3 minute read

Self-awareness The silver bullet to professional growth

from UAC Magazine - Winter 2020

by Georgia Urban Ag Council

from UAC Magazine - Winter 2020, page 44

Article from: UAC Magazine - Winter 2020

TifTuf at The Swamp Laying the...

Self-awareness

The silver bullet to professional growth

by Jeffrey Scott

Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Scott Self-awareness is rarely discussed in business circles, and yet it tells you everything about your future.

Last October I gave a lecture to a packed

room at the Green Industry Expo in

Louisville on the topic of Benchmarking for Profit.

The audience learned my seven key performance indicators that you must benchmark (measure and manage) to improve your company's performance. Some of the benchmarks were as expected, such as labor, and some required outside-the-box thinking.

Then, I ended the talk with a big surprise... I shared how you can benchmark your selfawareness (!), and why self-awareness is the single most important indicator of your future success.

Here is what the audience learned...

Self-awareness is rarely discussed in business circles, and yet it tells you everything about your future. Alan Stein, the author of Raise Your Game, agrees with me on this. In his excellent book, he tells the story of a young basketball player and how he could predict the player’s future success on the court based on his level of self-awareness off the court. This young basketball player chose to play for a high school team that would focus on improving his weaknesses and ignore the hype surrounding his talent.

Stein (who has coached hundreds of stars) says self-awareness is the single most critical characteristic of high-performing athletes. It’s what gets them to the top of their field and keeps them there every day.

How strong is your self-awareness? And how can you improve it?

As I wrote this article, I was visiting with an award-winning landscape company in Asheville, NC. They invited me in to guide the owner and his team to grow from good to great...to extraordinary. I laid out the strategies to fast forward their success and domination of the Asheville market. But it still requires the owner and his team to be open to hearing my direct feedback, and then be willing to act on it. With high levels of self-awareness, the owner and his team will easily surpass the extraordinary goals they have set!

How about you?

Your challenge: Try this simple exercise to benchmark your selfawareness.

1. Meet with your leadership team and ask each person to rate themselves and each other on the following question: "Are you

an intimidating leader or an approachable leader?"

2. Score yourself first, on a scale of 1 to 5. The lowest score (1) means you are a very intimidating leader, and 5 means you are a very approachable leader. And the scores of 2-4 means you are in-between. You get the point.

3.

Then score everyone else on your team. And then...

Share your scores with each other. And then…

5. Go around the table and, one at a time, discuss your personal score vs. how others scored you. How similar were these scores? How clearly do you see yourself vs. how others see you? The scores are not the main point. The ensuing discussion (around your perception of yourself and other people’s perception of you) is what will have the biggest impact. It will raise your self-awareness and that of your team. Plus, it will foster an open and honest dialogue within your leadership team. And that’s priceless!

4.

Jeffrey Scott, MBA, author, business coach, hall-of-fame consultant, is the expert in growth and profit maximization in the pool, lawn & landscape industry. He grew his company into a successful $10 million enterprise, and he's now devoted to helping others achieve profound success. Over 6000 read his monthly newsletter. To sign up go to www. jeffreyscott.biz . He facilitates the Leader’s Edge peer group for landscape business owners; his members achieved a 27% profit increase in their first year. To learn more visit www.GetTheLeadersEdge.com.