How will you know if you are a good leader or manager?
If you are in a formal leadership or management role you must be pretty good in your area of expertise.
After all others saw potential in you and had the confidence to move you beyond the role of technician to a role where you achieved results through others.
At the same time I know that those who get promoted into management and leadership roles can often find it a challenge.
In some ways this should not be a surprise. If you are an accountant or in a similar rules based profession you know that doing this will X will usually result in a certain Y.
Thing is when it comes to managing or leading it is a lot different. You can what on the face of it two similar situations. First time you take a certain action it produces the result you expect. Second time you take the same action it produces a result that you weren’t expecting.
It can also be very difficult to get an honest assessment of how you are doing at leading or managing. Your organisation might have 360 feedback but even those processes have their limitations.
So what can you do to determine how you are doing as a leader or manager?
Be clear about what constitutes success as a leader or manager
It might surprise you to know that when I ask clients to define how their success as a leader or manager is assessed, the vast majority struggle to respond.
The reason for this is that they have never specifically asked how their effectiveness as a leader or manager is being assessed.
So simply ask for clarity on how your effectiveness as a leader or manager is being assessed.
Take time to reflect
It is really easy to keep yourself busy.
But when did you take time to step back and reflect on what’s gone well and what you could do to be even more effective.
Ask your team
Find a way of getting anonymous feedback from your team. You could use something like Survey Monkey (an online survey) to allow your team to provide the feedback
Ask your peers
Those at a similar level to you are often the hardest group to get feedback from. The online survey or just an informal chat over coffee is a good way of getting their views.
Ask your superiors
Do it face to face. Ask for the feedback, listen, don’t interrupt and then decide what’s going to be priority in terms of your development.
Bottom Line: Chances are you are doing some great work as a leader or manager and like most there are probably opportunities to be even more effective.
Duncan Brodie helps accountants and professionals build successful careers. Learn more here.
About the Author Duncan Brodie
Since 2006 I’ve worked with in excess of 8,000 accountants and professionals in workshops, seminars and one to one helping them land their next jobs and become better leaders, presenters and business partners. Before that I spent 25 years in accountancy climbing the career ladder from Payments Clerk to FD. I’m a CIMA Fellow, Certified Professional Coach and Team Coach Facilitator.