High performance leaders recognize the need to constantly improve their organization and its people, and above all, themselves. To become better leaders, they continually expand their self-awareness, even if this means confronting aspects of their personalities, habits and performance that they’d rather not see. Self-awareness requires a dedicated effort to uncover the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Here are some steps to get you started.

Accept that others may know you better than you know yourself. It is far easier to have wisdom about others than it is to truly know ourselves. Recognize that you have a biased perspective or that you don’t comprehend the whole picture of your behavior and its impact.

Examine your world view. There’s an old saying that a fish doesn’t know it’s swimming in water until it is thrown upon the riverbank. Up until that moment, that fish thinks that he understands all about the world and how it works. Your world view is a framework that allows you to understand individuals, groups and your “reality.” A world view is like a lens through which you see yourself and others. It is dangerous to assume that your world view is the right one or the same as other people.  To explore your world view, ask yourself, What are my beliefs? and What assumptions do I make about myself and others?

Find a new perspective. Albert Einstein said, “We cannot solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” To get a different perspective, look at an unrelated industry, ask for feedback from a new source or methodically toss out all of your assumptions and start fresh.

Explore the unknown unknowns. You’re probably pretty comfortable with not knowing every answer. What if you didn’t even know the right questions to be asking? According to an article by Errol Morris in the New York Times Opinionator, known unknowns are the problems you can list and prepare for. The unknown unknowns are problems about which you are completely unaware. Giant leaps in self-awareness and performance can be achieved by not only adding to your list of solutions, but uncovering previously unexplored questions.

You would never accept mediocre performance from yourself. Likewise, don’t accept that you have complete self-awareness, without a consistent and disciplined effort to uncover the real you.

The unexpected death of a colleague can cause us to examine how we’re spending our lives. We ponder our mortality and envision the legacy we hope to leave for the future. Our conclusion is that the most important thing you can do is live your legacy every day. That is, don’t wait until tomorrow to live your values and focus your energies on your life’s purpose. Start with these questions:

What would people say about you at your funeral? If your life ended today, how would you be eulogized? Is it something you’d be proud to hear?

Are your actions and decisions today consistent with how you’d like to be remembered? Not only do you follow the defined rules, but how do you respond in the gray areas – when the ethical boundaries are not as well-defined? As Albert Camus said, “Integrity has no need of rules.”

Are you happy now, or waiting to be happy when…?” The Center for Creative Leadership’s article titled Your Leadership Mojo: Wisdom from Marshall Goldsmith explores the advice that your 95-year-old self might give to you today. Goldsmith’s friend actually asked elderly people who were approaching death to reflect on what is truly important in life. The number one theme that emerged was be happy now. Don’t wait for that big promotion or retirement. Don’t get so caught up in the rat race that you don’t notice the sun is shining today.

Are people your priority? The Leadership Mojo article points out that when the end of life approaches, it isn’t our co-workers who hang out at the hospital. It’s our friends and family, if we’re lucky enough to have both. And doing things today to nurture relationship with people isn’t just important to ensure that you have hospital visitors. It’s the right thing to do, and your 95-year-old-self would tell you so.

Are you accomplishing something meaningful? It can be easy to amass a collection of accomplishments or life experiences, but if they don’t fulfill some aspect of your life’s purpose, they won’t matter much to you in the end. And if you accomplished them at the expense of others, you may not have those hospital visitors after all.

One thing is certain. We’ll all come to the end of our mortal lives. We hope it doesn’t happen soon. George Carlin used to say, “I’m always relieved when someone is delivering a eulogy and I realize I’m listening to it.” The good news is that if you live your values today, your legacy will take care of itself.

A nightmare, right? Yes, but it’s also a great analogy for a problem we’re seeing in many organizations. Teams and individuals are working hard and seeing improvements in their performance. However, the business realities require them to get better at their jobs faster. Without a steeper trajectory, individuals and the organization will crash.

As an individual performer, how can you maneuver quickly to amp up the rate of your performance improvement?

Prioritize. What are the highest value things you can  do to improve results and make a big impact? Not the good uses of your time – only the critical few. Make those your priorities. Keep them uppermost in your mind, on your calendar and in your daily activity. When you know where you’re going and what it will take to get there, communicate this widely so that others in the organization also redirect their efforts.

Focus. This can be hard, but something’s got to go. It takes courage to dump projects and readjust activity to align with just a few priorities. The key is to focus relentlessly on the drivers of success. Don’t do the other stuff.  If there is not a direct relationship between the project or initiative and your highest value priorities, stop!

Be consistent. One of the most maddening dynamics in organizations is when the boss says A, B and C are our only priorities. Then something cool – unrelated to A, B and C – comes along. When opportunity knocks, don’t waffle; figure out if it aligns with your top 1, 2 or 3. If not, just say no. A compelling distraction is still a distraction.

