“Leadership Gurus” boil down performance for leaders into seven specific and measurable traits. If these are applied to a leader, he or she can be “reviewed” in a more objective way, with some opportunity to see specific steps that will lead to growth. In my work, I apply these to team leaders in the non-profit and missions work, as well as in Pastoral leadership in a church. They can, however, easily transfer to any leadership position. None of these eight are original to me, but I have used them for many years, and can only say that they are fairly common to many. I was told in one seminar they may have come from the US Army training, but I could find nothing to substantiate this. I couldn’t find a single article that contained them all, so here it is!
General Leadership: Is there a “flock” behind them that wants them to succeed? If not, here are three areas that you can suggest exercises and charge that attention be paid:
- Does this leader work specifically at instilling trust in those who follow him? This can be measured in small ways like “Are you typically known as punctual in meetings and well prepared to meet your team member?” “Do you deliberately create opportunities to allow a worker to succeed and then praise them for their specific contribution?”
- Does this leader provide clear direction for the people under his charge? Do they report that the leader typically knows what he or she wants, and is able to convey it in a way that makes sense to the hearer? Is the direction both specific and measurable in nature?
- Does the leader train others well? Good leaders are busy making followers into leaders.They do this through conscious and active delegation, constant praise, etc.
Adaptability: Does the leader “lose their head” when circumstances change and controls appear lost for a time? General Robert E. Lee once was reported to have remarked: “Things do have a way of moving out of control in a battle field.” Some specific traits must be developed and measured in a leader in this regard:
- Does the leader know how to think critically? Can they find the issue without allowing themself to be wrapped up in personal protection and pain issues?
- Does the leader know how to think concisely? Can he or she relate a difficult situation by breaking the issues into component parts that could be managed? There are many leadership exercises that can be used to develop this ability.
- Does the leader know how to adjust expectations to meet changing circumstances? Will they make tough decisions that may tie their hands later because it will keep the task on track?
Team Building: Leaders cannot lead without followers. Someone said, “If you are leading and nobody’s following, you are just taking a walk!”
- Does the leader deliberately take time to connect with people? Awkward people don’t lead well, because they don’t inspire confidence in the followers.
- Does the leader attempt to connect people together and facilitate relationships? Good leaders try to make team members fit well together.
- Does the leader work and play well with others? Good leaders involve themselves in the work and (in many cases) the play of the team. Teams that play together, often stay together – because they succeed at their tasks.
Stewardship Targeting: Every leader must be able to marshal the time, talent and assets of the company to accomplish the goals of the organization. To the extent they are successful as doing so, they will see significant success.
- Does the leader have the ability to quantify assets well? This means, can they tell you what materials, skills within their team and other resources are available to them to accomplish the task given the team?
- Can they make efficient use of the assets? Do they waste the time of other team members, their own time or other significant resources?
- Can the leader manage several tasks at the same time without losing track of them? Do the workers that co-labor with the leader see them as an effective task manager?
Communication: Every leader must be an effective communicator and engender a frank and steady flow of communication.
- Does the leader keep people who need to be informed “in the loop”? Do the follower FEEL they understand the progress of the project?
- Can the leader tell you the difficult issues impeding progress on the project, based on his listening ear to those who are following?
- Does the leader know when to keep their mouth closed about issues, and when to keep confidences? Discipline in communication is also essential!
- Does the leader process information clearly?
Productivity: Every leader needs to keep people moving ahead with vision casting and produce some growth toward the overall goals of the organization. Progress toward some goals may be hard to see clearly, but some measurable goals must be incorporated to aid the leader and the followers in measuring overall progress.
- Has the organization set up specific and measurable goals by which progress can be measured?
- Is the leader involved in constant evaluation of the progress toward stated goals?
- Does the leader appear to take appropriate and necessary action consistently?
- Are the desired results being achieved in the mind of the leader? his followers? his boss?
Inner Growth: We cannot take people further than we can go. Leaders should be avid learners. Opportunities abound to keep us informed and feed not only the mind, but the world view and “soul”.
- Is the leader involved in any pursuit of learning that will improve his or her abilities in the job? Are they growing in some other area of learning (language study, etc) that may not have anything to do with their current task, but is sharpening their mind.
- Is the leader seeking mentoring relationships, reading in the field of pursuit, etc. ? Do they consistently demonstrate a desire and hunger to grow?
These are not the only measures of leaders, but this is certainly a good place to begin!
