Self-Awareness!

Revision as of 17:21, 15 April 2023

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Abstract

Effective project management is strongly connected to self-awareness. It allows project managers to understand their strengths and weaknesses and recognize how they influence the project team and other stakeholders. It is the ability to identify one's feelings, behaviors, and characteristics to comprehend their cognitive, physical, and emotional self. This also makes it a crucial part of emotional intelligence, which in turn is a key skill for an effective and successful project manager. Through an increase in self-awareness, project managers can improve their communication skills, form better relationships with their teams and stakeholders and also manage conflicts more efficiently^[1].

Self-awareness is a key aspect in helping project managers address their blind spots. Blind spots can be harmful as they can create biases and limit one's perspective. In project management, this can translate into a lack of empathy towards team members, disregard for their input, and potentially missing critical details. Self-awareness helps project managers recognize their limitations and biases, leading to more objective decision-making. It also enables them to appreciate diverse perspectives and create an inclusive work environment. Developing self-awareness is essential for project managers to lead teams effectively and achieve project success^[2].This helps to build a more inclusive and diverse project team and to make fair and equitable decisions^[3].

There are several strategies that project managers can use to develop self-awareness. Some examples are mindfulness practices, feedback from others, and self-reflection. Mindfulness techniques such as meditation can help project managers become more aware of their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours, which can help control stress and anxiety. Feedback from team members, friends or stakeholders can give project managers valuable insight into how others perceive their work practices and whether they are well or poorly received, which can provide opportunities for improvement. To improve their own perceptions, however, project managers can also resort to simple methods such as keeping a diary or having regular conversations with a mentor.^[4]

In conclusion, self-awareness plays a crucial role in the success of project management. When project managers understand their emotions, actions, and impact on the people that they are dealing with, they can find ways to improve the way they communicate with them, build better relationships, and manage arising conflicts more effectively. Therefore, developing self-awareness has significant benefits not only for the project manager but also in general for the success of the projects they manage.

Introduction

Definition of self-awareness

Self-awareness is a key component of emotional intelligence and is considered essential for personal and professional development. The most important skill of self-awareness is to recognize and understand one's own thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. In doing so, it is important to look at oneself objectively, without judgment or prejudice toward things or the people a person is dealing with. By achieving this skill, a person can learn to understand how they are perceived by people around them and how their behaviour affects others.

Continuous self-awareness development is essential to a successful work and personal life. However, this means a constant effort to adapt to the influences of a constantly changing environment. But the benefits of developing good self-awareness outweigh the effort. People with higher self-awareness are, among other things, better at recognizing their strengths and weaknesses. As a result, they are able to better recognize and assess their limitations and biases, which also allows them to control their emotions and reactions more easily. This, in turn, can lead to building stronger relationships and making smarter decisions allowing new challenges and situations to be handled better.

Types of self-awareness

Inner and outer self-awareness are two crucial components of self-knowledge that project managers should develop as early as possible. Inner self-awareness is the ability to recognize and also understand own feelings, values, and thoughts. It is indispensable for project managers because it helps them to align their actions with their values and to make strategically important decisions in order to stand behind them. External self-awareness is the ability to understand how others perceive one. It is critical for project managers because it helps them recognize how their behavior affects others. This helps communicate more effectively with team members and stakeholders and build stronger relationships.The different kinds of awarnesses that develop out of inner and outer self-awareness can be seen in the following figure 1. The aim of every project manager is to develop a high internal and external awareness to get to the state of “aware” as seen in figure 1.

Figure 1: Self-awarness types (own figure, based on Harvard Business Review example)^[5]

However, cultivating both types of self-awareness can be challenging, and it might take some time and help to move from the state of an “Introspector” or “Pleaser” to being actually “Aware”. Project managers can use different strategies to improve their self-awareness. Some of them are seeking feedback from others, practicing mindfulness, and journaling to reflect on their thoughts and emotions. Seeking feedback from others is an effective way to develop external self-awareness. Project managers can ask their team members and stakeholders for feedback on their leadership style. This can, for example, be the way they communicate or the way they make and pass on decisions. By understanding how others perceive them, project managers can make necessary adjustments and improve their relationships with others. On the other hand, practicing mindfulness and journaling are effective strategies for developing internal self-awareness. Mindfulness helps a person to become more aware of their own thoughts and emotions, which can help them understand their motivations and values. Journaling on the other hand provides a space for reflection and self-discovery, allowing project managers to identify patterns in their thoughts and behaviors. Depending on the type of person some of the strategies to develop self-awareness might work better than the other, resulting in an uneven distribution of internal and external self-awareness of a project manager. If the project manager or the team recognizes this, the focus should be on improving the weaker awareness part.

