The Way You Work Feels Normal to You
Self-Awareness Includes Understanding How Others Experience You
Leadership research offers an important perspective on this distinction.
Researchers frequently study leader self-awareness through self-other agreement, or the degree to which leaders’ perceptions of their own behavior correspond with how others perceive them. A meta-analysis published in The Leadership Quarterly found that agreement between leaders’ self-ratings and observers’ ratings was generally only moderate. Put simply, leaders and the people they lead do not always experience their leadership in the same way.
Earlier research involving 2,056 managers also examined the relationship between self-other agreement and leadership effectiveness. The findings suggest a more complicated relationship than simply assuming that greater agreement always makes someone a more effective leader. What the research does reinforce is the value of looking beyond our own perception when trying to understand our leadership.
That distinction is important because self-awareness is not simply knowing how you see yourself. It also requires curiosity about whether your behavior is having the impact you intend.
Everything DiSC® Gives Leaders a Language for Examining Behavior
This is one reason I use Everything DiSC® in leadership and team coaching.
Everything DiSC® measures behavioral preferences and tendencies using the DiSC® model and provides participants with a personalized behavioral profile intended to help them better understand themselves and others. At its broadest level, the model describes four dimensions:
D – Dominance: tendencies related to directness, results, challenge, and action.
i – Influence: tendencies related to enthusiasm, relationships, collaboration, and expression.
S – Steadiness: tendencies related to support, stability, patience, and cooperation.
C – Conscientiousness: tendencies related to accuracy, quality, analysis, and expertise.
The important point is not to determine which letter someone “is.” People are more complex than four categories, and Everything DiSC® represents individuals on a circular model that reflects combinations and varying degrees of behavioral tendencies. The assessment is designed to measure preferences and tendencies, rather than declare that every person with a particular style behaves identically.
For leadership development, the more valuable conversation begins after the profile appear through reflecting on questions such as:
- Where does this tendency serve me?
- Where might I be overusing it?
- What happens when someone on my team needs something different from me?
Those questions help leaders move beyond understanding their tendencies to recognizing when a different approach may be more effective.
Understanding Your Style Is Only the Starting Point
Recognizing your behavioral tendencies can help explain why certain ways of working feel more natural than others. But the value of that awareness is not simply knowing where you fall on the Everything DiSC® map. It is being able to recognize how those preferences influence your behavior in different situations.
This becomes especially important because many of the tendencies that contribute to a leader’s effectiveness can become less effective when they are overused or applied in the wrong context. The goal is to recognize when the behavior that comes most naturally may not be what the situation requires. For example, a leader who is self-aware he/she naturally moves quickly toward action, might ask:
- Have I given the team enough time to identify risks?
Someone who prioritizes accuracy might ask:
- Do we actually need more information, or am I delaying a decision because I am uncomfortable acting without certainty?
A highly collaborative leader might consider:
- Does this decision require additional input, or does the team need me to make the call?
And someone who prefers harmony might ask:
- Is there a concern I am avoiding because I don’t want to create tension?
In each case, the leader’s natural preference has not changed. What has changed is the leader’s ability to recognize that preference and decide whether it will serve the situation.
That is where understanding your Everything DiSC® style becomes useful: not as a label for how you lead, but as information that gives you greater choice in how you respond.
Your Leadership Style Also Shapes the Team Around You
