To set appropriate strategies for career development, self-awareness is an important skill to possess. Defined as a skill that allows you to be more conscious of your own strengths and weaknesses, self-awareness can quickly increase your relevance at work. Having the ability to cultivate this trait is very important as it will help you improve your relationships with colleagues, and increase your productivity in general. Why is this important? Othniel Nimbabazi, a youth leader and human-centred designer says when it comes to personal growth; self-awareness is key. Based on his knowledge as a leader, he says self-awareness allows one to take a deeper assessment of their surroundings and what they are good at. “From experience, becoming self-aware helped me identify my weakness and strength, which led me to discover my skills in leadership,” he says. He goes on to mention that when you discover yourself, it goes beyond just personal awareness as it helps one make informed decisions that can help them improve their life in general. “Self-awareness helps you identify what you like about your job and how to build a successful career path that can keep you motivated and fulfilled with your work,” he says. Diane Nawatti, a counsellor and head teacher says when one understands and knows themselves better, it plays a big role when it comes to improving skills by recognising what they can do well and what needs to improve. When it comes to learners, Nawatti says when they discover who they are and what they are good at, it helps raise their happiness levels. “This I believe also applies to other people as it helps align their ideas with their actions, therefore making it easier to achieve their goals,” he says. Nawatti also explains that in the working environment, when you are self-aware, it means that you can become a better leader by understanding the perception of your employees. It also strengthens work and personal relationships by managing emotions, according to her. Dr Opiyo Andala, an educator at Mount Kenya University says the moment one is aware of their values and passions, they tend to align their skills with them. Additionally, he says it also allows them to detect and quickly work on challenges. “This also helps one maintain a growth mind set and realise that failures along the way are part of the learning process. It also helps when it comes to staying true to your passions and priorities,” he says. To start becoming self-aware, Andala explains that it would call for someone to think and reflect on themselves and their actions. This means that one would have to do a great deal of analysis to come up with an objective picture, which improves critical thinking skills that can be applied in many areas of life, he adds. Nimbabazi says the good thing about self-awareness is that one also gets time to listen and understand others as well. This in the long run helps improve decision-making skills and when your decisions are better, your life is better as well. Possessing such a skill as a leader enables you to develop skills such as good decision-making, listening as well as problem-solving ones. “These are all benefits of self-awareness that boost leadership abilities. And when one has such skills, people are usually more comfortable to work with such fellows,” he says. Meanwhile, Andala notes that self-awareness also plays a role when it comes to increasing your creativity level. At the workplace, he says this skill is vital as it puts an employee in a position where they can help one solve challenges and problems that come up at the workplace.
