‘I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better. I think that’s the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.’
— Elon Musk, founder of PayPal, Tesla, and SpaceX, in an interview with Mashable
In the previous article on ‘The Smart Intern’, we discussed some powerful techniques that can help you extract the most value out of your internship. One of those techniques involved practicing Self-observant Leadership (‘SOL’).
This is probably the most powerful exercise that you can do to get things right. As humans, we are bound to make errors. But we have the power to improve. An MBA internship only lasts for eight to twelve weeks. In case things go wrong, it is important to take quick corrective steps rather than letting problems linger.
The question is how to identify what is going wrong and what could be the corrective steps. One way is to seek external feedback. However, that may not be possible on an everyday basis. Giving yourself feedback daily, however, is possible. SOL aims to achieve improvement daily through self-reflection and feedback.
This article takes an in-depth look at the SOL practice.
1. What is self-observant leadership?
SOL is the process of creating self-awareness and using that self-awareness to give youself valuable feedback that you can use to improve.
You may call it an internal feedback mechanism. It’s your take on your own activities. You judge how you performed in a given situation and whether there was any scope for improvement. You decide on a way forward and implement that in your daily life.
Practicing self-awareness and improving based on honest self-feedback is one of the most important practices that modern leaders can undertake.
2. How to practice self-observant leadership?
The process is simple, and includes just five core steps.
Reflection: Everyone has a vision that drives their daily goals and activities. At the end of each day you can commence the first step, which is reflection. In this step, you sit back and reflect on the day that has just past, recalling meaningful events, actions you took, and things you had planned to do but which you instead neglected, avoided, or postponed.
Identification: Identify the activities that went well, the ones that did not go as planned, and the ones you planned but didn’t carry through. Give yourself credit for the activities that went well. More importantly, give yourself feedback on what did not go well. It’s crucial to think about the reasons why plans weren’t followed through or activities weren’t performed well.
Brainstorming: Brainstorm on how you could have performed better. Ask yourself what you would do if you were in the same situation again. Identify measurable steps that you could take in order to improve. Question yourself on what steps you plan to take to bring about changes going forward.
Planning: Once you know what steps are needed to bring about positive change, think about how you will incorporate those steps into your daily routine. This step is critical. Without this step, all the previous steps will fail to yield any practical results for you. It would be like a restaurant that knows it needs new and improved recipes, but which continues to cook and serve the same old food.
Implementation: The last step is to take action to carry out the steps in your plan.
SOL is a practice that needs to become part of your daily routine. An easy way to do this is to block out 15-minutes in your calendar at the end of each day to go through the five steps. Recording your reflections in a journal will help you keep track of your progress, and have your plan written down so that you can refresh your memory from time to time.
3. Challenges and how to overcome them
Practicing SOL comes with its own set of challenges. However, with a combination of self-discipline and self-awareness, those challenges can be surmounted.
Below is a summary of four challenges I faced and the ideas I used to overcome them.
a. Imbibing this practice in daily life
Like most leadership practices, this one requires you to exercise some patience in order to achieve results. The key is to imbibe this practice into your daily life. You can extract maximum results if you make this 15-minute exercise a habit. Most of us would do it out of excitement in the first few days but eventually give up. Remember that giving up on this is like giving up your honest hope for improvement.
I usually use the 21-day formula to form a habit. I am not sure whether there is a science to back-up this theory, but it has worked wonderfully for me.
b. Being self-aware
Closely watching your behavior is another challenging task. It requires patience and self-discipline. When you are going through the day, observe yourself. Observe how you behave and slowly you will start to see similarities in your behavior and reactions to certain situations.
c. Implementing the way forward
It’s one thing to plan and another thing to implement. Implementing your plan will require serious self-discipline.
A large part of the challenge of implementing your plan will be solved if you are able to incorporate your plan of action into your daily routine. Once it’s a part of the daily routine, you will be able to get something done without thinking to much about it. For example, if you know that you need to learn a new skill to manage your team more effectively, your plan may be to read a book on management. To make it part of your daily routine, you have also set aside half-an-hour before bed every day for the next three weeks to go through the book. Now the only thing that you need to do to achieve your goal is to follow your calendar with discipline.
d. Reflecting and brainstorming right
We often tend to judge ourselves too harshly. This is a common tendency in people who aim for perfection. As a result, it is easy to form a negative self-image.
Do not judge yourself during reflection and brainstorming. The idea is to get self-feedback and improve. Be observant. Measure yourself with the right yardstick. Don’t be too harsh and don’t be too lenient too.
Conclusion
Self-observant leadership is the “power exercise”. Spending 15 minutes at the end of every day to reflect on how your day went and judge whether things are going according to plan is a powerful tool for self-improvement used by modern leaders. In this fast-paced world, it’s important to pause and assess whether you are moving in the right direction. Planning and implementing the changes rely on self-discipline and seriousness in your desire to change. If you are honest with yourself, self-assessment will serve as a reliable and consistent source of feedback that guides you on a lifelong path of self-improvement.
Vishal Agarwal is currently undergoing his MBA from Kelley School of Business, Indiana University and is a consulting enthusiast. He interned this summer with EY in their San Jose office. Before Kelley, he was working with EY and he carries 7 years of experience with EY’s International Taxation and Transfer Pricing Consulting practice.
Image: Pexels
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One reply on “The Smart Intern – Practicing Self Observant Leadership”
Always, looking at one’s self to determine where self improvement is a great way to build confidence and improve over one’s life. This advice applies also to personal as well as professional endeavors.
It is also good to practice this when someone else brings up some issue about your behaviour as well. Instead of immediately getting mad or responding angrily some self-reflection might be in order