Leadership and Outer-Awareness: Identifying External Influences On Your Clarity & Focus

We previously discussed self-awareness in the last article, and how leaders with self-awareness gain empowerment to choose how they show up each day with more objectivity, clarity & focus. If self-awareness is one half of the first step to becoming a great leader, then the other half would be outer awareness.

Outer awareness is all about what influences your clarity and focus as a leader, and how aware you are of those influences. Where self-awareness was paying attention to your inner self (thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and interpretations), outer awareness shifts that focus to what is externally affecting you. Those external influences may be as simple as the lights being too bright in your office to focus, or as complex as a relationship with an employee who drains your energy in every interaction. The common theme here is that with outer awareness, you are identifying these influences on you and then acting on them.

Identification of what these influences are can be categorized into two categories: Social and Environmental “influencers” (credit to iPEC's COR.E Dynamics program for the terminology).

Let’s discuss both of them briefly below, as a more detailed dive will be explored in future blogs.

Social influencers are external factors relating to the people you encounter as well as those you surround yourself with. The example of the employee who drains your energy would be a social influence on your clarity and focus. That employee likely has a negative mood often and uses negative verbiage and a negative tone of voice; all of which can affect your clarity & focus. Nobody likes a negative person, but not everyone realizes what effect they can have on their ability to perform their duties as a leader or employee. Whom you surround with can positively or negatively impact your clarity and focus as a leader; it is up to you to recognize these situations for future action.

Environmental influencers are also external factors, but they deal with your literal surroundings and how they can affect your clarity and focus as a leader. An example of overly bright lights in your office would be an environmental influencer, as it is part of your surroundings. Other examples may include the temperature outside/inside for the day, the time of day you’re working, the technology you use, and even something as simple as the comfort of the chair you are sitting in! These may seem obvious, but they vary in how they affect your performance as a leader. How can you possibly expect to be at your best when your surroundings are causing you physical pain, mental distraction, or sensory impairment? Taking action on these environmental can immediately increase your clarity and focus as a leader, and get you back to performing at your best.

Once you have identified these external influencers on your outer awareness, the next step is to take action. Rather than remain a victim to them, you can move forward with an action plan to make the necessary changes to optimize your performance. For the bright lights example, that might involve changing your environment entirely or perhaps taking action with the office manager to get different light bulbs. For the negative employee, it might involve you having a tough conversation with them about their attitude, or perhaps setting different expectations mentally with yourself when you interact with them going forward. Both examples require some kind of action by you to occur in order to maintain your clarity & focus.

Practicing outer awareness is not dissimilar to how you practice self-awareness. Both types of awareness require you to be observant and present, of what is happening internally and externally. Making a conscious effort to be aware takes practice. But with time and practice (and a little patience), you can improve your leadership skills in a profound way.