Many of the strategies above work for teams too. Also consider the following:

Assign sufficient resources. As James W. Frick said, “Don’t tell me where your priorities are. Show me where you  spend your money and I’ll tell you what they are.” Clearly articulate a business case for what you’re doing. Then negotiate with your superiors to assign more time or employ new technologies to get the job done.

Feed your people. You’re leading a team that’s failing. Your first impulse might be to point out all the things that are going wrong. Instead, identify what’s working (Feed) and reinforce those behaviors. Then decide what you must achieve (Need) and fill in the gaps with new actions (SEED) that need to happen. Only after Feed, Need and Seed do you eliminate practices that aren’t working (Weed).

Quit bickering. When the going gets rough, back-biting and blame find fertile ground. Model and enforce a climate of open communication and respect. Help people to say what they need to say in a factual manner. After the crisis has passed, there will be plenty of time to dissect what happened and how it might be prevented in the future.

A Chinese proverb states, “A crisis is an opportunity riding the dangerous wind.” Face the reality of your impending collision, so that you can maneuver to make the most of the opportunity.

• What is important today is also important tomorrow
• You don’t chase the latest fad, project or trend
• Your bad mood doesn’t cause you to act radically different
• People know what to expect from you

Being consistent in your leadership means that even under duress, you make the right choices. You steer the ship, make mid-course corrections and align your “crew” around important best practices that will help you reach your destination.

Even the most reliable and unswerving of leaders must be able to adjust to change. Yet, the consistent leader will be grounded, so that unfamiliar and challenging conditions won’t change the quality of interactions, thinking and decision-making.

How do you stay on course and make consistently positive leadership choices? Start by answering these four questions.

1. What is success? Success is defined first by the impact you want to make – and secondarily by the results you need to achieve to have that impact. Think about who and what will be changed by your efforts. That’s your impact.

2. What is sacred? What are your non-negotiables? Make a list of the things you will not compromise, no matter what. For example, you might list ethical standards that are vital and unchanging.

3. What is important? List a few guiding principles for your life and your leadership. Examples might include:

• Act with integrity
• Be a good steward of resources
• Be humble
• Have fun

4. What works? Know – and grow – best practices that lead to success, help you hold fast to what is sacred and allow you to focus on what is important. Identify the thinking and actions that are requirements for questions 1, 2 and 3.

Consistent, dependable leadership choices provide a solid foundation for your people – enabling them to weather storms and operate at their peak. You shouldn’t be completely predictable. You don’t have to be perfect, and you’re allowed to have bad days. What you cannot do is permit outside conditions to change you fundamentally – causing you to shift whichever way the wind blows. Be the anchor that your organizational ship requires.

Researchers believe that fluency is adaptive, that it helps us be successful as a species. For example, fluency includes a preference for the familiar. This ensured that we ate familiar (nonpoisonous) plants and avoided unfamiliar, dangerous creatures.

The problems with fluency occur when we don’t factor it into the ways we process messages and communicate with others. We can be unaware of the influence of fluency on our own judgments, and we can miss opportunities to utilize fluency when we want to share information with others.

How can cognitive fluency work for you?

To “sell” your message, keep it simple. Ideas that are easier to think about are more memorable and more believable. Use simple terminology that is familiar to your audience. People will not only remember it more easily, they will be more prone to believe it. Rhyming phrases are more believable than those that don’t rhyme, even if the words mean the same thing.

Use repetition. Seeing or hearing something multiple times helps people remember your message. This bias for the familiar also creates positive associations. People like familiar things, even if they really are no better than the alternative.

Be a better listener by “closing the loop” with clear, simple words. You’re listening carefully, but to be sure you are both on the same page, restate the message in your own words – using plain language to summarize your understanding.

To encourage deep thinking about an issue, use more complex or unfamiliar words. Use the opposite of fluency – disfluency – if you want people to think abstractly or profoundly on a topic. More complex wording, unusual word combinations or even a less readable font encourage our brains to get out of intuitive mode and think deeply.

To help people feel confident, have them list only a few reasons they’ll be successful. Generating a long list of positive attributes gets challenging, and that difficulty encourages the person to think more negatively. Because they have to work hard, they subconsciously conclude that they’re not so great after all.

Resist the urge to manipulate using cognitive fluency. Cognitive fluency can be used for good or for less-than-honorable purposes. Be open and transparent in what you are doing and why. For example, tell people why you’re using certain terms – either to help them think deeply or to make your message more memorable.

