Self-awareness is a rare quality, but it is helpful in people’s self-development and careers. It assumes a better understanding of own personality and feelings, which leads to confidence, determination, and effectiveness. Eurich (2018) distinguishes internal self-awareness – the way people see themselves and their influence, and external one – people’s understanding of how others see them. Keeping the balance between these two types is the best option to succeed. When building a career and gaining power, employees can become less self-aware. The reason is that their experience and confidence can interfere with critical self-assessment and disrupt internal self-awareness (Eurich, 2018). Moreover, the authority gained can be an obstacle to others in giving honest feedback, affecting the external type (Eurich, 2018). For these reasons, self-awareness decreases when gaining authority and higher position.
Sources of Power
Having received a new job, the employee takes measures to gain attention, power, and respect. The key sources of personal power are expertise, effort, attractiveness, and legitimacy (Whetten & Cameron, 2019). It is necessary to work on each of them to gain power. To build expertise source, one needs constant education and gaining experience. Efforts are manifested in the employee’s dedication to work and responsibilities. Attractiveness develops through charisma, respect for others, honesty, and openness. Finally, legitimacy is reflected in following the rules and values adopted at the workplace.
Managers Decision-Making
The quality of decisions made often deteriorates due to pressure, such as time constraints. To strive for a better outcome under time pressure, experts advise clear one’s mind and stay calm (Forbes Business Development Council, 2021). The manager can divide the task into elements, determine the desired result, and prioritize the influence factors. Other potential measures are brainstorming about pros and cons or possible consequences and sometimes following intuition (Forbes Business Development Council, 2021). In such conditions, managers can choose satisficing – a decision that seems pretty good (Kocher et al., 2019). However, there is a danger that it will be a temporary solution and that there may be a better one that managers can find with more profound research.
References
Eurich, T. (2018). What self-awareness really is (and how to cultivate it). Harvard Business Review. Web.
Forbes Business Development Council. (2021). 12 ways to make crucial decisions under pressure. Forbes Magazine. Web.
Kocher, M. G., Schindler, D., Trautmann, S. T., & Xu, Y. (2019). Risk, time pressure, and selection effects. Experimental Economics, 22(1), 216-246. Web.
Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2019). Developing management skills (10th ed.). Pearson.