How to assess your performance as a Leader

I know that many leaders agonize over the performance reviews of their team members. Here is one with a twist: How would you do in the eyes of your team members if they were doing the review on you?

Leaders need to find out how they are doing with regards to leading their people, but asking could be intimidating and put one on the defensive.

Would you feel comfortable asking your team members how you should improve?

Would they be comfortable enough to be truly open?

Ed Oakley, co-author of Leadership Made Simple, found the ideal way to overcome this by asking two questions:

1. From your perspective, what am I already doing well in my role?
2. What would you like to see me do even better?

No negative feedback was elicited by the questions and Ed Oakley received some very valuable ideas from his team members on how to improve and on how to lead each team member better.

Consider asking your team the above questions. Their feedback will give you an idea of what areas you excel in and which need more focus. Once you have that knowledge, you can begin making adjustments to further improve the effectiveness of your leadership.