Self-Awareness in Leadership: Importance of Communication, Passion, Empathy and Diplomacy

This paper discusses the connection of self-awareness with leadership in business. It highlights the importance of communication, passion, empathy and diplomacy in leadership. The paper also includes a self-assessment journal of the author's leadership abilities.

Running head: SELF-AWARENESS IN LEADERSHIP
SELF-AWARENESS IN LEADERSHIP
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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The aim of this paper is to discuss the connection of self-awareness with leadership in
business. Self-awareness is the capacity to introspect and recognise oneself. Near the person
understand himself to be an individual who is separated from the environment as well as
other individual surrounding him. It is not the consciousness that also includes the external
environment like body and the lifestyle. Self-awareness is only the recognition of the
awareness about the self it is the method how the individual persons know and understand
their feelings, characters, Desire consciously. According to the psychological research there
are two types of self-awareness one is the internal self-awareness another is external self-
awareness. Now for being a leader understanding one’s own self is a necessity. This is due to
the fact that when a leader knows himself then only he or she can understand the others. The
leaders who do not have proper understanding of his own expectations cannot convince his
followers to believe on an uncertain ideology. Self-awareness allows the leaders to
contemplate and find out different ways to solve problems which is basically the unique
feature of the self. It is the self-awareness that instigate the leaders to motivate others to
achieve the goal perceived by the leader (Black 2015). This paper will be discussing four
areas of leadership and how the self-awareness are properly aligned with these leadership
areas.
From the research on leadership areas I have found for most important aspects of
leadership which include strong communication ability, passion and commitment to the job
and followers, empathy and diplomacy.
Leadership I think mostly matches the abilities of the best communicators without any
doubt. It is proven that a good communicator has top attribute of becoming a strategic leader.
If I have a clear vision of what I am trying to accomplish but if I cannot convey this to my
team for the followers it will be impossible to carry out (Ricard et al. 2017). Being an
effective communicator the process of learning and extensive research is important because

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the ideologies which will be shared by me as a leader must have factual base other than
emotional story. With proper usage of vocabulary, gesture and positivity I can convince my
followers in any way. The depth of my knowledge will be expressed through my
communication and I will be able to understand what is expected by my audience. In this case
the examples of great communicator leaders can be referred. These leaders both political and
business are good orators for which they can attract a huge number of people to believe in
their ideologies and ascribe to them. Effective communicators develop the capabilities to
describe their actions and decisions and unit everyone’s efforts (Tabassi et al. 2016). Through
communication the effective leaders can bridge the gap of knowledge and eliminate any type
of conflict within the team. The strategic objectives are aligned with the goals and the vision
of the leaders are clearly visible to the followers. Great leaders are good listeners too. The
successful leaders practice art of listening to gain knowledge needed for solving problems
and improve their services. Thus a strong company culture and bonding with the subordinates
are developed.
Passion and commitment are the two sides of a coin which I think most of the great
leaders have practiced to balance passion is the enthusiasm which help the leaders to get the
jobs done as early as possible . This is the mission which excite the leaders to show their
dedication towards their work and team members. Without passion the leaders cannot
motivate their followers nor is the charisma in the character explored. The leaders with
passion can ensure positivity towards the employees (Krasnoff 2015). The passionate leaders
are surrounded by happy and positive people which is contagious from one another the
passionate leaders work harder and make others happy e as well as motivated. This fashion
takes the form of positivity and overcome any challenges with emotional strength the
passionate leaders are mostly risk takers know their strengths and utilise those in a best
possible manner. However not always passion works but the dependence upon the

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commitment is also necessary. I have filled commitment is the ability to stay focused on
those aspects which can make me successful in achieving a goal. The leader’s commitment is
also contagious to the followers which also motivate them a great deal. The employees when
find their boss is working with them feel secured and encouraged to achieve the goal
therefore commitment is an important area of leadership.
Diplomacy is another important factor for successful leadership because leadership is
always dependent on the Strategies and tactful management of the situation (Shanafelt et al.
2015). In this case if the leader is not aware about the process which can easily mitigate the
conflict in a situation may face issues in the projects. The leaders who are diplomats can
effectively negotiate with both the parties and wisely this makes sure that the interest of any
of the team members are not compromised but the problem is solved effectively. In this case
the strategic approaches for problem solving is learnt by the leader (Hallinger et al. 2015). It
is the art of restraining power that helps the leaders to face all the editors’ agreements as well
as competing priorities. The leaders have knowledge about every nook and corner of the
organisation therefore are able to measure the demands and expectations of the followers.
This makes clear to the leader that which button to be pushed to solve which problem. Thus
effective leadership needs effective strategies.
Finally the impact factor helps the leadership candidates to increase motivation
among the following years. It is not always true that the leaders tactfully handle the situations
or just order to end conflicts. Sometimes they use empathetic behaviour to handle conflicts.
Empathy allows the leaders to see things from different perspectives and practice meaningful
connection with the subordinates. Empathy is a practical tool which helps the leader to
understand the skills and resources he has and how we can set more realistic goals as well as
timelines. For instance, I as a leader know that one particular task can be done if enough time
is given to the team member but I am pressurizing him or her to complete that before