Importance of self-awareness in project management

As mentioned before, self-awareness is an important part of professional development and a crucial component when it comes to effective project management. It is the ability to recognize and understand one's own emotions, behaviours, and impact on others. Project managers who possess self-awareness can better manage their emotions, communicate more effectively with team members and stakeholders, and build stronger relationships. They are also more likely to identify and manage biases and blind spots that could impact project outcomes. A study by the Project Management Institute (PMI) found that emotional intelligence, of which self-awareness is a key aspect, is one of the top five skills that successful project managers possess.

The importance of self-awareness in project management was also highlighted by Forbes. Again, it was emphasized that it enables managers to improve their decision-making, build stronger teams and achieve better results. In summary, self-awareness leads to a a deeper understanding and a clearer perception of the surroundings through which project managers can better respond to their employees and work with them in a more goal-oriented and less emotionally charged way in order to successfully complete the project.

Benefits of self-awareness in project management

Improved communication skills

Self-awareness is an important tool to improve one's communication skills. By actively understanding one's thoughts, feelings, and behaviours, one can communicate more effectively with others. First of all, it allows an individual to identify and understand his or her communication style and preferences, which can help tailor the intentions and goal of the conversation to different situations and audiences. Furthermore, it can help to recognize emotionally charged topics in order to address or navigate around them appropriately during communication, thus avoiding conflict and misunderstanding. Likewise, self-awareness can improve active listening skills, as self-aware individuals are better able to focus on the speaker and understand their message. Finally, self-awareness can promote empathy, which can help people to better put themselves in the other person's position and build stronger relationships through purposeful conversations.

Building stronger relationships with team members and stakeholders

Self-awareness is an essential characteristic necessary for building better relationships. It enables individuals to categorize, understand and manage their emotions and behaviours. As a result, one is better able to understand how one's emotions and behaviour affect the relationships with others. This enables more effective communication by understanding what kind of information the other person is trying to convey and how one's own information resonates with the other person. This can lead to more honest and therefore deeper and more meaningful communication, which in turn can improve the relationship. In addition, self-aware people are usually better in emphasizing with others. This makes it easier for them to understand the other person's feelings, which can build a higher level of trust and thus enhance the relationship if properly addressed. Self-awareness can also promote authenticity and vulnerability because people who are aware of their own thoughts and feelings are more willing to share them with others. This openness in turn leads to more intimacy and closeness in relationships. Ultimately, self-awareness is an essential trait for building stronger relationships, whether on personal or professional level, as it enables individuals to develop a deeper understanding of themselves and others, leading to more fulfilling and rewarding relationships.

Effective conflict management

Effective conflict management is an essential trait in managing projects. Self-awareness also plays an important role in developing the necessary skills for solving these problems. Through a higher self-awareness, people are better able to recognise and regulate their emotional reactions. Avoiding emotionally charged statements or intentionally escalating an argument can create a more respectful interaction and resolve conflicts more effectively. By recognising personal values, strengths, and weaknesses, it is possible to communicate more effectively during a conflict. This, for example, allows to understand what triggers emotional reactions and makes it possible to better control the reactions if the cause is known. By avoiding emotionally charged responses in a conversation, it is easier to contribute to actually resolving the conflict. In addition to conflict resolution, self-awareness can also improve the overall well-being and job satisfaction, leading to higher productivity. By recognising limitations, it is possible to seek help or improve the necessary skills through which problems can be avoided or upcoming conflicts can be managed more effectively. Overall, developing self-awareness is an important aspect of conflict management and can lead to improved communication, a higher level of empathy and improved emotion regulation during conflicts.

Identifying strengths and weaknesses for efficient resource allocation

Effective resource allocation is critical to the success of individuals as well as organizations. Resource allocation is about distributing the available resources, such as time, money, and labour, in such a way that certain goals can be achieved. To do this, however, it is necessary to know the desired outcome, as well as the available resources and potential obstacles that may occur along the way. Self-awareness can play a significant role in resource allocation, making conscious decisions about the use of certain resources. In this regard, an individual who is self-aware can better identify whether he or she needs support in certain areas and in which areas he or she can contribute most effectively or could provide support himself or herself. Thus, an individual who is self-aware can use his or her resources in a project in such a way that the best possible results are achieved. For example, a confident leader may recognize that their team needs more training in a particular area to achieve their goals. Supporting employees in the form of training allocates resources that can rebound positively later in the project. Or the project manager recognizes that too much time is being spent on administrative tasks and more resources need to be allocated to complete them in a timely manner and move on to more important tasks. However, self-awareness can also be used to identify areas where resources are being wasted. By understanding one's own tendencies and behaviours, time-wasting activities can be identified, and strategies developed to complete them more efficiently. By using resources to develop such strategies, greater productivity can be obtained and in the long run, better efficiency can be achieved. Overall, self-awareness is a vital component of effective resource allocation and utilization. When individuals and organizations know their own strengths and weaknesses and how they affect their ability to achieve their goals, they can make reasoned decisions about how to allocate available resources. This can lead to more effective use of resources, better performance, and greater success in achieving set goals.

