A Leadership Model for Self-Reflection
Photo by Serrah Galos on Unsplash
“To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”-William Shakespeare (Hamlet)
If we are not honest with ourselves about who we are, how can we be genuine and authentic in our leadership of others?
While the answer to this question may be obvious, taking an internal look at who we are and how we feel about ourselves can be challenging. However, self-reflection is a critical skill to have in order to be successful as a leader.
As a part of my self-reflection process, I created a model called SCWEEP(TM). Pronounced “sweep” as in sweeping a broom, SCWEEP(TM) explores the notions of self-concept, self-worth, self-efficacy, self-esteem and self-perceptions. How we view ourselves most often, unconsciously, and sometimes consciously, is projected to and onto others. It is important as people in general, but especially as leaders that we have a full understanding of how our feelings about ourselves impact our feelings toward others, and in turn dictates our behavior toward them.
In this post I share with you the SCWEEPTM model, and encourage you to engage in constant self-reflection, not only for the benefit of yourself, but also for those you lead.
The Model
Self-concept- culmination of your thoughts, beliefs, and awareness of who you were, are, and would like to be physically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually.
Let’s put this in context. Think of it as an evolutionary thought process starting with the self you did not think or believe was the best you could be (the were).
Moving into the space of where you are now. While you may be satisfied, you know there is work to be done in order for you to move into your highest form of being (the are).
And then being able to visualize your best, highest, most functioning self (would like to be) and continuing on a path to get there.
This thought process is applied to all the aspects of health considered to be critical for everyone. Physical, emotional/mental, social and spiritual health.
High self-concept versus low self-concept is measured by a person’s ability go through this type of mental exercise consistently.
Understanding this through the lens of leadership, if you don’t know where you are and where you want to, how can you help other get to where they were destined to be. Considering leadership as an exchange, you want that exchange to be genuine and honest. If you are not honest with yourself, it’s impossible for you to be honest with anyone else.
Self-worth- the value and regard you hold of yourself in spite of what others may say or how they may treat you.
As women of color, people have all kinds of opinions about who we are, and treat us all kinds of ways because they do not believe we are worth anything. It happens every day in the world, in our organizations, in our industries, and for some in our homes.
How we regard and treat ourselves in spite of how others regard and treat us is our self-worth. I will be honest. This is something that we struggle with significantly.
Not only have we been socialized to believe that we hold no value, so has the rest of the world. There is this view that we are somehow stagnant as beings; that we are not capable of being dynamic or making contributions.
We see these images of ourselves, and it has an impact how we think and behave.
So how do we get away from this. How do we see the value that we possess and get rid of the doubt? I don’t prescribe that there is any one solution, but as leaders, we have to be cognizant of this.
The value that we place on ourselves impacts our belief of the value we can provide to others. As leaders our goal should be to provide value.
Self-efficacy- belief in your capabilities to perform tasks and influence events (life and/or work) that will produce desired outcomes and achieve the goals you have set for yourself.
Self-efficacy is about believing that we can accomplish whatever we set out to. Think of it in the context of what you put out there is what comes back to you.
According to Luthans, Yousef and Avolio, authors of Psychological Capital: Developing the Human Competitive Edge, people with high levels of self-efficacy;
Set high goals for themselves and self-select into difficult tasks
They welcome and thrive on challenge
They are highly self-motivated
They invest in the necessary effort to accomplish their goals
When faced with obstacles they, persevere
High levels of self-efficacy are required for us to be and perform at our most optimal level as individuals and as leaders. Building your self-efficacy is not as easy as one would think, especially if you have been in a position where you are not given opportunities to thrive. There are a few things to consider here.
Mastering your craft and having successful experiences increases your self-efficacy. It’s important to understand that success does not equal self-efficacy.
Opportunities to learn from and see people who have experienced mastery and success increased levels of self-efficacy. If you have the opportunity to learn from someone who has worked through a challenging situation and came out of it successfully, you are more apt to believe that you can be successful as well. You are able to learn the successes and mistakes and imitate the successful action. This learning enhances your own future personal mastery experience and success.
Self-esteem- the level of value, approval, and appreciation you have for yourself
Let’s break it down. First is the level of value we have for yourself. How important are we to ourselves? In my opinion, we should be the most important to ourselves. Why, well it goes to the saying, if we cannot do for ourselves we cannot do for others.
Next is the level of approval we have for our self. Do we agree with our behaviors, thoughts, action that we engage in about ourselves?
Lastly, the level of appreciation we have for ourselves. Are we grateful for our self? Can we and do we say thank you to ourselves. Let’s be honest. When we are in thankless positions, organizations, industries, relationships, it can be extremely hard to appreciate ourselves when we think that no one else appreciates us.
So how do we change this. The key is to define our own narrative. When we get to a place where we are comfortable sharing our own stories and not allowing others to create it for us, we will be in a much better position.
Self-perception- the way you view yourself in relation to others.
The American psychological associate defines self-perceptions as person’s view of his or her self or of any of the mental or physical attributes that constitute the self. Whereby such a view may involve genuine self-knowledge or varying degrees of distortion.
We’ve all heard the saying beauty is in the eye of the beholder. This is because we all experience our senses differently. Our interpretation of what we see, hear, taste smell, feel, etc. and how we do those things are based on our individual experiences. It is our heightened awareness of how we experience ourselves based on these criteria that influences our self-perception. Understanding that you perceive things in one particular way is influenced by your individual experience.
Yes, we need to be cognizant of how others view us, but not imposes those thoughts on our self.
Why Does This Matter?
We are the ones who can make ourselves better. We cannot lead others of we cannot lead ourselves, and that’s just hard facts. We are imperfect beings on a constant journey of self-development. In order for us to be successful at doing so, we need to take a deep hard look at ourselves.
I encourage all of you to do a mental SCWEEPTM. Reflect on how you view yourself and take the necessary steps to get yourself to the next level.
And when you do this—
Ask yourself:
How do the views I have of myself impact my thoughts, behaviors, and actions toward people, systems, and processes?