You're in a new workplace. How can you develop self-awareness?
Self-awareness is the ability to recognize and understand your own emotions, thoughts, and behaviors, and how they affect yourself and others. It is a key component of emotional intelligence, which can help you improve your relationships, communication, and performance at work. Developing self-awareness is not a one-time event, but a continuous process that requires curiosity, reflection, and feedback. In this article, you will learn some practical strategies to enhance your self-awareness in a new workplace, where you may face new challenges, expectations, and opportunities.
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Duygu Alptekin Gürsu, M.A., MCC, ACTCI empower executives and teams on authenticity,resilience & transformational leadership. Executive Leadership & Team…
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Precious Imuwahen AjoonuLearning & Development Expert| Edtech| Creator, of the Jobberman Soft Skills Curriculum - upskilled over 1.5 million |…
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Sebastian BatesFounder at The Warrior Academy & The Bates Foundation | Operating across 7 countries in 4 continents | Sponsoring…
One of the first steps to develop self-awareness is to identify your strengths and weaknesses, both professionally and personally. This can help you leverage your talents, address your gaps, and set realistic goals for your growth. You can use various tools and methods to assess your strengths and weaknesses, such as self-evaluation questionnaires, personality tests, skills audits, or SWOT analysis. You can also ask for feedback from your colleagues, managers, mentors, or friends, who may have a different perspective on your abilities and areas of improvement.
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Here are 7 principles that can help: 1. Understand your team's purpose and the overall strategy. 2. Seek for direction at the beginning. Listen more than you talk and ask questions before you give answers. 3. Align on the objectives you are expected to deliver, first with your manager and then get aligned with the team members. 4. Get to know the people you work with, and create professional intimacy. 5. Do not give promises you cannot keep, build your credibility. 6. Ask for feedback for yourself, for the processes you run. Always go for "What is working here?" and "What could work better?" 7. Brainstorm with others on improvements, and ask for others' opinions and advice.
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No matter how long you’ve worked, entering into a new workplace is like going into uncharted territory. You might be very excited at the beginning, but you would still, have to manage the transition process. It is necessary, to have a fair knowledge of who you are, so you can leverage your strengths and weaknesses. I typically, like to pay attention, when in a new environment, taking time to know my colleagues. People educate us on how they want to be treated. Our job is to listen attentively. Take all interactions seriously, as they present potential opportunities, to forge new connections and make an impact. Self-awareness allows us, to reflect and introspect as needed, making sure that we are true to ourselves & the organization.
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For the first week or so, leave your experience outside the door! Get into a listening mode to understand the new workplace, the culture, the leadership styles, the processes, etc. To put it differently, create a "balanced understanding scorecard" for your transition into the new workplace - Customer, Financials, Operations, Learning and Growth. Ask your DRs to fill a "Know Your Employee" survey with questions like * What do you know about me? * What would you want to know about me? * What are the good things I need to be aware of? * What are some existing challenges that I should be aware of? This will help get a 360 perspective of the new org and help you build your approach.
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To develop your self-awareness at a new workplace, you should first observe your work environment and the culture. What does your team climate look like? What does the culture look like? Second, get to know your team members and employees from other departments. Go out to lunch with your new co-workers and get to know them. I suggest getting to know each person individually. Talk to your manager and take them out to coffee or lunch. Finally, immerse yourself in your team and the work you're tasked to do. Be aware of what is expected of you and voice your needs to your team members and leader. Also, don't involve yourself in office gossip the first week you're there. Part of self-awareness is creating a positive impression from the get-go.
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I'd like to share my insights on how I am nurturing my self-awareness based on my professional experience: 1-Continuously seek feedback from colleagues at all levels, including peers, supervisors, and team members. 2-Listen with the intention of understanding your strengths and areas for improvement, rather than simply preparing to reply. 3-Cultivate curiosity by asking questions aimed at self-improvement, rather than defending your actions. 4-Find mentors who can guide and inspire your journey. 5-Regularly reflect on your experiences, noting both successes and areas needing enhancement. 6- Embrace humility, recognize the value in everyone, and remind yourself that learning is a lifelong journey that continues until the very end.
