengths and develop plans for improving or compensating for your limitations. Part of being self-aware is being able to monitor and change your behaviour. Concentrating on self-improvement demonstrates to others your willingness to learn and grow, increasing the likelihood of you being able to develop close relationships and succeed in a profession.