The ability to sense what is happening around us begins with an awareness of what is happening within us.
Research from Korn Ferry illustrates just how significant that awareness can be. In its research on emotional intelligence, 62% of leaders with high emotional self-awareness created team climates that ranked in the top quartile. Among leaders with low emotional self-awareness, only 5% created top-quartile team climates.
That is a striking difference, and it reinforces an important element of Sense Leadership.
Leaders are not simply observers of the environments they lead. They are participants in them.
The tension you carry into a meeting can affect the conversation. Your urgency can influence the pace at which others respond. Your openness can make it easier for someone to raise a concern. Your reaction to disagreement can determine whether someone is willing to disagree with you again.
This is where leadership proprioception becomes particularly important. A figure skater needs an awareness of their own position before they can make the subtle adjustments required to remain centered. Leaders need that same awareness of themselves within the human systems they lead.
Sense Leadership therefore begins with more than reading the room. It begins with recognizing that you are part of the room you are trying to read.
The more accurately you can sense your own presence, position, and impact, the more effectively equipped you are to notice what is happening around you and respond with intention.