4 Questions to Ask Yourself on Your Leadership Journey

The following is adapted from Changing Altitude .

We believe the first and most crucial step to take in your leadership development is to know thyself. But why should this matter so much??

For leaders, it’s just as critical to understanding how you operate as it is for a pilot to understand the instruments in a plane’s cockpit. Think of this instrument panel on a psychological level, all informing your behavior as a leader: there are gauges related to your emotions, your stress level, your sleep habits, your cultural biases, your preferences, your personality type, your emotional triggers, your childhood experiences, and so on. There’s a lot there, and every one of those factors impacts the way you lead.

If you’re not deeply familiar with these personal “gauges”—if you don’t know how to read your “emotional triggers” gauge, for instance—you risk endangering the people around you and the success of your organization. Just as a pilot is directly responsible for the lives aboard their plane, you as a leader influence the people around you—whether you intend to or not. You are taking your people somewhere.???

It’s time for you to study up on your instrument panel.??

1. What characteristics and skills do I believe are essential to grow as a leader?

On any given day in your role as a leader, you’re projecting something. It may be positivity; it may be negativity; it may be inspirational enthusiasm or a dark, demanding cloud.?

When you clarify your answer to this first question, you help identify your priorities as a leader and consider what you’re projecting to those around you. Consider the characteristics and skills you value most in your employees; reflect on the skills you believe are most important to your own leadership. Write those down—and then look at them. Are those the characteristics and abilities you genuinely embody as a leader??

You can improve as a leader by getting in tune with what you’re actually projecting and what people are experiencing from your leadership. If you discover a gap between those two things, be encouraged. Part of changing positions in leadership is gaining a deeper, richer understanding of any gaps between the values you espouse and your actual behavior. You rise up by having the courage to face them and involving other people in overcoming them.

2. What kind of leader do I want to become?

Often, there’s a story behind why we value certain traits and qualities above others. Your leadership story has been shaped by the values and strengths your parents emphasized when you were growing up. It’s been informed by the people you respected most in your formative years. It’s been defined by the skills which got you promoted and praised. But don’t just look backward—look forward as well.

Considering your future legacy is equally as important as reflecting on the story that got you here. When you are old and reflecting on your life’s work, how do you hope people remember you? By considering your future legacy now, you’ll help clarify the priorities and values you want to embody as you lead.?

Recognize the formative experiences that helped shape your leadership story and cast a vision for your legacy as a leader. In doing so, you will plot a trajectory for leadership that is both authentic and focusing.?

3. What are my strengths??

You need to gain a clear and honest understanding of your strengths as a leader. Leaders with this self-awareness are not only healthy, open, and in a constant state of development; they’re also gifted at building trust and confidence in their team.

“Knowing yourself” means that you recognize that there are things you do exceedingly well. You’ll excel more as a leader when you do those things with greater frequency. Research says when we use our giftedness, we’re happier. And when we’re happier, we are actually more successful!

4. What are my weaknesses??

By building awareness about the areas where you struggle, you can surround yourself with people who can help balance those weaknesses with their own complementary strengths. In other words, you can proactively manage your shortcomings rather than let them interfere with your effectiveness as a leader.

With this self-awareness, your struggles don’t need to get in the way of your successes. In fact, your weaknesses can help you build trust in your team, increase collaboration, and broaden your understanding.

It is important to note that there is a difference between one’s weaknesses or struggles versus poor or wrong behaviors. A struggle might be having difficulty in staying organized if you have a strong preference for being spontaneous and creative. A poor or improper behavior would be to berate a team member for their lack of intelligence, either privately or publicly, or spreading malicious mistruths about a colleague to others. Great leaders work to manage their struggles and weaknesses; they rarely, if ever, display wrong and poor behavior.

How do I begin to answer these questions?

Starting your leadership journey by reflecting on these questions will give you the knowledge and confidence you need to grow in your company. You can also ask yourself: What are some of the things I should feel proud of as a leader? What are some of the things I should stop or start doing? These additional questions might help you begin the process of articulating your own leadership philosophy, strengths, and weaknesses.?

In order to become the leader you hope to be, you must know what traits you need to have. You may not have those traits now, but knowing what they are will give you the direction to develop them. Then shed light on your strengths and weaknesses, and work to cultivate those strengths and minimize weaknesses to become the leader your team needs.?

When you ask these four questions, you empower yourself to not only know more about yourself, but you discover the kind of leader you are capable of being. Sometimes your answers to these questions will seem obvious, and sometimes they may surprise you. The more you know about your instrumental panel, the better prepared you will be to lead your team to success.?

For more advice on how to get to know yourself as a leader, you can find Changing Altitude on Amazon or by visiting ChangingAltitude.co .

Dr. Dennis O’Neil has decades of applied leadership and teaching experience as an executive coach with leadershipForward, a professor of strategic leadership, and a trusted advisor to CEOs, public and non-profit boards, senior government and military officials, and multinational organizations. Dennis combines his experiences with leading research to focus on the client’s most compelling needs.

Greg Hiebert is the co-founder of leadershipForward and the bestselling author of You Can’t Give What You Don’t Have. He’s served as a leader and mentor for an eclectic mix of organizations like the United States Military Academy, the United States Army, McKinsey & Company, and the Yale School of Management. His coaching approach incorporates deep levels of authentic and courageous dialogue to create conditions for personal and organizational transformation.?