Assessing Self-Awareness Checklist
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This checklist provides you with a quick and easy way to assess the self-awareness aspect of emotional intelligence. Self-awareness is the ability to recognize an emotion as it "happens". Developing self-awareness requires tuning in to your true feelings. If you evaluate your emotions, you can manage them. The major elements of self-awareness are: emotional awareness (your ability to recognize your own emotions and their effects) and self-confidence (sureness about your self-worth and capabilities).
Daniel Goleman in his best-selling book, 'Emotional intelligence why it can matter more than IQ' defined emotional intelligence as:
'Understanding one's own feelings, empathy for the feelings of others and the regulation of emotion in a way that enhances living'.
What made this book so popular were two claims; firstly, that emotional intelligence may be more important for personal success than IQ and secondly, that unlike IQ emotional intelligence can be improved. These two claims resonated with people and made the idea of emotional intelligence a hot topic for anyone involved with personal development.
There is general agreement that the factors that Goleman and his colleagues have identified are indeed emerging as a key element of workplace success. This is because the way that most organizations work has changed in the last 20 years with fewer levels of management. This has led to a less autocratic management style and roles that tend towards more knowledge based, team working and customer focused generally giving individuals more autonomy.
To develop your EQ you need to know your current level of its two components personal and social competence and how it compares to that required of your role.
• Personal Competence - self-awareness and self-management
• Social Competence - social awareness and relationship management
Once you have this identified your current level of each competency and you can decide the best way you can achieve the level you require for your current or a future role. The 'high level' descriptions used in this checklist may need to be adjusted to suit the unique attributes of your role and organization.
Developing your self-awareness requires you to assess how well you are able to recognize your own emotions and their effects on your self and other people. It represents the foundation of emotional intelligence EQ because without being aware of and understanding your own emotions it is impossible to move into the other EQ competencies like self-management, social awareness and relationship management.
Self-awareness means that you understand how you feel and can accurately assess your own emotional state. To do this you need the following competencies:
• Emotional Self-awareness
• Accurate Self-assessment
• Self-confidence
