Gaining Self-Awareness
🤔How do you grow more accurate self-awareness?
As Kathryn Hemming was giving her keynote talk at SJII Connects Women, she showed a diagram of the Johari window.
Some parts of yourself are known to you and known to others: these are your “open” characteristics.
Things that are known to you and unknown to others are “hidden” and it’s your choice to keep them private or share them.
What can you do about aspects of yourself that are unknown to you?
If something unknown to you is known by others, then this is a “blind spot.” You can illuminate your blind spots by asking others for feedback. You need kind and critical friends and colleagues whom you trust to point out what they see but you don’t.
Last and most importantly, what can you do to learn things about yourself that are unknown to you and unknown to others? How can we uncover these “unknown” facets of your life?
Coaching is the way to uncover those unknown areas, Kathryn asserted.
Coaching allows you to explore thinking and situations that are currently unknown. In a coaching conversation, presenting topics are examined in light of your values, strengths, and goals, leading to insights you’ve never had before. You might notice patterns you didn’t know existed or experience an emotion you weren’t expecting, leading to an entirely new way of thinking. The coach is a thinking partner to listen and ask the right questions to bring out these new insights.
An improvement in self awareness is possible, though feedback and coaching.
💡What have you learned about yourself through coaching?
This impactful keynote was part of SJII Connects Women, hosted at St. Joseph’s Institution International and organised by Katie Wellbrook and team.
