[ 14 ]

Ef f ect i ve management and t he devel opment of sel f -

awareness: a pl ai n manager s gui de
Tom Bourner Principal Lecturer, Centre for Management Development,
University of Brighton, UK
Presents answers to the
question: how does the devel-
opment of self-awareness of
managers contribute to orga-
nizational success in com-
mercial terms? The question
originated from a discussion
by a group of management
developers about the relation-
ships between personal devel-
opment and effective man-
agement. Looks at the contri-
bution of self-awareness in
terms of motives, values,
personal resources, self-
esteem and internal con-
straints (including compulsive
or driven behaviour).
Concludes that an increasing
rate of change within organi-
zations increases the need for
the development of self-
awareness by managers.
Career Development
International
1/ 4 [1996] 1418
MCB University Press
[I SSN 1362-0436]
The purpose of thi s arti cle i s to look at how
the development of self-awareness
contri butes to effective management. Most
management developers I know are
convi nced that self-awareness i s a quali ty
whi ch does contri bute i n a way that i s both
posi tive and si gni cant. Most management
developers, however, also seem to beli eve that
i t i s a good thi ng i rrespective of i ts contri -
buti on to effective management.
Many managers, however, are scepti cal of
management development activi ti es ai med at
i ncreasi ng self-awareness; they regard i t as a
for m of navel-gazi ng and at best a self-
i ndulgence. I n order to be able to convi nce
them of the i nclusi on of the development of
self-awareness wi thi n courses of manage-
ment educati on and development we need to
be able to justi fy i t i n ways that make sense to
them. I n thi s arti cle I attempt to do exactly
that.
The begi nni ng of wi sdom
I t i s not di ffi cult to nd a chai n of causati on
from self-awareness through self-acceptance
to self-development and personal growth. For
many people, the i njuncti on from anci ent
Greece to Know thyself resonates wi th thei r
values and they are sympatheti c to the vi ew of
the phi losopher Immanuel Kant that self-
knowledge i s the begi nni ng of all wi sdom.
That i s all ne and dandy (and I would cer-
tai nly count myself amongst the management
developers who subscri be to that vi ew) but
pursui ng that li ne of thought i s not the pur-
pose of thi s arti cle. I ts ai m i s to explore how
the development of self-awareness of man-
agers contri butes to more successful organi -
zati ons i n commerci al ter ms and to report
the conclusi ons as expli ci tly as possi ble.
Personal devel opment and
sel f -awareness
Li ke the other arti cles i n thi s i ssue of Career
Development I nternational, thi s one ori gi -
nated i n an open space conference. Speci -
cally, i t ori gi nated at a sessi on that I offered
under the ti tle: What are the relati onshi ps
between personal development and manage-
ment effectiveness? The sessi on was well
attended, suggesti ng that the i ssue i s a si gni f-
i cant one for other management developers
(though the fact that i t was held outdoors, on
a war m day, i n bri ght sunshi ne i n a spot wi th
ne vi ews over the rolli ng Sussex country-
si de may have also contri buted to the atten-
dance!). What happened at the sessi on was
that we brai nstor med what we understood by
the ter m personal development and thi s
was followed by di scussi on on what we under-
stood by the ter m effective management
and the possi ble relati onshi ps between the
i tems that emerged from the brai nstor m and
effective management.
There seemed to be a wi dely-held beli ef
among those who attended the sessi on that
there i s a close li nk between personal devel-
opment and effective management. Thi s was
evi dent i n such statements as: Personal
development i s the key to an effective organi -
zati on. I n fact, no one seemed to challenge
the beli ef that management effectiveness and
personal development are related. The near-
est thi ng to an expressi on of di ssent was:
Managi ng i nvolves managi ng people, tasks,
outputs, boundari es, resources so where
does personal development t i n?
But even that statement seemed to be made i n
the spi ri t of summari zi ng the i ssue, rather
than challengi ng the precept.
After the sessi on I worked on the outcomes
of the brai nstorm to try to group the results
i nto more general categori es. The Appendi x
shows how the outcomes of that process are
related to the raw i tems that appeared i n
the brai nstor m. The general themes that
emerged from the brai nstorm are:
clari fyi ng values and personal ai ms (e.g.