Another important aspect of self-awareness is to be aware of your emotions and how they influence your actions and decisions. Emotions are natural and inevitable, but they can also be triggered by stress, conflict, or change, which are common in a new workplace. By monitoring your emotions and reactions, you can learn to manage them effectively, avoid impulsive or inappropriate behaviors, and express them constructively. You can monitor your emotions and reactions by keeping a journal, practicing mindfulness, or using the ABC model, which stands for Antecedent, Behavior, and Consequence.
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Understanding your pattern of emotions will help and accepting those emotions will carve a way forward for you. Journaling surely helps. 3 questions to understand pattern are 1..Ask yourself - how was your Day and elaborate it 2..Which emotions and feelings did you experience throughout the day 3..Which emotions and feelings did you experience multiple times... This will surely help
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Jess Tansutat
Executive Leadership and Integral Coach l Neuro-Somatic Practitioner I Facilitator
(edited)Our relationships with newness and with a workplace trigger different layers of our psyche. While a workplace triggers cognitive meanings & self-identity, a newness triggers our survival patterns (fight, flight & freeze) towards change. Here how I would reflect and turn emotional reactions to emotional agility. 1. Identify meaning: What does this environment mean to me? 2. Name emotions that come with it: How does my self identity get triggered by this new transition process? 3. Sense internal movements: Do I feel a desire to move towards, avoid or against this transition? 4. Empathise needs: What do I need to feel safe in order to settle in? 5. Find self in the new system: Who can be my supportive system in this process of change?
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To enhance self-awareness, pay close attention to your emotions and their impact on your actions and decisions. Emotions, though natural, can be influenced by stress, conflict, or change, especially in a new workplace. By monitoring your emotions and reactions, you can learn to manage them effectively, avoid impulsive or inappropriate behaviors, and express them constructively. Utilize methods such as keeping a journal, practicing mindfulness, or employing the ABC model (Antecedent, Behavior, and Consequence) to monitor and understand your emotional responses in various situations. This practice contributes to increased emotional intelligence and self-regulation.
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Stepping into a new workplace can stir up a storm of emotions. It's like navigating a maze where every turn brings a new feeling. The key? Keep tabs on those emotions and reactions. They're your internal weather system, signalling when you might be veering off course due to stress or surprise changes. Recognizing how you feel and why you're feeling it supports you in steering your responses in a positive direction, avoiding knee-jerk actions that don't really reflect your best self. Try jotting down what’s going on inside, pausing for a mindful moment, or tracing your emotional triggers and outcomes. It’s about mastering your emotional landscape, turning reactions into well-thought-out responses that propel you forward.
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Here are some ways you can monitor your emotions & reactions 1. Check your emotions in stressful situations. You notice that you become easily frustrated when faced with tight deadlines. what helps . You practice deep breathing exercises to stay calm and focused when under pressure. 2. Check your reactions in any conflict situations. You realise that you tend to avoid confrontation, which can lead to unresolved issues. What helps. You proactively address conflicts by having open and honest conversations with your colleagues to resolve issues quickly. These above two can really help you be more self aware in a workplace .
Feedback is a valuable source of information that can help you improve your self-awareness and performance. However, feedback can also be challenging to receive and act upon, especially if it is negative or unexpected. To seek feedback and learn from it, you need to adopt a growth mindset, which means that you view feedback as an opportunity to learn and grow, rather than as a threat or a judgment. You also need to be open and receptive to feedback, listen actively, ask clarifying questions, and thank the giver. Finally, you need to reflect on the feedback, identify the key points, and make an action plan to implement the changes.
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Feedback, while invaluable for personal and professional growth, can sometimes be hard to digest, particularly when it's negative or unexpected. Here's what helps: 1. Remind yourself that every piece of feedback is a chance to grow. Shift your perspective to view feedback as constructive, not personal. 2. Listen attentively, ask for examples to understand better, and thank the person for their input. This shows you value their perspective and are eager to improve. 3. Reflect on the feedback received to identify actionable items. Then, develop a clear, step-by-step action plan to implement changes based on the feedback.
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Continuing your journey towards self-awareness, actively seek feedback as it serves as a valuable source of information to enhance your performance. Embrace a growth mindset, perceiving feedback as an opportunity for learning and growth rather than a threat or judgment. Cultivate openness and receptivity to feedback by actively listening, asking clarifying questions, and expressing gratitude to the giver. Following feedback receipt, reflect on the key points, and formulate an action plan to implement necessary changes. This iterative process contributes to continuous self-improvement and development.
