This article is part of our Leading in the Middle: 2025 series. Throughout the year, we will share Thought Leadership articles by UNC Executive Development Senior Associate Dean Dave Hofmann on how to lead effectively from any position in an organization.
You can read the 2024 series by downloading Dave’s ebook, Leading in the Middle: 2024.
If you’ve spent any time in leadership development, you’ve probably heard it a hundred times: self-awareness is key. Virtually all leadership coaches and professionals emphasize its importance, and for good reason. The better you understand yourself, the more effectively you can lead. There are plenty of tools out there to help.
Leadership assessments, 360-degree feedback, and coaching sessions all aim to provide insight into your strengths, blind spots, and growth areas. Often working through this process results in two outcomes:
- Leaders learn about themselves in a large group session, gain some insights, and the session ends. The new insights have marginal if any influence on the leader’s behavior.
- Leaders work with coaches to do two things: Craft their work and opportunities around their strengths and identify and focus on specific areas for improvement over time. The new insights are leveraged for long-term change – job crafting – and some short-term change with the help of the coach.
Clearly, Option 1 leads to minimal change in behavior. Option 2 is better for sure. However, these structured approaches often don’t account for the moment-to-moment challenges leaders face.
Every day presents different situations. Some align well with your natural strengths, while others push you outside your comfort zone. This is where the real power of self-awareness comes in: the ability to recognize these situations and coach yourself in the moment. In other words, self-awareness becomes strategically beneficial when you develop the ability to “coach yourself.”
You may not have heard “self-awareness” and “strategically beneficial” often in the same sentence. But hear me out.
“Coaching Yourself” in the Moment
How do you leverage self-awareness in real-time so it becomes something you can strategically leverage? Here are a few simple questions:
“Is this a situation that ‘fits,’ or not?”
Take a moment to evaluate an upcoming situation considering what you know about your strengths, personality, and leadership style. Ask yourself: “Is this a scenario where I naturally thrive, or will this require a more intentional approach?”
If yes: great – go forth and do your thing.
Does this situation align with your strengths? If so, great! You don’t need to overthink it: just show up and lead in the way that comes naturally to you.
In meetings, for example, I like to listen significantly more than I talk, and often I won’t say much until well into the meeting. I’m good at integrating and bringing together disparate views which often (at least, I would like to think 😊) moves the conversation forward in a constructive way. This is not something I need to think about. It just happens. If this approach is what’s called for, I do not need to be very intentional or mindful. It just happens.
If no: plan, be mindful, and establish accountability.
If the situation does not align with your natural strengths, this is where coaching yourself comes in. You need to engage more mindfully. Consider setting a small, specific goal, developing a plan, and holding yourself accountable, whether personally or with the help of a mentor, coach, or peer. The key is to recognize the situation in advance so you can “get your head into the game,” so to speak.
Back to me in meetings: There are other situations where I know I have a tendency which is less than helpful. When I have an unclear role or there are a lot of high-status individuals present, I can listen too much and engage too little. In these situations, I have found that I can be too reluctant to interject my thoughts. I allow the uncertainty of “how,” “when,” and “where” to engage to reduce my contributions.
In these situations, I must “coach myself” to get my head into the game. First, I need to recognize when a situation like this is coming up. For example, as I review my day, I might realize the meeting in the afternoon has this structure. Next, I have to develop a plan to be much more mindful in the moment and set some goals. As I head into the meeting, I recognize that I need to be engaged in the discussion while also being more aware of how I am engaging. (Note that in the previous situation that was aligned with my strengths, I didn’t have to think much about the “how” at all.)
Leveraging self-awareness isn’t just about long-term leadership development—it’s about recognizing daily situations that require you to show up differently. When a situation fits your natural strengths, embrace it. But when it doesn’t, be intentional. Set goals, plan your approach, and create accountability to ensure that you show up in the best way possible.
By doing this consistently, you’ll not only grow as a leader. You’ll maximize your impact in every situation, big or small.
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