The Test Every Great Leader Must Pass

Are you a good leader?

A great leader?

How can you even know?

You can take the test……..

Most leaders are too busy to spend much time reflecting on that question, but it really is important to check in once in a while—especially if results, achievement and excellence are important to you. Whether you’re a CEO, a vice president, director, team leader, neighborhood association leader, or parent, you can become a much more effective leader if you keep yourself on track. Take the test:

Do you have concise and compelling vision?
A great leader has the capacity to create a compelling vision and translate it into reality. When your vision is clear and understandable, it inspires others to help make it happen. Is your vision clear? Do others understand it? Have you inspired them to help you transform it into reality?

Have you identified your role and responsibilities?
Leadership isn’t earned by a title or position, but great leaders need to understand the scope and boundaries of their responsibilities. Too many roles are ill-defined, leading to confusion, but it’s a clearly defined role and responsibilities that allow you to take effective action and be held accountable for results.

Do you have strategies and goals?
Having a vision and taking responsibility are important to leadership, but not much can get accomplished without a strategy or goals. Goals define results and let everyone know in concrete terms what they’re working toward—and when they’ve successfully achieved it.

Are you decisive in solving critical challenges?
You don’t always have the time to make a perfect decision; in today’s fast-paced world, lengthy deliberation and debate are luxuries. In the middle of a situation, you have to be confident enough to quickly evaluate the situation and take an action that has a high probability of success. Great leaders know how to make decisions of all types. They know when to take the time to use analytical and thorough decision-making processes. They know when to engage the whole team, and when to make decisions on their own.

Do you communicate often and with clarity?
At its heart, communication is the real work of leadership. Because everyone hears things in different ways, it is up to leader to communicate frequently and honestly, with openness and a commitment to listening as well as being heard. Your words have great power, so use them to inspire and support others.

Do you lead with positivity and enthusiasm?
A leader’s attitude, negative or positive, is contagious. The best leaders go out of their way to stay positive even in negative and challenging times—and that positivity, spread among the entire team, has the power to create better outcomes. Are you as positive and enthusiastic as you would like it to be?

Do you work on developing others?
Once you become a leader, your focus moves from your own development to helping others grow. When you do, you not only build a stronger team, but you communicate to members how much you value them. True leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders.

Do you treat failure as a teacher?
We all make mistakes, and we all have failures. But it’s when you can turn those failures into learning experiences that you move closer to success. Failure in leadership doesn’t mean the game is over—it means it’s time to try again, with more experience. Remember, failure is not the opposite of success; it’s part of success.

Do you show appreciation to others?
Appreciation is the best way of bringing out excellence in others. It builds loyalty and creates momentum for the entire team. Those who feel appreciated will always outperform those who don’t.

Do you lead by example?
When you’re a leader, your words, your actions, your behavior are all being watched. People may doubt what you say but they will always believe what you do, so make sure your actions follow your words. Are you leading by example? People have to be motivated to follow you before they will care about your vision.

How did you score? There are no winners and losers here, but look at each point that tripped you up and begin

Lead From Within: We don’t know who we are until we see what we can do.

N A T I O N A L   B E S T S E L L E R
The Leadership Gap: What Gets Between You and Your Greatness

After decades of coaching powerful executives around the world, Lolly Daskal has observed that leaders rise to their positions relying on a specific set of values and traits. But in time, every executive reaches a point when their performance suffers and failure persists. Very few understand why or how to prevent it.

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Additional Reading you might enjoy:

• 12 Successful Leadership Principles That Never Grow Old
• A Leadership Manifesto: A Guide To Greatness
• How to Succeed as A New Leader
• 12 of The Most Common Lies Leaders Tell Themselves
• 4 Proven Reasons Why Intuitive Leaders Make Great Leaders
• The One Quality Every Leader Needs To Succeed
• The Deception Trap of Leadership

Photo Credit: Drawn by Lolly Daskal