Knowi ng how you prefer to behave and
how you prefer to be);
expandi ng comfort zone (e.g. Expandi ng
your boundari es);
recogni zi ng profound knowledge (e.g.
Seeki ng wi sdom);
reecti ng, arti culati ng and acti ng (e.g.
Telli ng and retelli ng your story);
behavi ng wi th i ntegri ty (e.g. Mai ntai ni ng
i ntegri ty);
lear ni ng to be (e.g. Acceptance);
[ 15 ]
Tom Bourner
Effective management and
the development of self-
awareness: a plain managers
guide
Career Development
International
1/ 4 [1996] 1418
accepti ng responsi bi li ty (e.g. Taki ng
responsi bi li ty for the world you are creat-
i ng);
seeki ng wholeness: mi nd, body and spi ri t
(e.g. Fi ndi ng wholeness and balance);
expandi ng from the i nsi de outwards (e.g.
Bri ngi ng out whats i n you).
What stood out for me when I was looki ng for
themes was that self-awareness seemed to
underpi n so many of them. Thi s i s obvi ously
so i n the case of themes such as clari fyi ng
awareness of values and personal ai ms.
However, the i ssue of developi ng self-aware-
ness i s present even i n themes li ke expand-
i ng comfort zone, si nce i n developi ng self-
knowledge the boundari es of the comfort
zone wi ll be i denti ed.
What i s ef f ect i ve management ?
What consti tutes effectivemanagement i s a
hotly debated i ssue. Many management
gurus make good livi ngs from offeri ng advi ce
to managers about how to manage more effec-
tively. Most of them, however, seem to agree
that effective management can be measured
i n ter ms of contri buti on to organi zati onal
success. And that i s a vi ew whi ch i s li kely to
be shared by most managers. Di fferences
only emerge i n ter ms of what exactly wi ll
make the largest contri buti on. I n thi s arti cle
we shall not go below the level of broad agree-
ment: we dene effective management i n
ter ms of value added by managers to the
organi zati on. On exami nati on, we nd that
the development of self-awareness of man-
agers contri butes to the success of the organi -
zati on i n a vari ety of ways and we wi ll look at
each of these i n tur n.
No shocks
For some managers the i dea of developi ng
self-awareness seems not only i rrelevant to
effective management but also unnecessary.
Most managers, li ke most other people, prob-
ably thi nk that they know themselves pretty
well. We each know better than anyone what
has happened to us, what we have to put up
wi th and our own feeli ngs and thoughts. The
answer to the questi on: Do I know myself ?
seems to be a clear Of course, I know i t i n
full and occasi onally di stressi ng detai l. We
all, however, have experi ences when the beli ef
that we know ourselves fully i s tri ed and
found wanti ng. For most of us i t i s not uncom-
mon to encounter si tuati ons when we nd
ourselves experi enci ng thoughts and feeli ngs
that surpri se us and behavi our that we had
not expected.
To understand oneself i s not just an i nter-
esti ng pasti me, i t i s cruci al for the effective
manager. I n order to make choi ces and plan
the future i t i s necessary to be able to anti ci -
pate our own acti ons. How wi ll you respond
when placed under great pressure? How wi ll
you respond when the job i nvolves a hi gh
level of routi ne and boredom? How wi ll you
cope i f you are requi red i n your job to make
people redundant? How wi ll you cope i f some
of those people are your close fri ends? How
much of your fami ly li fe wi ll you sacri ce to
do a good job at work? How wi ll you respond
i f the organi zati on makes i mpossi ble
demands of you? There i s much that we do
not know and cannot know about ourselves
unti l we are tested. For thi s reason self-aware-
ness i s not a self-i ndulgence but the most
practi cal of knowledge. We can speculate
about how we would feel and act i n parti cular
si tuati ons but we cannot be sure. Someti mes
we surpri se ourselves. Someti mes we are
shocked by our responses. Greater self-aware-
ness means fewer shocks when the chi ps are
down.
Hi dden resources
We each have a wealth of knowledge about
ourselves that i s not i n consci ous awareness.
