Effective Questions to Evaluate Your Performance
I just finished teaching a course on Organizational Leadership which included essential leadership traits, and leadership models. It sparked me to share some critical questions for you as you wrap up this year so you can be ready for the new year.
As you know, there are many essential leadership traits. The four we reviewed in this class were:
character- how you show up so that others can trust you
communication-speaking and listening-both require intentionality and energy
empathy-the ability to see through another lens so that you can understand the others perspective
vision-seeing more and before and sharing your vision, and why it matters to your team and the work they perform
We also discussed 12 leadership models, and while we won't review all of those for the purposes of this letter, there were some styles that are most effective to help your team succeed and remain loyal, and some which are most likely attributed to motivate people to leave, dash, or run to another more welcoming culture. The two largest extremes were autocratic vs. coaching/transformational. (Let me know if you'd like to explore this more)
I learned from my mentor John Maxwell that it’s not just experience that helps us learn, it’s evaluated experience.
As you evaluate which trait is your strongest and needs improvement most, which would you say?
Click here to watch the brief video to support your evaluated experience: (skip the ad)
WAIT!!!!!
Before you take your well-deserved break to enjoy the season, I encourage you to reflect on you, yourself. Then, reflect on your commitment and actions you took to build up your team. In the book How Successful People Lead by John Maxwell, the reflecting questions are:
Questions for yourself: (remember that leadership starts at the top)
1) What did you learn? You know that effective leaders are always learning and growing so we can shift, evolve and remain agile.
2) What did you earn? This doesn’t so much mean in income, rather, the earned is based on opportunities, rewards, relationships. Things are given to us and yes, we’ll take luck, however when we earn it’s because we were prepared and therefore rewarded.
3) How did you return? In other words, how did you pay what you learned and earned forward so that others on your team, in your network and associations could also advance?
I encourage you to take the time to ponder these, reflect and evaluate your experiences. This is also how you’ll choose what you want to keep doing, stop doing and start doing.
Questions for your team development, the return (remember that our people are our most precious resource)
1. How much training and development was offered to your team? Typically, technical training is a no brainer, so that the employees can operate most efficiently.
However, research shows that the critical importance of equipping people to know how to engage, collaborate and connect still lags. These are the "soft" skills that I call power skills. (According to Gallup, only 32% managers say they actually collaborate with other managers) Have you considered creating mastermind cohorts for your leaders and individual contributors? They serve as a very useful engagement tool that makes people feel safe to share and boosts learning.
2. We are in the season of annual performance reviews right now. What measures did you consistently take to provide feedback and ensure that goals were set and met? Did feedback work both ways, or was the leader the only person giving feedback?
3. How do you know whether your people feel as though they belong? How would your team describe your culture? Are they safe to speak up, make a mistake and challenge assumptions, procedures, and top leaders? How do you know what they are saying to their colleagues (if not at the water cooler, during chat side conversations during virtual meetings?)
One of the areas I've been studying is Psychological Safety and can now offer you an assessment to determine the confidence and comfort your team is experiencing: feel included, learn, contribute and challenge. In other words, do they feel safe?
I'm happy to explore this with you.
Click here to schedule a conversation
"We only get answers to the questions we ask", says John Maxwell. I hope that these questions about you and your team inspire you to reflect and take bold action to create the successful, effective and loyal company and team you desire and deserve.
Let's discuss how I might support you to unleash your inner champ.
I'll be back in touch in a few days with my holiday message and a special and useful gift for you.
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The next event I will host on Linked In Live is January 18 and the subject is so appropriate for everyone, Conquer Imposter Syndrome To Achieve Your Potential. I invite you to join us by registering here:
Click here
Connect with me on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/michellebeauchamp
Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/thechampgroup
Make today matter. Let's cross the bridge together to learn.grow.succeed.