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Embrace feedback like it's your secret weapon for growth. It might feel like a gut punch at times, especially when it's not all praise. But here's the twist: that feedback is pure gold, showing you exactly where and how to boost your game. Look at it as your personal growth guide, not criticism. Keep an open mind, soak it all in, ask questions to really get to the heart of the matter, and don't forget to thank those who took the time to help you out. Next up, mull over what you've heard. What's the real takeaway? Plot out your action steps. This is your chance to evolve, to stretch beyond your current limits, and to step into a bigger, bolder version of yourself.
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Rather than asking for feedback on your behaviours, ask others for their perception and interpretation of your behaviours. Maybe you are being focussed and determined & some perceive and interpret it as you being blinkered & stubborn. Maybe you are being structured & disciplined & some perceive and interpret it as you being rigid & dogmatic. It doesn’t mean that you “are” what the others perceive but you need to take into account how you are perceived if you want to create healthy relationships.
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Feedback and team engagement is very important for any work. I always seek feedback on what I should do better for improvement and try to participate in collaborative discussions with my team members to identify the opportunity to increase development in my work as well as team work for better results.
Comparing yourself with others can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, it can help you benchmark your progress, identify best practices, and inspire you to improve. On the other hand, it can also lead to envy, insecurity, or complacency, if you focus on the wrong aspects or measure yourself against unrealistic standards. To compare yourself with others in a healthy and productive way, you need to be selective, objective, and balanced. You need to choose relevant and realistic comparisons, focus on the facts and behaviors, not the personalities or outcomes, and acknowledge both your similarities and differences.
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Actually better not to compare with others, better observe others, be proactive and make extra mile. I think I would never be like Oprah or anyone else, even I admire her so much. I can learn from her and make the best of it in my way.
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While comparing yourself with others can offer insights, it's important to navigate this practice thoughtfully. On one hand, it can serve as a benchmark for progress, help identify best practices, and inspire improvement. On the other hand, it may lead to envy, insecurity, or complacency if not approached judiciously. To engage in healthy and productive self-comparisons, be selective, objective, and balanced. Choose relevant and realistic comparisons, focus on facts and behaviors rather than personalities or outcomes, and recognize both similarities and differences. This approach fosters constructive self-reflection without succumbing to negative emotions or unrealistic standards.
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This is a recipe for unhappiness. Comparing yourself to others is akin to comparing an apple to a banana. They have similarities, sure. But they have far more differences: - Apples have seeds; bananas do not. - Apple skin is tasty; a bananas? Not so much. - Apple juice is delicious; while banana smoothies are. Their genetic makeup is different. The value they add is different. And they are both magnificent in their own way. This is the same for people. You, and the person you are comparing yourself to, have completely different strengths, weaknesses, past experiences, and life lessons that you apply to work. There is no way to make that a fair comparison. The only healthy way to compare yourself is to compare you to yourself.
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Comparing yourself to others can be dicey. You don’t want to be who you are not or, what does not truly resonates with who you truly are. Best advice, look for that one person who you look up to. Someone who inspires you to be your better self.
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Das Unglück liegt im Vergleich! Daher würde ich vorschlagen, Inspiration von Vorbildern zu verwenden und dennoch den eigenen Weg zu kreieren. In jeder Veränderung oder in jeder Aktion ist die Intention ein Aspekt, der als regelmäßige Überprüfung dienen sollte.
One of the best ways to develop self-awareness is to experiment with new behaviors and observe the results. By trying new things, you can challenge your assumptions, test your limits, and discover new possibilities. You can experiment with new behaviors by setting small and specific goals, such as asking more questions, giving more praise, or delegating more tasks. You can also seek feedback from others, or use self-assessment tools, to measure the impact of your new behaviors. By experimenting with new behaviors, you can learn more about yourself, and also adapt to the changing demands and expectations of your new workplace.
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To further develop self-awareness, engage in experimenting with new behaviors and observe the outcomes. Trying new things allows you to challenge assumptions, test limits, and uncover fresh possibilities. Set small, specific goals—such as asking more questions, offering more praise, or delegating tasks—and use self-assessment tools or seek feedback to measure the impact of these new behaviors. Through experimentation, you gain valuable insights about yourself and adapt to the evolving demands and expectations of your new workplace, fostering continuous self-improvement.
