Are You a Mediocre Leader?

Lead from your strengths

In the spirit of knowing yourself (and your management & communication style), answer these questions:

• Do you make your expectations clear to others, and follow up to assure understanding and compliance?
• Do you set the overall direction of the organization and involve your team in filling in the details of the plan?
• Are you more of a visionary or more of a project manager?
• Are you more of a rainmaker or more of COO?
• How well do you listen?
• Do you tend to be more people oriented or zeroed in on the task and schedule?
• When an employee complains, are you more likely to challenge them to solve the problem or give them the solution?

In the spirit of knowing your team (and what motivates and drives them), answer these questions:

• Do you assign a task to someone because you know they can do it or because you know they want to do it?
• Is failure a viable option when you hand off a new assignment?
• How much mentoring or guidance are you prepared to provide along with a new assignment?
• When two or more employees are not getting along, are you more likely to let them work it out, or dive in to solve the problem?
• Can you name each of your employees and at least two things that motivate them other than money or promotion?
• Of your employees who left voluntarily, did you ask them why they left?
• How do you encourage employee development?

Ways to think about your leadership capacity:

• Is your company better off having you stick with business development or another function?
• Look to your senior managers for someone to take on a GM/COO type of role.
• Begin developing the next generation of leaders in your company.
• Go to the outside and find a leader for your company.

Do you enjoy the leadership role, but are missing some tools or techniques to be great at it?

• Consider engaging a coach to provide an objective evaluation of your style and an approach to improve.
• Ask a leader you admire to mentor you.
• Take a self-study approach by reading books, taking classes, and attending webinars.

Are you a very good or great leader already? If so, then it’s time to give back!

• Consider becoming a mentor or coach to an up and coming leader or someone who is struggling with leadership within your own company.
• Begin your own regular series of internal “lunch and learns” to bring along a group of high potential leadership prospects.
• Consider an expanded role outside your own company for a local university, professional organization, host your own webinar, or even write a book!

Contact Strategic Talent Management today to discuss your leadership needs and how we can help solve your people challenges.