What is organizational awareness?

Organizational awareness is the ability to interpret a group’s emotional state, relationship dynamics and power structures. It’s the ability to interact with a group and understand the subtleties that aren’t spoken out loud but are still there. Someone with a good sense of organizational awareness can understand the unspoken rules and social cues that are happening and respond accordingly.

In a professional setting, this could be as simple as noticing an employee feeling uncomfortable in a meeting. As a leader, you’re responsible for ensuring the workplace is comfortable and safe and being able to respond to your employee’s discomfort can help them feel secure at work.

Organizational awareness examples

So, what does organizational awareness look like for a leader? Here are some real-world organizational awareness examples so you can see this skill in action.

Improving communication

You present a policy change in a meeting and notice that many people look confused, although no one asks questions. By being able to discern the confusion, you explain the change more clearly and invite the team to ask questions. You may even decide to address the confusion with a follow-up email that further outlines the policy changes in writing.

Managing conflict

You notice that two employees tend to get into heated conversations when they work the same shifts. It may be clear that their dynamic adds tension to the work atmosphere and is potentially making others uncomfortable. With strong organizational awareness, you can meet with the employees and look for solutions to resolve the conflict.

Facilitating discussions

You find that your more introverted employees tend to refrain from sharing their opinions and ideas in large meetings. But, when you connect with these employees one-on-one, they have a lot to say and offer valuable insights. You may opt to change your meeting structure to include a live chat box so introverted people can feel more comfortable sharing.

Addressing workload issues

You notice your team is showing classic signs of burnout, including disengagement and irritability. You decide to meet with them and discuss how to resolve the workload issue. In this case, you’ve made it clear to your team that you’re aware of how they feel and are actively looking for solutions with their input. This can go a long way in making themfeel seen and cared for.

Assisting with professional development

You overhear an employee expressing interest in tasks unrelated to her regular role. So, you book a meeting with her to learn more about her interests. You find out she would like to make a lateral move in the company and you help her make a plan to learn the skills to make the transition.

Benefits of organizational awareness

There are many benefits to organizational awareness for leaders, including:

• Improved decision-making: Organizations should make decisions from a wide vantage point. It’s essential to consider many perspectives and opinions before coming to a conclusion. Organizational awareness is like taking a pulse on what’s happening within the company. Having this comprehensive understanding can help leaders make better, more informed decisions.

• Better communication: A large part of communication is non-verbal. It’s important that leaders can pick up on visible demeanor and tone to get to a person’s true feelings. Sometimes, an employee might confuse being professional with being agreeable, which stops them from voicing their real opinion. If you can pick up on all forms of communication from those around you, you can have more effective, transparent communication.

• Facilitates teamwork: Leaders who have organizational awareness benefit from a more collaborative team. When you understand your team’s barriers and problems, you can often find ways to help them work through them. Not only does this make you a more supportive leader, but it also helps facilitate trust between you and your employees. They see that you understand them and do your best to help them.

• Improved productivity: When leaders are understanding, empathetic and supportive, their employees often feel inspired to excel. The saying, “People don’t leave companies; they leave bad managers,” often holds true. A positive leader can be the best motivator for productivity.

4 Tips for improving your organizational awareness

Looking for ways to improve your organizational awareness? This is a skill you can learn and build on. Here’s how you can effectively improve your organizational awareness:

Ask questions

You can’t be aware if you’re uninformed. The first step in better understanding your organization and employees is to take in more information. Take the time to get to know each of your employees. Ask them what they like about their role, what they find challenging, what they wish they could do more of and how you can help them in their role. Not only will this give you an understanding of your workforce, but it will also give you some insights into your team.

Of course, if you’re operating a large company, you might not have the time to sit down with every employee for a conversation. In this case, focus on the managers and leaders who report to you. You can get to know them better and ask them about the employees they manage, which will give you further insight.

Take notice

As mentioned, part of organizational awareness is picking up on what’s not said. You need to learn to pick up on tone, visible demeanor and facial expressions when listening to people. When you pick up on non-verbal cues that something is wrong, you can pull that employee aside to listen. Employees will feel noticed and cared for when you show you’re paying attention to how they really feel.

Set an example

Organizational awareness is important for all leaders within a company. You can be an empathetic, caring leader, but if your other managers are insensitive and forceful, there will likely still be problems in the workplace.

Set an example to all leaders by always practicing empathy and awareness. Consider facilitating a free training session for managers to learn about organizational awareness so they can also embrace this skill.

Practice active listening

Active listening is when you’re fully engaged and participating in a conversation. A person can engage in active listening with eye contact, follow-up questions, repeating details and allowing a person to finish their story without interruption. If you genuinely want to improve your organizational awareness, you’ll need to participate in active listening. After all, you can only be aware of what’s happening if you listen carefully to what’s being said to you.

Leaders benefit from organizational awareness

Taking the time to learn and improve your organizational awareness can seem daunting, but this is an essential skill for any leader. Your job is to support and guide your employees. You can only deliver on this challenge if you know what your employees want, how they feel and what they need. Only organizational awareness can give you all the details you need to know to respond to your workforce’s nuances and needs.