Strategies for developing self-awareness

Self-reflection

Self-reflection describes the process of observing oneself in order to get to know more about oneself and to recognize one's own personal level of knowledge. It plays a key role in developing self-awareness since project managers must learn certain skills to be able to successfully deliver the project they manage accordingly to the set specifications, regardless of the area in which a project is being conducted. A successful project manager must, among other things, know all the phases and end goals of a project, identify and solve problems, represent and motivate the team and continuously improve the workflow. In order to achieve this, a project manager must learn to be self-aware. Self-reflection is one way that can help a project manager to develop and improve self-awareness in multiple ways. Through this, one can learn how their actions impact the team they guide and how their own motivations and attitudes affect the way they make decisions.

One way self-reflection helps a project manager to become more self-aware is through reflecting on past experiences and reactions received in certain situations. Through this one can recognize the values and beliefs one stands for. This insight can contribute to a more carefully chosen decision-making process and help to align their actions with their values. Through reflection, a project manager can, for example, recognize the importance of teamwork in certain situations so that this trait can be promoted stronger in the future.

Secondly, self-reflection can help project managers to find out more about their strengths and weaknesses. Through reflection on past projects, meetings, or tasks one can gain a better understanding of their own strength and weaknesses. By doing so tasks can be delegated more efficiently and seek help early enough if needed. An example here fore could be the communication style of the project manager and if it fits with the tasks and the team.

Third, self-reflection can help project managers to recognize the impact their actions have on others involved. By understanding how their actions affect others project managers can change their way of dealing with situations or people to better support the team. This can lead to strengthened relationships between project managers and their teams, which can ultimately lead to greater project success. An example of the impact of a project manager's decisions would be workload distribution. By reflecting on it, a potentially unfair workload distribution can be avoided and a fairer distribution, adapted to the worker's skills can take place.

Seeking feedback from others

Seeking feedback is a critical aspect of developing any person's self-awareness, especially as a project manager. The feedback can come from colleagues, supervisors, or team members, and can include constructive criticism and suggestions about one's own behaviour, actions, and decisions. In this way, project managers can gain valuable insight into their strengths, weaknesses, and blind spots, to further develop their leadership skills.

Feedback from others can give a more objective view on actions and behaviours of a person. Often people and also project managers have a distorted perception of their own strength and weaknesses. Through feedback they can understand how they are perceived by others and correct this perception. The questions can for example be about how a certain situation was handled or what could be done differently.

Through feedback project managers can also develop a growth mindset. That means they are open to learn new things, receive further feedback and make new experiences which they can profit in their role as a project manager. By showing interest in their team’s opinion project managers display the will to improve which can also have a positive impact on the moral of the team. Cultivating this growth mindset through feedback can ultimately lead to better project outcomes.

Also, feedback might help project managers to identify blind spots which they would otherwise not have noticed. Through the feedback they can get an insight into these blind spots and address them accordingly. These blind spots can for example be biases, assumptions or other limitations that affect them. Feedback that focuses on things that the project manager might overlook or areas that he or she needs more training in can help to unveil them.

Mindfulness practices

Mindfulness practice aims to focus the attention on the present moment while being open and non-judgmental. The aim is to be fully present in the moment and not drift away to the future or the past. Practicing mindfulness daily can improve overall well-being and improve stress management and concentration.

Known exercises to practice mindfulness can be meditation or mindful breathing. During meditation, the focus also lies on the breath but the mind is observing the thought without judging them. In mindful breathing on the other hand the attention is focused on the actions around, while the breath is used as an anchor in the present moment.

When it comes to project management, mindfulness practices can reduce stress during work when managers are faced with tight deadlines, problems, or complex tasks. It can also help to improve attentional control and decision-making skills resulting in a better leadership effectiveness when decisions must be made under pressure.

Regular check-ins with a mentor or coach

Coaching is a widely known way for performance improvement in a variety of areas such as project management. It involves working through set goals, developing a plan for improvement, and receiving valuable feedback on the way. When it comes to project management, coaching can, among other things, help to improve self-awareness. Through constructive feedback on things like leadership style or communication skills, coaches can then help to improve those weaknesses.

To get coached, a project manager can seek out a coach through the organization they are working for or on their own. The aim of the coach is to provide a supportive environment in which they can explore the leadership style of the manager and try to find areas for improvement. Since being a project manager requires a wide set of skills like communication, collaboration, or conflict resolution a coach can help to find the way around these skill sets and improve it. Regular check-ins allow for a progress tracking of the set goals and the chosen strategy can be reconsidered. Coaching can therefore be a valuable tool for developing self-awareness and improving leadership effectiveness in project management.

