Follow the Leaders (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
One question I hear from executives is this: how can I tell if people want to follow me?
The easy answer is to ask them but the better path is to create reasons that people should want to follow you. That is you set the example for them to follow. You communicate goals and provide resources to enable people to achieve those goals. You provide guidance when asked and feedback all of the time. You also make yourself available in times of need and scarce when the team is doing well.
Easy to say, but how can you know when you are leading effectively? Let me offer five questions that I think can help any leader keep him or herself centered and focused.
1. Am I thinking strategically? Effective leaders need to think a move or two ahead of what is happening in the here and now. They also need to embrace a broad perspective and see how their business fits into the competitive landscape. Big picture thinking is a combination of thinking ahead as well as thinking broadly.
2. Am I communicating for understanding? It is seldom enough to say something once; important messages need to be reiterated. Leaders also need to give listeners the opportunity to tell the leader what they have heard and how they interpret it. Checking for understanding is essential to clarifying communications.
3. Am I delegating with responsibility and authority? Leaders by themselves accomplish little; leaders working through others can accomplish great things. This means direct-reports ready to step up to new levels of responsibility be given the opportunity to do so. And with that responsibility must come authority to do the job.
4. Am I evaluating the right things for the right reasons to ensure that our success is sustainable? Big question. Bright shiny objects can distract us, that is, goals that are ephemeral or better left unattained. For example, over pursuit of a goal can waste resources and in the end prove harmful. Yet we may push for it out of ego rather than common sense. Leaders need to know when to back off.
5. Am I radiating confidence so that others believe in themselves as well as their organization? Leaders must project the “glass half-full” sense of optimism. This is not an excuse for Pollyanna-ism; effective leaders must be realists. But one who seeks to bring people together for a cause is advised to think more positively than negatively.
These questions are not intended as a final exam, but rather as a regular check-in. Use them periodically. The answers you give to them may vary according to the situation. For example, you may be working on putting out a fire and therefore unable to think beyond next week, let alone strategically. Or you may not be able to delegate because you have new people on your team who need a firm and active hand. Or often your assumptions may be wrong and so what you think may be right is proven wrong.
Do not beat yourself up if you are not satisfied with your answers. Resolve to do differently in the best way you can. After all, as the poet Oscar Wilde opined, “A man who does not think for himself does not think at all.” Not bad advice any leader, too.
