This is a delayed series of posts about the LifeChurch.tv All Staff event from the week of October 1st. I’ve had a lot going on, lol.
I got the awesome opportunity to go through Jerry Hurley’s “Journey to Self Awareness” quick shop. Jerry is on the LifeChurch.tv DLT (Directional Leadership Team) and, from what I hear and have seen for myself, is incredible at building into people and is responsible for a good chunk of the leadership development occurring across the LifeChurch.tv staff.
Here are some of the key learnings coming out of this great quick shop:
- Self Perception: is what you want to see, are a afraid of seeing, or what you are trying to be seen as. There are semblances of your true self in your self perception, but only as it is molded by your emotions and insecurities.
- Self Awareness: “A dispassionate understanding of capacities, limitations, passions, talents, idiosyncrasies, warts, moles and hangups.”
- The most important tool in gaining self awareness is excellent feedback, but that is not what we usually are looking for, and certainly not what we usually get (and that is more our fault than anyone else’s).
- How to get better feedback:
- Become more observant of people’s reactions and interactions with you. You will start to see things, in their responses, reactions, and nonverbals you’ve not seen before. This is very unnatural, and takes practice.
- See feedback as a gift, because this is only new information to you. Everyone else already realizes it. It is better to be the last to know, then to never know!!!
- Make it easier for people you ask. Give them options. Ask at a time and place that it show you really are ready to listen. Start small, and show that you will respond so you can later make a better and bigger ask for feedback.
- Realize, that once you get good feedback that these are things you have been doing with a high amount of repetition. So, it is going to take the same sort of positive repetition and momentum to change other’s perceptions. Actually changing yourself, and then helping to changes other’s perception is vital.
- Closing Perception Gaps – there are two main areas for all of us:
- Software: this is able to be developed and nurtured to a high degree.
- Spiritual
- Knowledge
- Skills
- Hardward: This can’t change much (that’s okay), maybe budges through life:
- Mentality: there are multiple intellegienecs, and no one has all of them.
- Physicality: genetics, build, etc.
- Personality: Myers Brigs, etc.
- Software: this is able to be developed and nurtured to a high degree.
- To gain momentum for you to both change yourself, and to help change the perceptions of others you need to advertise the change. Admit your vaults appropriately, and ask for their ongoing help in those areas.
I probably need to hear this quick shop as much as anything else I heard during this All Staff. It is very easy for me to focus on getting better at what I’m doing, how I am doing and what the doing is creating in regards to results. But it is not obvious to me to work on my “being.” To get better at “being” who I need to be as a follower of Jesus. How about you, does any of this resonate with you?
