Hello KSKOers
Welcome to The Knowing Self Knowing Others Podcast! In today's episode I’m joined by Aoife O’Brien, who is the visionary founder of Happier at Work. Renowned for her expertise in data-driven problem solving, Aoife is dedicated to enhancing productivity and employee engagement. She collaborates with HR and business leaders to create thriving work environments, with a keen professional interest in addressing imposter syndrome. As the host of the acclaimed Happier at Work podcast, Aoife shares her insights on building positive workplaces.
Listen here or watch the video above!
Here are 5 top takeaways from the episode and 5 actions you can take to grow your self-aware leadership skills….
1. Getting Real about Self-Awareness
Self-awareness: it's not just about knowing yourself but also understanding how you come across to other people (i.e. ‘recognition of your impact’). This insight can really boost your work life and help tackle that nagging sense of imposter syndrome. Becoming self-aware means not just thinking about what you do but actually making changes based on those insights (i.e. ‘regulating your behaviour’).
2. Striking the Strengths Balance
We talk about the need to balance your strengths with competence to avoid them turning into weaknesses. If you overplaying your strengths, you could be missing out on other opportunities for growth. It's about mixing your superpowers with your role's needs and working alongside teammates who complement your skills. Remember, having a supportive and safe work environment is a must.
3. Values: Personal vs Organisational
We explore the importance of aligning your personal values with your company's values. Aoife shares different experiences when she both felt that alignment and absolutely didn’t - and the impact the negative, latter had. When what you believe in matches up with your workplace’s stance, it helps you build up trust with others and create a supportive culture. Balancing autonomy, relatedness, and competence is key to keeping frustrations at bay.
4. Making Data Work for You
Aoife is a self-proclaimed data nerd. Our discussion reveals how underutilised people-related data is in organisations. It can significantly inform workforce happiness and job satisfaction. Real-time pulse checks can pinpoint what really matters in creating a sense of employee happiness. While technology advances offer real-time analysis, many organisations overlook these opportunities, especially in HR. By measuring and leveraging this kind of data, organisations can better address the needs of employees.
5. Increasing Autonomy at Work
The Happier at Work framework champions giving people the freedom (autonomy), connection (relatedness), and skill use (competence) they need. These three things are vital for keeping everyone motivated. Together autonomy, relatedness and competence generate the intrinsic motivation people need to make their work purposeful and organisations successful. Companies that get these elements right are generally more effective in keeping their people happy and engaged.
Top Five Actions
Here are the top five actions that we talk about in this episode that you can do to develop your self-aware leadership skills:
Engage in Reflective Practice: Regularly set aside time for introspection and reflection on personal actions, decisions, and their impact on others. This can help in gaining deeper self-awareness and adjusting behaviors to improve leadership effectiveness.
Understand and Align Values: Evaluate your core personal values and assess how they align with your organization's values. Ensure that your actions reflect these values consistently to build trust and authenticity within your team.
Recognize and Utilize Strengths: Identify your individual strengths and consider how they complement your job role and team. Foster a culture of psychological safety where team members can openly discuss and effectively utilize their strengths.
Seek and Provide Feedback: Encourage open feedback loops with your team, actively seeking external perspectives to gain a comprehensive understanding of your leadership style. Use this feedback to make informed changes and grow professionally.
Balance Universal and Individual Needs: Acknowledge both universal needs like autonomy, relatedness, and competence, as well as unique personal needs within your team. Monitor frustrations as indicators of unmet needs and address them to enhance workplace satisfaction and performance.
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Looking forward to having you on my learning journey!
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Nia is an expert leader who talks the talk and walks the walk. She is an academically awarded thought leader in self-aware leadership and practices self-aware leadership every single day in her role as a Director in a Children’s Charity.
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