I am drawing on the principles from Bob Rosen and Emma-Kate Swann’s book Conscious: The Power of Awareness in Business and Life. The opening premise of their book is that being unaware is a big liability.

They highlight some of the observed behaviors that are caused by a lack of conscious awareness. Think about the following actions and see if you’ve experienced any of them too.

• An unintended (or so they said) offense given to a colleague.
• Ignoring a customer’s valid complaint about a product.
• Blindness to the personal needs of a team member.
• Lack of compassion for a child’s concern shared at home.
• Uncivil remarks made in a management meeting about a leader.

Research from Tasha Eurich, an organizational psychologist, indicates that only 10 to 15 percent of us are ever truly self-aware of what we do and our abilities.

Why aren’t we changing with giving people the recognition they deserve? From my observation, a lack of awareness of the importance and value that employee recognition has on people’s lives is a big reason why it doesn’t happen frequently enough. (more…)