Enhancing Relationships by Improving Your Social Awareness
Why Does Social Awareness Matter?
In our increasingly competitive world, responsibilities, deadlines, and the drive to succeed can often derail our best intentions. We often find ourselves so entrenched in our internal drama that we fail to notice the barriers we create, the lack of empathy, the lack of social awareness. Our failure to nurture and develop social awareness often gets in the way of effective, meaningful communication, negatively impacting our personal and professional relationships.
Social awareness is crucial to developing meaningful relationships and effective leadership skills. By enhancing our levels of social awareness and improving our ability to respond to the needs of others, we learn to communicate more effectively. Our enhanced communication skills amplify our feelings of personal satisfaction while helping us to live a lifestyle of mutual respect and support.
Social awareness is a skill- one that can be learned, practiced and incorporated into the way we choose to interact with others.
The Interlocking Concepts
Social awareness is the ability to approach your interactions with others while recognizing and understanding their perspective. By enhancing your ability to understand the complexity and nuance of any given situation, you learn to respond accordingly.
In theory, social awareness requires the ability to function within the scope of the following social concepts simultaneously:
Social Sensitivity – acknowledging the emotions and needs of others
Social Insight - the ability to comprehend social situations and judge the morality
Social Communication - interacting appropriately with others to communicate and solve problems
The Three Main Components of Social Awareness
Social awareness is one of the four domains covered within emotional intelligence. The main components associated with social awareness, and the socially aware, include:
Empathy - the ability to be understanding of the needs, emotions, and concerns of another person or group of people. The ability to sense their feelings while imagining yourself in a similar situation. Empathy requires assessment of your true awareness, relying not only on your listening skills, but also on the observation of non-verbal cues such as vocal tone, facial expressions, and body language. The socially aware gain knowledge and understanding through a combination of observation and instinct.
Organizational Awareness - the understanding of group culture, politics, and policies, both written and undocumented. This type of social awareness also involves the understanding of the external forces that affect the group such as government policies, economics, and global dynamics. With organizational awareness, you understand your role, and how your role affects the group as a whole.
Service Awareness - the understanding of the expectations based on the perspective of those who rely on your services. While the principles of service awareness can also apply to relationships, service awareness is typically a reference to the value of customers. Businesses attract and maintain loyal clients by placing the needs of the client above the preferences or interests of the business organization. Service awareness often protects customers from unfair or unethical business practices and keeps client needs at the forefront of the business relationship.
Enhancing Your Social Awareness Skills
Social awareness requires paying attention to cues and picking up on details. Empathy allows the socially aware to understand feelings, habits, and reactions from an objective viewpoint. Assessing and fine-tuning your degree of social awareness expands your capacity to understand and to respond to the needs of others. The following suggestions could help enhance your social awareness skills.
Imagine a Role Reversal
To understand and empathize with others may require a bit of It may be necessary to imagine yourself in similar circumstances to understand the perspective of another person. Try to assume the best in others, that they intend to do their best and deserve your respect and consideration.
Practice Active Listening Skills
While most of us believe we are good listeners, we are often too busy considering our response to truly listen. To listen effectively, it's important not to assume you understand a situation. Show you are listening by not interrupting.
Take time to consider the facts and consider the perspective of your counterpart. Repeat what you believe was said in your own words, then ask questions. Be sure to acknowledge the speaker's message and respond with objectivity and honesty.
Pay Attention to Subtle Cues
Again, pay attention to body language and vocal tone. If you sense there may be an issue or problem, ask questions. Make an effort to read the mood of a room before you enter. Posture and facial expression typically convey more than words. While it is necessary to gauge the reactions of others, also pay attention to the cues you are sending, adjusting your posture, expression and vocal tone accordingly.
Refrain from Judgement
When you are tempted to criticize or dismiss the opinions or feelings of someone else, stop. Take a step back to regain your objectivity, and think before you Consider the impact of your words and try to choose them carefully. Aim for responses that are non-judgmental and remain objective.
Ask for Honest Feedback
We are often less aware of the way others perceive us than we realize. What you consider direct, someone else may view as overbearing. Express your concerns to a person you trust, and ask for their honest assessment of the way you interact with them. Ask for the positive and the negative and resist any urge to get defensive. Work on making adjustments based on their constructive feedback.
Know When to Apologize
No one is perfect. Be willing and available to apologize for any lapses in judgment. If you have reacted to someone insensitively, take responsibility. Others will respect your acknowledgment and your effort to make things right.
Without social awareness, your words and actions could be misinterpreted. The people in your life may feel undervalued, unheard or unappreciated.
Social awareness allows you to understand the needs of others through observation, reflection, and empathy. The socially aware know how they typically react to a given situation and have the ability to modify their interactions with others in order to achieve their intended results. The ability to respond genuinely to the needs of others strengthens relationships and builds trust.