Why Manager Self-Awareness Has Become a Business Performance Issue
Authored by: Uku Sööt
Most managers can describe the leadership behaviours they are expected to demonstrate. They know they should listen, delegate, give clear feedback, coach their employees, and adapt during change.
The difficulty appears when pressure rises.
A customer problem needs an immediate answer. A project slips behind schedule. An employee challenges a decision. In those moments, managers usually rely on the behaviour that feels most natural to them. A decisive leader becomes more forceful. A careful leader asks for more analysis. A supportive leader may avoid the difficult conversation for a little longer.
These reactions are understandable, but they can create problems when managers do not recognise their effect on others.
Gallup has found that managers account for around 70% of the variation in team engagement. The finding reflects how strongly everyday management shapes the employee experience, including clarity, recognition, development, and trust. When a manager’s intentions and impact repeatedly differ, the consequences eventually appear in engagement, performance, and retention.
The behaviour that made someone successful can become a limitation
In leadership programs, I often meet managers who were promoted because they were exceptional specialists. They solved problems quickly, took responsibility, and became the person colleagues trusted when the work became difficult.
After the promotion, they continued solving problems in the same way.
One manager described spending most of his day answering questions from his team. He saw this as being available and supportive. His employees saw him as the safest route to a decision, so they gradually stopped making decisions without him.
His expertise remained valuable, but his default behaviour had created dependency.
The development opportunity was not another delegation model. He needed to notice what happened each time he gave an immediate answer. He began responding with two questions: “What options have you considered?” and “What would you recommend?”
The change initially felt slower. Within a few months, fewer routine decisions reached his desk.
People experience the same leadership differently
Another pattern appears when managers assume that consistency means treating everyone in the same way.
A concise project update may feel refreshingly efficient to one person and unhelpfully abrupt to another. An employee who asks detailed questions may be protecting quality, although a fast-moving manager interprets the behaviour as resistance. A colleague who prefers time to reflect may appear disengaged in a meeting, then contribute a thoughtful solution the following morning.
Behavioral frameworks can help managers recognise these differences. A practical introduction to workplace interaction styles can give teams language for discussing communication, pace, decision-making, and responses to pressure.
The purpose is not to assign fixed categories. Wiley’s research describes DiSC as a model of behavioural preferences and tendencies, with no style presented as inherently better than another.
The useful question for a manager is therefore not, “What type is this person?” It is, “What might this person need from me to perform well in this situation?”
Three practices that build behavioural range
Organizations can strengthen manager self-awareness without turning it into a lengthy development initiative.
First, connect feedback to observable behaviour. Telling a manager to “communicate better” gives them little to work with. Feedback such as “You moved to a solution before the team had explained the problem” creates a specific opportunity to practise something different.
Second, use real upcoming situations. A manager can prepare for a difficult conversation by considering their usual response, the other person’s likely needs, and one adjustment they will make.
Third, review impact rather than intention. After a meeting or feedback conversation, managers can ask: Did the other person understand what was expected? Did they contribute their perspective? Did the conversation increase clarity and ownership?
These questions turn self-awareness into a practical management discipline.
Self-awareness needs to reach daily work
Leadership development often succeeds at helping managers understand good practice. The harder task is helping them notice their own patterns while work is happening.
That requires practice, feedback, and a willingness to experiment. A direct manager may need to slow down. A highly collaborative manager may need to state expectations more clearly. A careful manager may need to make a decision before every detail is available.
Managers do not need to abandon the qualities that helped them succeed. They need enough behavioural range to avoid overusing those qualities when the situation calls for something else.
That range affects more than communication. It influences decision speed, accountability, conflict, engagement, and the ability of teams to operate without constant managerial intervention.
For organizations investing in leadership development, self-awareness deserves to be treated as an operating capability. The manager’s behaviour shapes how work is experienced every day, especially when pressure is high and there is no time to consult a leadership handbook.
Author byline: Uku Sööt is a partner at IPB Partners (a DiSCprofiles brand). He works with organizations across Europe on leadership development, team effectiveness, and behavioural assessment-based learning. IPB Partners is an Authorized Partner for Wiley’s Everything DiSC® and The Five Behaviors® solutions.