I f I ask you What sort of house di d you live i n
when you were eleven years old? you wi ll
probably be able to conjure up an i mage.
Where was that pi cture before I asked the
questi on? I t was probably led away i n stor-
age i n your memory. We each have lots of
i nfor mati on about ourselves that i s stored
behi nd what we are currently thi nki ng about.
I t i s stacked away unti l brought to the surface
by an appropri ate sti mulus such as a ques-
ti on. Moreover, some parts of that self-knowl-
edge are more easi ly accessi ble than other
parts. I n the 1940s and 1950s Dr Wi lder Pen-
eld[1], a neurosurgeon, found that he could
provoke recall of long forgotten experi ences
by usi ng sti mulati ng electrodes. Moreover,
these memori es were unavai lable to recall
wi thout such sti mulati on. There are ti mes
when a persons effectiveness can be much
enhanced by easi er access to personal
resources that are nor mally outsi de of con-
sci ous awareness. There are ti mes when we
could ki ck ourselves because we have not
handled a si tuati on as well as we know we
can; when we apparently di d not have access
to the personal resources that we know that
we possess. Thi s, i nci dentally, often happens
when we are stressed or ti red or hurti ng
when we feel less resourceful. Part of the
agenda of developi ng self-awareness i s to
di scover addi ti onal personal resources
wi thi n ourselves and another part of that
agenda i s to develop easi er access to them.
[ 16 ]
Tom Bourner
Effective management and
the development of self-
awareness: a plain managers
guide
Career Development
International
1/ 4 [1996] 1418
Tal ki ng wi t h t he dri ver
Now we go one step beyond the i dea that we
have a large amount of knowledge of our-
selves whi ch we do not hold i n current aware-
ness and whi ch i s avai lable to us wi th vary-
i ng levels of accessi bi li ty. The next step i s to
recogni ze that there are some parts of our
past experi ence whi ch may not be avai lable at
all to current consci ous awareness, but whi ch
affect our current feeli ngs and acti ons. We
can descri be these as our drivers.
A further di mensi on of the development of
self-awareness i s to bri ng i nto consci ous
awareness some of the drivers that control
our behavi our. Thi s mi ght be the need to
please the boss even when you feel that thi s i s
agai nst the long-ter m i nterests of the organi -
zati on or the people who report to you. I t
mi ght mean the need to mai ntai n close con-
trol when you know that delegati on or
letti ng go would be better. I t mi ght mean the
need to be li ked even when i t i nvolves doi ng
thi ngs that are agai nst your better judge-
ment. Your need to avoi d coni ct mi ght
cause you to employ yes-managers to
report to you. I n The I nner Game of Manage-
ment, Flamholtz and Randle[2] give a good
account of the common drivers of managers.
I know I should take more exerci se but
somehow I dont. I know I should keep up to
date wi th current thi nki ng i n management
but somehow I dont. Why do I procrasti -
nate so much? Why do I put off di ffi cult jobs
when I know that I wi ll have to do them?
Becomi ng aware of the drivers i s the rst
stage i n freei ng oneself from them. Thi s
means more choi ces about how to thi nk, feel
and act. Greater self-awareness also mani -
fests i tself i n bei ng less controlled by dri -
vers whi ch are, at least partly, out of current
consci ous awareness.
The ski l ful use of t he sel f
I t i s not fanci ful to thi nk of the manager as
bei ng a person i n charge of a self that
i ncludes a body, a set of feeli ngs and emo-
ti onal responses, and a set of beli efs. I t then
makes sense to talk of the managers use of
self to do hi s or her job and hence i t also
makes sense to talk of self-management. Self-
awareness i nvolves gai ni ng knowledge of the
self that i s both bei ng managed and i s man-
agi ng. How well the manager manages the
part of the organi zati on for whi ch he/ she i s
responsi ble depends on how well the self i s
managed, whi ch i n tur n depends on how well
the self i s known and understood.
Usi ng the self ski lfully i nvolves havi ng
answers to questi ons of when, where, what
and how? When do you work best? Mor ni ng
or ni ght-ti me? Are you an owl or a lark?