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deadline cannot be supported. The empathetic leader will understand the situation and
empathise with the employee so that the stress of work do not bother the completion of the
task. Without a proportionate amount of empathy no leader can be a successful leader.
From the self-awareness journal I have learnt that many of the leadership abilities are
possessed by me without any question among which effective communication and
sympathetic nature are the most important. I have found myself totally agreeable with the fact
that I can find out easy solution for problem solving but cannot analyse the situation in a
stressful moment. I get confused if I am asked to do multi tasks. I have also learnt the process
how the leaders take their followers towards the objectives for goals of the organisations
without harming the interest of any of them (Yacob, Saruwono and Ismail 2018). About
myself I have understood that I can easily negotiate with people because I possess a positive
nature which is quite rare in this time. The positive nature in me allows to see any problem
situation in a positive way and see the positive aspects of the people in the first impression. It
is true that I am emotional therefore I think about the Welfare of the others more than myself.
However I am task oriented and tend to remain serious while I am concentrating to do a task.
There are factors like discriminative nature and humiliation easily affect me and make me
confused to make a quick decision.
I have pointed out these facts about myself to the people who know me well. For
example to my parents my communicative skill is not so good and I cannot make others
convince about what I think or do. In this regard my understanding of my own
communicative skill is not similar to the understanding of my parents. However both of them
have easily pointed out that I am a positive an honest person which is important for a leader
to possess. On the other hand my friends for classmates have found me to be a creative
person. In this regard we have pointed out that I am a person who can find innovative
solution to any type of problem (Waris et al. 2018). This is true because in many situations I

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have guided my friends to overcome challenging situations. From the self-awareness journal I
have understood that it is not only e the creativity but also the innovativeness which guide the
leaders to handle their followers in a positive way. There are different types of people in a
team who have different ideologies and values. It is impossible to align the thoughts of every
one of them with the process of achievement of goals (Lewis, Ricard and Klijn 2018). This is
the reason why I have to find out innovative ways to solve the problem and bring them
together to achieve the common goals. In addition to this my friends have identified an
intelligent person in me who is knowledgeable in any aspect. My friends have pointed out
that I show interest in different types of research and studies which has expanded my
knowledge pool. I think it is one of the most essential area of leadership. This is due to the
fact that the more the leader knows the more competent his team becomes. There should be
no place where I will not be able to answer my subordinates. However some of my friends
were have pointed out that I am argumentative and cynical. This is due to the fact that I do
not rest until I am happy with the answer. I keep on doubting and asking questions till I am
satisfied. To them making me satisfied with any question is really difficult because I have a
curious nature.
In order to become a successful leader I need to minimise my weaknesses and take all
the advantages of my strengths. I have found from my self-assessment journals that I am
quite short tempered person which may hamper my career in a long run. This is the reason
why I have to control my short temper and increase patience. In this regard I can practice
meditation and other psychological techniques so that I become more patient than ever
(Hensel and Visser 2018). This is clear to me that I possess various skills and competencies
which can effectively lead me to become a successful strategic leader. In such case I can take
the advantage of communicative skills and my empathetic nature to motivate the followers. I
shall be able to understand their point of view and cater what they expect from me (Bassell,

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Lambert and Friedman 2019). I have the passion but need to balance it with the commitment
so that I become a responsible leader within a few years. I shall utilise my strengths in a best
possible manner so that I become a successful leader and get placed in a reputed organisation
within few years.
Therefore it can be concluded that there are several areas of leadership which allow
the leaders to stay focused on achieving the organisational goals and motivating the
employees in a best possible manner. It is the responsibilities of the leaders to utilise the
human resource of the organisation in a best way and support the profit making process of the
organisation. The leaders are the backbone of a company therefore they need to be mentally
strong and accessible so that the transparency of the organisation is promoted and
dependability about the security job is insured. The possession of the qualities like good
communication skills, passion and commitment, empathy and diplomacy anybody can
become a leader and make successful strategies for the operation of the organisations.

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