How do you rate yourself ?

Self-awareness is a key element of leadership growth and development. And self-awareness often starts with rating/comparing yourself against a number of criteria. Many tools used in leadership development are based on self-assessment. In fact, most are based only on self-assessment because 360 degree assessments are more complicated to set up and administer, and maybe riskier to the individuals.

So the start to self-awareness is rating yourself, identifying where you are in comparison to a benchmark or just in general which areas are your strengths and which need more work. But how honestly can one really rate oneself ? When it comes to concepts such as "transparency" or "honesty" or "ethics", it gets quite hard, doesn't it ? Who would rate themselves as "average honest" or "not really very ethical" ?

I came across an article in Rotman Management magazine recently where an interesting study was mentioned. When comparing self-assessment with the assessment made by peers, colleagues and team members, about 70% of us overestimate the strength of character that others see in us. And what is even more interesting is that those leaders who are seen by their peers as most in need of development, are the ones that overestimate their character the most. In short: those who could most benefit from real self-awareness don't see themselves in a balanced way.

That is why I try to avoid using profiling tools based only on self-assessment. The mirror that OTHERS can show you is really much more meaningful. So first step in building your self-awareness: go out and ask for feedback !