3 Questions Every Leader Should Ask Themselves

Every senior leader, no matter the size or scope of their responsibility has three primary levers to use in navigating the pace and volume of decisions they face: how you allocate your budget, how you deploy your team, and how you manage yourself—your time and your impact. Decisions in these three areas communicate volumes about your priorities and the kind of organization you’re working to build.

Ask yourself:

How Am I Allocating My Budget?

This is typically the lever to which leaders give the most thought, since it’s one of the more tangible parts of their role and the one for which they’re held most accountable.

• Does your budget align with your strategic priorities?
• Are you investing in those areas that will have the greatest impact on your success?
• Do you understand how your organization and/or function makes money, as well as the internal and external and external forces that impact your ability to generate income?
• Are your income projections realistic?
• How is your budget changing over time?

A budget can be a strong communication tool for leaders, opening the door to provide clarity on priorities, to paint a compelling picture of what financial success looks like, and to engage your organization in understanding and contributing to revenue.

How Am I Deploying My Team?

Your budget is just a number until your people bring it to life.

• Are there enough people working on the right things?
• Do team members understand the organization’s strategy and their role in achieving it?
• Do they have the skills and capabilities needed to deliver on the strategy?
• Do the organization’s processes help or hinder productivity?
• Do team members feel ownership in their work and have a voice in shaping their environment?
• How do you recognize and reward people for their performance?

When team members feel believed in and valued great things can happen. It need not involve large, complex engagement programs; small actions, when done genuinely and consistently—like one-on-one conversations, allowing the freedom and ownership to implement one’s ideas, and thanking people personally—can have an enormous impact.

How Am I Using My Time and Myself?

Perhaps the strongest lever at a leader’s disposal is how they manage themselves. First, recognize that your calendar is a key tool for managing your attention.

• Ask yourself, “What is the highest and best use of my time?”
• Analyze your calendar from the past 3-4 weeks. Are you spending your time in ways that add the most value for you and your organization?
• Are you connecting with the right people in the right ways?
• Have you allowed time for reflection and planning?

Time is the most finite resource we have; use it wisely.

Next, consider your personal impact.

• What kind of environment do you create in your interactions with others?
• What kind of example do you set?
• How open are you to your own learning?

Your interactions are your currency. With each conversation you can either build engagement or erode it. Continually work to build your self-awareness, and choose the impact you want to have, day-by-day, moment-by-moment.

As a leader, you’re not always in control of the pace and flow of your days—despite your best efforts to the contrary. However, you can always control your response to your circumstances. Reflecting on these three questions—what’s the best use of my money, my team, and my self—provides a clear direction and a strong framework to guide your decisions.

About the Author:

Mindy Hall, PhD is the author of Leading with Intention: Every Moment Is a Choice, which has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Fast Company, Inc., Strategy+Business, and Investor's Business Daily, among others, and received a Foreword Reviews INDIEFAB Book of the Year Award. Her articles have appeared in Entrepreneur, Fast Company, Leader to Leader, Leadership Excellence, Change This, Life Science Leader, Chief Executive, Talent Management, and more. As the President & CEO of Peak Development Consulting, LLC, she works with leaders around the globe to create sustainable organization and leadership development solutions: helping them address today’s challenges, while also growing their capacity to lead future initiatives from within. Her philosophy can be summed up in eight simple words: “I want it to matter that we met.”