Enhancing Leadership Self-Awareness  

By Gina Boucher 

What is Self-Awareness and Why is It Important? 

Self-awareness is the foundation of effective leadership. It is the ability to understand one’s own emotions, strengths, weaknesses, values, and motives, and how they affect oneself and others. Self-aware leaders are more confident, authentic, empathetic, and adaptable. They can leverage their strengths, address their development areas, and create positive relationships with diverse people and situations. 

A self-aware leader is more easily able to recognize and manage their own emotions and stress levels, and avoid reacting impulsively or defensively to challenging or unexpected situations in the workplace.  This enables an ability to better identify, assess, and leverage their personal strengths and those of their team members in managing work and more proactively addressing developmental needs.  Further, self-aware leaders are more likely to regularly seek and receive constructive feedback and learn from their experiences; and will often be more adept at communicating clearly and authentically in ways that recognize and adapt to the different needs of their team members and stakeholders.  Ultimately, this fosters a greater sense of empathy and collaboration across the workplace. 

However, self-awareness is not always easy to achieve. Many leaders have blind spots or gaps in their perception of themselves and others. They may overestimate or underestimate their skills, ignore feedback, or resist change. These blind spots can limit their potential, damage their reputation, and hinder their performance.  Work with a professional coach can be an excellent way to overcome these blind spots and make sustained progress in the journey of enhancing personal self-awareness. 

Everything DiSC® – A Tool to Enhanced Self-Awareness 

In addition to the many benefits that can be derived from working with a professional coach, many leaders also use Everything DiSC® as a key tool to enhance their self-awareness. Everything DiSC® is a personal assessment that helps people understand their own behavioural style and preferences, and how they differ from others. It is based on a simple yet comprehensive model of four basic styles: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. Each style has its own strengths, challenges, motivators, and stressors.  There is no “right” style and the goal is not to “correct” personal preferences and tendencies – but rather to better understand the different individual personal preferences and how to maximize working relationships between them. 

By completing the Everything DiSC® assessment and debriefing the results in a training workshop, leaders can discover their DiSC® style, which reflects their behavioural preferences and tendencies in various situations. They can also learn about the styles of other people, and how to adapt their style to work more effectively with them. Everything DiSC® also provides leaders with specific strategies and tips to improve their leadership performance based on their style.  A professional coach can leverage the learnings from the Everything DiSC® personalized assessment to co-create focus areas for longer-term goal-setting. 

As an award-wining Wiley partner, our X5 Management team offers clients with several training workshop solutions to explore the individual components of the Everything DiSC® suite of tools.  Pending the needs of a particular individual leader, leadership team, or overall workplace, we can offer tailored solutions using a mix of professional coaching and learnings from Everything DiSC® to improve general inter-personal relationships, increase leadership “soft skills,” develop better emotional intelligence and agility, and reframe conflict as a positive force to be harnessed in organizational decision-making processes.  Using the foundation of a common language of personal styles, all of these solutions play a pivotal role in enhancing self-awareness, enabling leaders to become more confident, authentic, and impactful in their role. 

What are the Benefits of the Everything DiSC® Approach? 

By investing in Everything DiSC® training, leaders can learn their primary and secondary DiSC® styles, and how they blend to form their unique behavioural profile.  This is the basis of understanding the priorities, needs, and preferences that shape their personal style, and how they affect their approaches to communication, decision-making, and problem-solving.  It also provides an overview of the generally-expected strengths and limitations of their style – as well as learnings on how to capitalize on their strengths; and be more mindful of their limitations, especially in unexpected or emotionally-charged situations.   

Over the course of the training, this base knowledge flows into a discussion about the impact of their style on others, and how they can adjust their style to relate better to different people and situations.  A valuable outcome of this part of the discussion is increased understanding on how the conscious approach to different styles can help to foster an appreciation of diversity and greater sense of inclusion of team members who exhibit different workplace styles. 

Ultimately, all of the learnings encourage a culture of feedback and support to help organizational leaders grow and develop in their roles.  With the frame of increased self-awareness as a vehicle to better leadership, the Everything DiSC® approach encourages leaders to reflect on how their personal preferences and style impact how they lead others, especially those who exhibit different styles.  This can support the discovery of new ways for leaders to improve their effectiveness, increase their influence, and achieve their goals, all while fostering a culture of trust, collaboration, and innovation in their teams and organizations. 

Everything DiSC® is most effective when it is not used as a one-time learning event, but rather a continuous journey of learning and development.  This is one of the biggest reasons our X5 Management team incorporates it as a key tool in the development of personalized development plans for our executive and leadership coaching clients.  Over time, review of leaders’ key roles in decision-making or change initiatives can be planned or reviewed within the context of the Everything DiSC® framework to prepare for success.   

Conclusion 

There is no wasted effort for leaders who choose to invest in improving their personal self-awareness.  In addition to the benefits that can be derived from the regular support of a professional coach, Everything DiSC® is a proven and powerful tool to help leaders build self-awareness and become more effective in their communication, delegation, and motivation skills. It is not a label or a box, but a lens that helps leaders see themselves and others more clearly.  It can be the important first step on a continuing journey of leadership growth and evolution.  By using Everything DiSC® as a key to enhanced self-awareness, leaders can truly uncover their full potential and lead with confidence, authenticity, and impact. 

About the Author: Gina Boucher, Executive Coach and Facilitator

Gina Boucher is an adept financial leader with over two decades of experience in fostering leadership and growth within various organizations. Her career is marked by a commitment to excellence and the development of future leaders. Gina’s financial acumen and operational insight have established her as a key figure in business integration, enhancing value and cultivating positive organizational cultures.  

Holding a CPA, CA designation and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Alberta. Gina is Lean Green Belt Certified, has completed Prosci Change Management training, and is a Certified Everything DiSC® Facilitator. She is affiliated with CPA Alberta, ICF, and FEI, and is poised to receive her ACC from ICF in 2024. As the founder of Gina Boucher Coaching & Consulting Ltd., she specializes in financial performance and strategic consulting for SMEs.  

Gina’s dedication to professional growth and community involvement is evident through her role as a CPA mentor and her board memberships at the Bredin Centre and Dynamyx Gymnastics Club. A native of Montreal, Gina is a French speaker who enjoys travel, camping, and golfing with her family. Her extensive experience and cultural fluency make her a valuable addition to the X5 Management team.