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Why self-awareness is a double-edged sword
And why Medium encourages us to perform insight but not actually find it
Managers, leaders and coaches all ask us to show how well we understand ourselves. Why aren’t we improving our results? How can we change our mindset and fix a relationship with a colleague? What more can we do to serve? Growth is our collective goal. Managers and leaders understand that to excel, to get the best out of people, they need to create a growth mindset, develop staff, enable innovation.
Don’t get me wrong. These are all good things. Our teams and organisations should create the right environment for people to develop a growth mindset because it helps boost resilience, letting individuals and groups bounce back after failures. Staff should be able to develop their skills and careers, whatever their current role, and HBR recently put learning and development as a top-3 priority for attracting and keeping the best future talent. Innovation is the best way to keep adding value for customers and employees alike, and it almost always comes through disruptive thinking that generates new insights. So we do have to think deeply about how we do things and why.
But the persistent demands for self-awareness are exhausting. From self-assessment and personal reflection in appraisals to mindfulness…
