Communicating with Awareness

 

I loved the title as I wrote it. Sounds rather spiritual! But that is not the intent of the blog. The intent of the blog is to see if Self Awareness makes a difference in our communication. 

So let us take it backwards. When we communicate we use, our facial expression, tone, words, gestures, age-old doodling and writings, and our latest love- technology. However, there is a factor of communication which holds equal relevance- i.e. Intent of communication. How communication is done is largely dependent on why it is done?

The why of communication comes from Self Awareness?

 

Imagine a situation where a Manager is frustrated with an employees' performance. She is not saying it upfront but is giving the silent treatment. What is the message the Manager is giving out?

To the employee-

‘mose kya bhool hui, jo yeh saza hamka mili.’   Wondering desperately where they went wrong.

To the colleagues

- 'Thakur to gayio' (thakur being employee obviously) and a sense of frustration would prevail. What if I am next?

In the organization-

‘kal kya hoga kisko pata’ Knowing well, that the culture encourages silent treatment rather than direct dialogue. 

A self-aware manager would  be more sensitive to the messages they are sending out, watch themselves for the patterns they often resort to and not let others or themselves become a victim of it. 

Self-awareness—a research-proven by Korn Ferry is directly linked to robust financial performance. the report goes on to state that poor performing companies had employees with 20% more blind spots than once who are doing financially well. 

Self Awareness is not just knowing strengths and weaknesses, it is also the ability to admit mistake and work on that at the same time accept feedback with grace and humility.