Where do you work best? Alone or as part of a
team? What sort of work do you do best i n the
offi ce? I f you are grappli ng wi th a problem
that requi res a creative response, when and
where i s i t best for you to address i t? What are
the ci rcumstances that give you access to the
ri ght hemi sphere of your brai n? How do you
recharge your batteri es? For your own
uni que body, mi nd and feeli ngs what do you
need to do when i t i s i mportant that you
achi eve peak perfor mance?
St rengt hs and weaknesses
Self-awareness also covers awareness of our
own strengths and weaknesses. Thi s for m of
self-knowledge contri butes to management
effectiveness i n a vari ety of ways. For exam-
ple, managers who have a sound percepti on of
thei r weaknesses are i n a posi ti on to compen-
sate by surroundi ng themselves wi th those
havi ng compensatory strengths. A manager
bli nd to weaknesses i s not i n a posi ti on to do
thi s and the weaknesses can remai n as an
Achi lles heel wi thi n that part of the organi -
zati on. Common management development
exerci ses such as an explorati on of a man-
agers personal lear ni ng styles or team work-
i ng roles or bli nd and hi dden areas are
desi gned to help managers to become more
aware of thei r strengths and weaknesses.
When a manager gai ns an understandi ng of
hi s or her own strengths and weaknesses i t
helps to provi de an understandi ng of others
also. Gai ni ng an i nsi ght i nto ones self i s
usually accompani ed by greater i nsi ght i nto
other people. More understandi ng of what
makes oneself ti ck provi des understandi ng of
what makes other people ti ck too. Thi s means
more reali sti c expectati on of work colleagues.
I t also enables a manager to li sten more
empatheti cally. I t i s i nteresti ng that the
phrase an understandi ng manager i mpli es
greater compassi on i n addi ti on to greater
cogni tive understandi ng. A common deni -
ti on of management i s getti ng thi ngs done
wi th other people. Greater understandi ng of
the strengths and weaknesses of other people
contri butes si gni cantly i n thi s task.
Sel f-awareness and sel f-est eem
The i mportance of self-esteem i n ter ms of
perfor mance and psychologi cal health i s well
recogni zed. An i mportant cause of low self-
esteem i s lack of self-awareness. A person
wi th relatively li ttle self-awareness i s more
li kely to be easi ly swayed by exter nal pres-
sures and suffer role confusi on. Accordi ng to
Thoreau[3], The mass of men lead lives of
qui et desperati on. Current stress levels
among managers suggest that beneath the
bravado of many managers there i s a lot of
qui et desperati on. Role confusi on i s most
li kely to occur when i ndivi duals are not sure
[ 17 ]
Tom Bourner
Effective management and
the development of self-
awareness: a plain managers
guide
Career Development
International
1/ 4 [1996] 1418
about what ki nd of person they are. I n that
case i t i s di ffi cult to trust self. By contrast,
the person wi th a hi gh degree of self-aware-
ness has a sense of thi s i s the person I am, I
know that these are my values, these are my
capabi li ti es and thi s i s my purpose i n li fe.
Wi th that sort of self-awareness a manager
can bend wi thout fear of breaki ng. He/ she
has that combi nati on of exi bi li ty and
resi li ence because of self-knowledge of what
shape he/ she really i s. Self-knowledge i s
clearly related to a managers self-beli ef and
self-condence.
Managi ng change
Accordi ng to Tom Reeves [4]:
Managers basi cally have to do two overlap-
pi ng thi ngs. They have to keep the exi sti ng
show on the road that i s to say manage the
routi ne or recurri ng activi ti es for whi ch
they are responsi ble. They also have to
i nnovate and make i mprovements that i s
to say change the way thi ngs are done or
whi ch thi ngs are done.
What consti tutes effectiveness i n ter ms of
keepi ng the show on the road does not neces-
sari ly consti tute effectiveness when i t comes
to i nnovati ng and maki ng i mprovements. I n
si tuati ons when management i s routi ne and
repeti tive, self-awareness i s less i mportant. I n
such si tuati ons managers wi ll less frequently
nd themselves surpri sed or shocked by thei r
own feeli ngs, behavi our or reacti ons. As the
pace of change accelerates such si tuati ons are
i ncreasi ngly rare and managers spend rela-
tively more ti me doi ng thi ngs that are new to
them, so the opportuni ty for surpri ses and
shocks i ncreases. Managi ng change puts a
premi um on for ms of management develop-
ment based on personal development and
i ncreasi ng self-knowledge.
