This Sunday Rewind from Kate Leto takes us back a few years to examine organisational awareness, which she describes as a product leader’s ability to manoeuvre the complex human networks and patterns of influence, values, emotions and power that make up an organisation’s operating system.

Someone with high organisational awareness can, says Kate:

• Make more informed decisions based on tangible and intangible data. They know what the appetite for a decision is, who needs to be influenced, why, and how.
• Develop a clear strategy to get things done because they know the internal (and external) landscapes. They can identify the right person or team for the right job at the right time.
• Communicate in a way that resonates. They know the unwritten language and tone of their organisation.
• Build a coalition to get things done. They have the ability to motivate others to work towards a shared goal.

Discover more insights from our Sunday Rewind series.

You can build organisational awareness with practice and commitment, Kate says, and she offers a few ways to start this process.

For example, If you make a concerted effort to sit back, watch and listen you’ll come away with a different understanding of the way your team and colleagues work, and how you can make a difference. Or you might commit to walking round the office for a few minutes a day walking to get back in touch with what’s happening around you. You’re working to develop three fundamental competencies of emotional intelligence: self awareness, empathy and emotional self control.

Read Kate’s post, How to get things done: Raise your organisational awareness, in full.