Self -awareness - Are you a genius in self- awareness.

More people are being promoted because they are geniuses in the area of " emotional intelligence." Many times when the selection is down to 2 to 5 people, the HR team will try to access the person who has the greatest EQ. The first level of EQ is self awareness. On-going self-assessment is one of the five major traits that progressive elitist leaders possess. In lieu of performance evaluations some companies are requiring their mid level and senior level executives to compose  their own custom guide for  their personal development each year. This assessment involves acquiring the opinions of your performance  from everyone you work with. Self assessment is the first stop in any personal improvement process, yet the hardest. Self assessment involves, feedback from others, personality assessment text, etc are viable ways to increase your self- awareness. It is human nature to shrink from having  others assess our development in team building, teamwork, listening, personal organization,  emotional maturity, rapport, communication and leadership development. Self awareness involves being meticulously  aware of ones relational strengths and ones' relational/communication blind-spots. Its been suggested by " Harvard Business Review Onpoint Winter 2011 that we do the following to increase our self-awareness: 1) Think seriously about your motives, beliefs, assumptions and actions on a daily basis 2) Ask for feedback from the people you work with- Resist the temptation to argue against criticism, and be careful not to let your assumptions about your capabilities color what you hear 3) Be brutally honest about your shortcomings 4) Highlight your contributions to the bottom line 5) Describe the areas in which you improved your capabilities  6) Avoid take more than your share of credit for a teams's success 7 Ask yourself these questions: " Am what I am doing working? How can I make it better? Am I realistic about my capabilities? Have I fallen into any unproductive habits? Is any behavioral  problem  such as a bad temper, undue optimism, disconnectedness,  emotional unavailability, disorganization, anxiety, procrastination getting in the way? Am I modeling the self- awareness that I expect of others? You can get more information about this  from  " Harvards Business Review ONPOINT Winter 2011 p. 8-10