The Leader's Strategic Checklist

Leadership is an art that has to be carefully nurtured through scientific application of certain principles. A lot has been said and written about this. Internet and leadership manuals are full of principles of leadership and leadership techniques.

Here is a list of a few things that I feel a leader should have on the checklist (and are not usually found in any articles on leadership). This checklist consists of strategic points for the long term and it is not realistic to expect a leader to check off all of the items on it in a single day. But this checklist gives the leader an alignment to take the organization or a team in the right direction.

1. Are the communication channels in my organization / team / office open and functional?
2. Am I getting regular feedback? Complaints? Inputs?
3. Is my department in alignment with the goals of the organization?
4. Am I leading a group or a team? And do I know the difference?
5. Do I know my people as 'people'? Do they know me?
6. Are my people comfortable in my presence?
7. Are the processes helping in achieving the organizational goal or are they a hindrance?
8. Are all my decisions as a leader in the best interest of the organization?
9. Do I have a knowledge of the politics going on in my organization? (Not necessary to participate in it but do I KNOW about it?)
10. Who are my closest advisors and are they driven by any self interest?
11. Am I nurturing a second and third rung of leadership?
12. Where do we stand in terms of upskilling and upgrading?
13. If I am a middle rung leader, how do I handle pressure coming from both the sides? How much of it do I pass down, and up?
14. LAST BUT NOT THE LEAST - Am I a good leader?

As mentioned above, this is a strategic checklist and no-one can be expected to tick off all the pints in one day, week or even a month. However, keep in mind that all the work that a leader does will be related to one or more points mentioned in this list. It can act as a reference for course correction. But the leader must be absolutely honest to oneself in answering each question from the list as and when it comes up.

What do you think about this checklist? To know more about each point, feel free to contact me.

Looking forward to your feedbacks and inputs.