Self-awareness and decision-making in project management

Making informed decisions based on self-awareness

Making informed decisions is an important skill for a leader in any field, including project management. A sound decision is based on a thorough understanding of the situation at hand including potential risks and their consequences. Through sound decisions, project managers are better able to achieve the set goals and mitigate potential risks. Self-awareness gained through the previously described methods allows a project manager to assess their strengths and weaknesses and thus make informed decisions based on their goals and values.

Informed decisions are essential to achieve the different project goals and to ensure the success of the team. A project manager must be able to weigh the risks and benefits of different options in the best interest of the project and the team behind it. Without self-awareness, project managers are more prone to biases and make decisions that are not in line with their goals or the needs of the team. An example can be project managers taking on too much of a workload and therefore not being able to fulfill their management duties. A project manager who is aware of their bias of taking on too much work may be more likely to delegate work to others to still fulfill the management duties. Similarly, a project manager who is aware of their bias is more likely to seek different perspectives and make inclusive decisions. Informed decision-making is a key component of every project to achieve the project goals and ensure team success.

Improving project outcomes through self-awareness

Self-awareness is one of the most important components of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is used by project managers to create a climate in which parties such as team members, clients, or management can communicate with clarity, deal more effectively with challenges, and make swift sound decisions. Therefore, a project manager must be able to build strong relationships with all parties to lead them to a good collaboration for better results.

Emotional Intelligence consists of five key components, of which self-awareness builds the foundation of it on which the other components are built. The components and examples can be found in figure 2 below.

Figure 2: The five factors of emotional intelligence (own figure, based on Project Management Institute example)^[6]

Self-awareness is the first step to building emotional intelligence, which is the next step to improving project performance. Through sensing, understanding, managing, and applying the information of emotions a project manager can use it as a source to motivate, connect and influence the people around them.

When a project manager is able to recognize when team members feel overwhelmed or stressed, he or she can take action to prevent burnout and effectively lead the team throughout the project. Noticing things like this can also lead to better collaboration and more effective problem-solving since team members might feel more comfortable sharing ideas or concerns and barriers can be removed more easily. By developing self-awareness and focusing on Emotional intelligence project managers can lead their teams through the project successfully and high-quality results to their stakeholders.

Conclusion

Recap of the importance of self-awareness in project management

Self-awareness is an essential trait for project managers. They have to cultivate both, internal and external self-awareness in order to see themselves clearer. It enables them to understand their strengths, weaknesses, values, and biases, which when it comes to project management, allows them to recognize their own emotions, thoughts, and behaviors and the way it impacts people around them. Understanding how the actions and decisions affect the team dynamics and the project itself again helps project managers to adapt their leadership style in order to meet the needs of the project and the team. By empathizing with their team members project managers can value different perspectives and experiences, build stronger relationships and foster collaboration, which creates an inclusive work environment. Through implementing strategies to develop self-awarness like self-reflection, seeking feedback from others, mindfulness practices or regular check-ins with a coach, project managers can make more informed decisions and therefore ultimately improve their project management.

In summary, self-awareness is an important attribute for project managers because it enables them to lead more effectively, build stronger relationships, and make informed decisions to lead their team and the project to success. By being self-aware, project managers can adapt their leadership style to the needs of the project and the team, identify areas for growth, and create an inclusive work environment. It is the first step of a lifetime ongoing journey to develop emotional intelligence which is a key aspect in project management for fostering a culture if continuous improvement through changing environments.

Annotated bibliography

References

1. ↑ Fernando, M. (2003). Strong feelings. PM Network, 17(9), 64–66. https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/emotional-self-awareness-major-benefits-9046#
2. ↑ Bales, B. Self-Awarness and "Blind Spots". Uncharted Leadership. https://www.unchartedleadership.com.au/self-awareness-and-blindspots/
3. ↑ Learn & Grow. (2020). Why successful leadership starts with self-awareness. Delivery Hero. https://www.deliveryhero.com/blog/self-awareness/
4. ↑ Tjan, K., A. (2015). 5 Ways to Become More Self-Aware. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2015/02/5-ways-to-become-more-self-aware
5. ↑ Eurich, T. (2018). What Self-Awareness Really Is (and How to Cultivate It). Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2018/01/what-self-awareness-really-is-and-how-to-cultivate-it
6. ↑ Project Management Institut. Model of Emotional Intelligence for Project Managers. https://online.imt-pm.com/blog/model-of-emotional-intelligence-for-project-managers-37

Further reads

The Project Manager's Guide to Health and Wellbeing" Karen Anthony