How to Eliminate Stress through Self-Awareness in Leadership

What is the most essential pre-requisite for effective leadership? Reflection.

Attaining self-awareness in leadership is a process, and it requires very intentional reflection.  Once you are able to reflect on your actions, not only will you become a better leader but you will also be able to bring more clarity to your decision making process and thereby reduce stress.

Below we talk about why reflection is important, how to implement it, how this can help you become more self-aware, and we give you an exercise to practice this new skill when you are feeling the stress of leadership.

The Art, Skill, and Science Required for Success

Reflection is part-Art, part-Skill, and part-Science. It is about the investment in oneself; and this investment in yourself if the key to actually becoming self-aware as a leader. Buckle up because it can be a bumpy road getting to that point!

The Art of Reflection as a Leader is the intentional blend of positive emotion or passion into the self-awareness process. Passion is a good thing when implemented properly. But overused passion can be a curse. Art is knowing when is when and more importantly why it is enough. Practice makes perfect. Mastering the Art of reflection in leadership self-awareness has high value for you and for those you serve.

The Skill of Reflection as a Leader is a learned process. No one wakes up one day with a eureka moment of “skillset of reflection!” I maintain this is a slow, painful, evolving by trial and error process of wins and losses. It is more about the journey and the development of skills as intentional effort is made. Intentional is the key here.

Skillset is developed with intentional effort and does not make perfect on this first attempt. This is bumpy and is often a painful process. Further, leadership self-awareness is a mindset. The mindset of whatever it takes to improve my performance and self-awareness as a leader. One cannot improve without the skill of reflection and assessment of past developments and performance. Hence, mindset and skillset are herculean in your quest for reflection as a self-aware leader.

The Science of Reflection as a Leader is where all of it ties together with psychology. As human beings, we are complicated. The best of us often fail to get out of our way. We pack our backpacks along the way with enough false clutter to stock a superstore! 

The science of understanding why we do or do not do what we know is of high value. Studying human behavior, self-limiting beliefs, the comfort zone, and the process of learning all contribute to your success. To get it is only the beginning. To implement what you know is where the rubber meets the road. The truth is that few well-intentioned humans implement what they know in leadership self-awareness.

The question now becomes what combination of Art, Skill, and Science is right for you individually. The truth begins with that. Many become overwhelmed and do not engage in Reflection as the valuable personal and professional tool it can become.

JRCI 5-Step Reflection Process

I suggest my JRCI 5-Step Reflection Process. Take a moment and work this out. Like anything, the structure provides value. This will provide value for you as well.

As you begin your Journey of Reflection, a journal will be helpful for documenting your thoughts and emotions. I maintain that “How you feel” is far more valuable than “What you know.” If you do not feel good about what you have learned and know, you will not implement it.

Developing high emotional intelligence is critical for success in reflection. It requires a brave person to identify and deal appropriately with potentially unflattering knowledge.

Eliminate Stress with Self-Awareness

Elevated leadership skills are required in the constantly changing business environment to mitigate stress. As leaders, the shift in mindset previously mentioned is critical to mitigating stress in the workplace. With current technological advances, digitization has rapidly increased the pace of change, and we can become stressed if we are not careful as leaders. Change is required to remain relevant in business, yet many organizations and leaders F.E.A.R. (False Expectations Appearing Real) change, causing stress.

As a leader, the job demands making difficult and often complex decisions, knowing someone may not benefit from the decision. There will be winners and losers. This can be hard. But this is what self-aware leaders have signed up for and why we serve.

Therefore, we better get it right. There is much riding on how effectively we lead. By understanding obstacles and, more importantly, the benefits, leaders can better assess the situation and available options and make better decisions less stressfully.

As leaders, we are regularly challenged and often do not have the answers at the moment. Often leaders require input from the team to arrive at the correct answer. This ongoing process of leading, in itself, is the benefit. This process should allow for clarity and less stress. Leadership is a practice.

An Exercise to Practice Self-Awareness

I ask you to find a peaceful, happy place and hunker in for a bit. Take a few moments to center yourself and clear your mind. Allow your brain to rest a moment and breathe.

As you begin to embrace the calm, I want you to consider what you are grateful for in your leadership roles. You most likely have many roles where you lead in some capacity. Each is different and requires different skill sets and responsibilities. You might consider this exercise in each of your unique leadership roles.

Some of these roles may be simple, some more complex. Some are traditional, and others not. But remember, you first lead yourself. Sometimes we forget that. You cannot lead others effectively until you lead yourself well.  [Hint: This is the key to lessening personal stress.]

I wish you to reflect on these simple questions for a good while. This is not a speed race. Instead, this is a moment to reconnect with yourself and get realigned. We often forget about ourselves in the daily weed race we lead. In the weeds, in the helicopter, problems, solutions, and all the rest.

JRCI Self-Awareness Leadership Questions

• How do I talk to myself?
• Am I kind or disrespectful?
• What do I intentionally do to take care of my mental health?
• How do I treat my body with nutrition and exercise?
• Do I put others ahead of my personal needs only to find myself run down and drained?
• What do I do to reward myself for a job well done?
• What do I do to ensure I get enough sleep to recharge?
• How do I intentionally maintain an appropriate balance in my life?
• How do I measure and maintain my EQ regularly?
• What do I regularly do to exit my comfort zone and grow?

As you answer these very simple questions, take a moment to journal your responses. I bet you treat others far better than you treat yourself. Most non-self-aware leaders do this. We often think we are selfish if we place ourselves ahead of others. This is for a variety of reasons, and this causes additional unnecessary stress. 

As you review these questions and reflect, I hope you will find opportunities to lead yourself better and become more self-aware. I hope you will benefit from this self-awareness leadership exercise.

Benefits of Self-Awareness in Leadership

For each of us, these benefits will be unique. These benefits will not only impact ourselves, but when we perform better as self-aware leaders, others benefit, and everyone becomes less stressed at work. This is a big win.

Please understand that we gain little by constantly hammering down as a leader. But to properly take care of ourselves, becoming more self-aware, the benefits become immeasurable. In fact, everyone wins by executing as our best selves in self-aware leadership.

I ask these final questions. As you answered these 8 simple questions above, would you follow you as a leader? Did you appreciate the way you answered these questions?

Now that you have journaled the answers, how will you pivot and maximize your one-degree self-aware leadership benefits?