I took pictures of myself doing 1-on-1s.

(Credits: Andy Fan for the idea.)

I recently recorded myself doing a catchup with a couple of my team members. It was alarming.

This is my listening face.

I pride myself on listening to every minute detail of what is said to me and retaining it well. What I didn’t know was that my body language and facial expressions didn’t exactly relay that — in fact, it showed (if inaccurately) a complete lack of interest.

This is my thinking face.

The exercise was helpful in that it showed that my intent did not reflect on what my actions were at all — and if someone didn’t know me, it would not be a stretch to say that my mannerisms were dismissive. Which is the complete opposite of what I want to relay.

“Hmm, lemme just think about that for a moment.”

I recommend giving this a shot, if only once. Self-awareness and reflection is an important part of what we do, and it would better our service to the people we serve if we took the time to assess ourselves.