Research continues to reinforce the idea that we make judgments and decisions based on more than just the cold facts. The moral of the story is to think critically about the myriad of inputs you process each day. Are your likes and dislikes well-reasoned, or are they simply a reflection of what is easy for you think about?

When is unearthing difficulties not only a good thing, but necessary?

When the problem is potentially catastrophic (or at least very serious). History is full of tragedies that might have been averted. One is profiled in What You Don’t Know: How Great Leaders Prevent Problems Before They Happen by Michael A. Roberto. The collapse of overhead walkways at a Kansas City Hyatt Regency might have been prevented if numerous warnings had been taken seriously during the construction process. If you’re seeing disaster as a possible outcome, speak up. Don’t stop until resolution is achieved.

When you’re ready and able to help find a solution. Problem finders must be solution finders too. Ideally, find and address the root causes. At the minimum, offer ideas to mitigate the negative effects of the problem.

When the problem is also an opportunity. Some setbacks are clouds with silver linings. For example, the current recession has its upsides – some goods and services are cheaper than ever. Be the one who discovers the potential within a problem.

When is finding problems bad?

When you’re venting. Don’t unearth problems if you have no intention of doing anything about them.

When you really are out to get someone. The problem might be legitimate, but if you’re taking pleasure in bringing down the other guy, that’s not good. Reexamine your motives.

When it’s all you can do. Remember that when the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. So if all you do is find problems, maybe it’s because you are no good at resolving them. Tackling issues requires creativity, intelligence and commitment. Gauge your skills and find ways to boost your capabilities.

Problem finders are important assets in any organization. The best ones combine problem identification with the right actions to produce  long-term fixes. The other ones? They really can be pains in the butt.

Are you overly optimistic? Always assuming the best can lead to underfunded projects, overcommitted schedules, underperforming people and even the demise of your organization. How do you combine realism with optimism?

Don’t put your head in the sand. Overly optimistic people not only don’t seek out contrary opinions, they ignore any information that does not confirm their hopeful picture. Actively seek a more realistic perspective.

Double-check your assumptions regularly. Super-optimists think their rosy picture is based on facts and data. Make sure yours are accurate and complete.

Listen to naysayers. There were people who warned about the mortgage crisis, Hurricane Katrina preparedness and other disasters. Unfortunately, they were ignored (and some were fired). Surround yourself with smart people who will tell you what you don’t want to hear.

Expect the best and prepare for the worst. Projects always cost more money, take more time and end up differently than we expected. Plan realistically and make sure Plan B is in place in case things go very wrong.

Say no. Extremely optimistic people think they can do more than is possible. Say no when you really don’t have the time, skills or experience necessary.

Live abundantly. Just because you’re a realist doesn’t mean you’re gloomy or negative. Steven Covey talks about the abundance mentality – that there is plenty to go around, whether it be resources, work, skill or love.  Living abundantly means you expect good things to happen to you and to others.

What’s the best reason to be optimistic?  Life as an optimist is more fun. Go ahead and look at the bright side of life. Just don’t let those lights blind you to the less-sunny aspects of reality.

Even if the consequences aren’t as dramatic, inadequate judgment on the part of leaders results in losses – in profits, morale, jobs and market share, just to name a few.

What does it look like when leaders exhibit skillful judgment, and how can you do the same?

Understand what makes people and groups tick. First, be a good listener (see our Sponge blog post). Regularly ask open-ended questions. Book smarts about group dynamics help, but you can be an expert on the topic and still not know a thing about what is really going on with your people.

Know when to fight and when to compromise. Fight for guiding principles and high standards. Compromise when the alternative being suggested is a viable way of reaching the organization’s goals, even if it isn’t your favorite way.

Make decisions based on facts. You may be more swayed by emotions than you think (see our Decision-making blog post). Seek out other perspectives, especially ones that contradict your position. Make sure your facts are inclusive and not just gathered to justify what you have already decided to do.

Analyze risk/benefit. Don’t always be a no-holds-barred risk-taker. Go for it when the potential payoff is high and the risks are low. Talk about  risk-taking with others, so that your direct reports know when it’s not only appropriate, but required, on their part.

Understand the implications of decisions. Carefully consider the chain of events that will follow your decision before it’s implemented. How will the decision affect other people or groups? What do you need to do to mitigate the effects of this decision?

Act in ways that are consistent with your principles and values. The foundation of judgment is rock solid adherence to your values. What is important to you? What will you never compromise?

Judgment might best be summarized as discernment – the ability to make sense out of  the obscure. Judgment is evidenced when leaders take in a broad array of opinions, facts and experiences and integrate these into a strategy. Not all moves will pay off, even with most wise, astute judgment. Most well-reasoned decisions will bear fruit – in the form of results achieved or lessons learned.