Accordi ng to Reg Revans pri nci ple of
i nsuffi ci ent mandate: Those unable to
change themselves cannot change what goes
on around them[5]. You cannot change what
you are not aware of. I wi sh to complement
Revans pri nci ple wi th another one: a pri nci -
ple of i nsuffi ci ent awareness: those who do
not know themselves are unable to change
themselves. Acti on lear ni ng offers one the
means of i ntegrati ng self-awareness wi th
organi zati onal change.
Summary and concl usi ons
I have someti mes asked managers to thi nk
back to the most effective manager that they
have ever had and the least effective one and
then to look for the di fferences. They have
rarely offered di fferences i n ter ms of knowl-
edge of marketi ng, stati sti cs or corporate
strategy, etc. I nstead they usually offered
personal quali ti es such as exi ble, calm i n
a cri si s, developer, i nspi rati onal, good
at delegati ng, etc. I have concluded that
there exi sts a close li nk between effective
management and personal development but I
was not clear about the preci se nature of the
li nk. Di scussi ons wi th other management
developers suggested that my conclusi ons are
qui te common.
I n thi s arti cle I have taken a parti cular
element of personal development, namely, the
development of self-awareness, and have
looked at vari ous ways i n whi ch i t
contri butes di rectly to effective management
i n general and to the success of the managers
organi zati on i n parti cular. I recogni ze that
thi s i s a narrow and i nstrumental vi ew. There
are those who would argue for a much wi der
ai m for management development. There are
even those who would argue for a reversal of
the rati onale. I n other words they would not
ask how personal development contri butes to
the management of organi zati ons, rather
they would ask how does the managi ng orga-
ni zati on contri bute to personal development?
Perhaps both questi ons are worth answeri ng.
References
1 Peneld, W., Engrams i n the human brai n,
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine,
Vol. 61 No. 8, 1968, pp. 831-40.
2 Flamholtz, E. and Randle, Y., The I nner Game
of Management, Busi ness Books, London, 1969.
3 Thoreau. H.D., Walden, Wordsworth Edi ti ons
Li mi ted, Hertfordshi re, 1995, p. 6.
4 Reeves, T., Managing Effectively: Developing
Yourself through Experience, Butterworth-
Hei nemann, London, 1994, p. 3.
5 Revans, R., The ABC of Action Learning,
Chartwell-Bratt, Bromley, 1983, p. 55.
[ 18 ]
Tom Bourner
Effective management and
the development of self-
awareness: a plain managers
guide
Career Development
International
1/ 4 [1996] 1418
Appendix: brainstormed responses to the question: what is personal development?
Themes Brai nst ormed i t ems
Cl ari fyi ng val ues and personal ai ms Knowing how you prefer to behave and how you prefer to be
Finding values
Identifying objectives
Living on purpose
Knowing what youve found
Expandi ng t he comfor t zone Expanding your boundaries
Moving beyond limits
Going to the edge and coming back
White-knuckle rides the pain barrier.
Recogni zi ng profound knowl edge Seeking wisdom
Spiritual growth
Reect i ng, ar t i cul at i ng and act i ng Reecting
Telling and retelling your story
Acting your story
Behavi ng wi t h i nt egri t y Maintaining integrity
Pursuit of quality
Learni ng t o be Acceptance
Learning to do nothing
Becoming what you are
Living with paradox
Accept i ng responsi bi l i t y Taking responsibility for the world you are creating
Responsibility
Creating and recreating
Seeki ng whol eness: mi nd, body and spi ri t : Finding wholeness and balance
Maintaining health
Being hungry and getting nourished
Expandi ng from t he i nsi de Bringing out whats in you
Internal
Opening the window
Learning and growing
Expanded choice
Ot her Conict and reconciliation
Having fun