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Ask: What would do you if you knew it's ok to fail? Even thinking of such question helps to build self awareness and open space towards growth mindset.
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"Learning by doing step by step" Toujours être en conscience de son espace personnel de bonne santé afin que les nouveaux comportements puissent être expérimentés avec sécurité physique et équilibre mental. Le nouveau se définit aussi par l'écoute et le respect de ses limites personnelles non négociables selon son ressenti de ce qui définit son intégrité.
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Experiment with new behaviors may help grow your self awareness. You can find what resonates with yourself if you have never allowed yourself to understand your own values, passions, and aspirations.
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Try new things. Some will be challenging and some will come easy. You'll begin to discover how you react when you're faced with both. This increases your self-awareness and gives you a greater ability to put yourself in a positions or projects that play to your strengths vs. your weaknesses.
The last strategy to develop self-awareness is to review your progress and celebrate your achievements. By reviewing your progress, you can evaluate your strengths and weaknesses, your emotions and reactions, your feedback and learning, and your experiments and results. You can also identify what worked well, what didn't work well, and what you can do differently in the future. By celebrating your achievements, you can acknowledge your efforts, appreciate your growth, and reward yourself for your accomplishments. You can review your progress and celebrate your achievements by using a self-appraisal form, creating a portfolio, or sharing your success stories with others.
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Baby steps turn to into quantum leaps. Discovering your self-awareness isn't a destination or a result. It is a journey. Filled with up-and-downs, trials and tribulations, as well as celebrations and wins! It's easy to focus on the trials in a negative fashion. Wanting quicker results or to be clearer on exactly who you are. What I've found is there is no winning or losing when it comes to growing in your self-awareness; but rather, it's about those who can keep playing. This is the infinite game. Working to build deeper clarity into who you are so that you can add greater value into other people's lives with confidence and influence. Celebrate each win, it's helping you realize the person you're meant to become.
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Cada día debemos celebrar nuestros logros. Cada avance en nuestras vidas, debemos celebrarlo como ese peldaño que nos parecía un reto alto. Tenemos que motivarnos día a día, con logros alcanzables y ser nosotros mismos, nuestros propios fanáticos. Las historias de éxito, están hechas de pequeñas batallas, ganadas día a día, con persistencia y la satisfacción del trabajo bien realizado.
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A few things to help anyone in a new workplace. Build strong relationships, spend time getting to know as many people as you can. Be sure to learn the company goals, strategies and values. It’s also important to ask a lot of questions.
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Keep a learning journal, giving you the opportunity to note not just what you have been learning about your new role, but what you have felt and experienced while learning. Reflecting on your notes allow you to see how you have grown and give you the opportunity to think back on how you could have dealt with situations differently now that you have hindsight. Also, be open to feedback, from all levels. You don't have to take it all on, but it builds trust with your new peers, and may give you insights to yourself that you were oblivious to previously.
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A few things to consider when starting in a new workplace: 1 Never be afraid to ask for clarification. People appreciate a person who is willing to learn ‘how things are done around here’. 2 Become indispensable, going above and beyond your role. 3 Tread carefully with point no. 2! Remember the distinction ‘Capability versus Capacity’. You may have the ability to do a task for others (technically), however, you may lack capacity (time etc affecting your own workload). 4. Be careful of ‘over promising and under delivering’. 5 Engage in continuous learning & development, both professionally & personally, to adapt to the dynamic nature of modern workplaces. 6 Set specific milestones to fully develop your technical skills for the role.
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Observe and learn, go in as an empty jug and fill it initially before you start pouring out. Give yourself time to understand, push yourself but don't overdo it and don't stress over things you don't understand. Ask questions and seek answers. Work on setting the foundation right. Try sharing your understanding verbally with someone you know and do it often till the time you're able to tell the story around your work and workplace comfortably and in free flow. Always know that if you can't explain something in simple couple of sentence to others, then possibly you don't yourself understand it either.
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Some questions to delve deeper into our emotions and learn from them: 1. What situations usually trigger emotions such as anger, frustration or fear in the work environment? 2. What benefits does recognizing and understanding our emotions have in the way we approach different situations? 3. What are the thought patterns that accompany them? How do they affect the way we manage our emotional responses? 4. How does being aware of our emotions influence our way of communicating? 5. How to apply this knowledge to improve relationships and work performance? and cope with challenging or stressfull situations?
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