The most accurate scorecard on your leadership is the result it achieves. However, over my career and my personal lifelong journey of learning, I have created a personal list on how to evaluate yourself as a leader, at an ongoing bases. How do you measure up against it?

1. A leader is a person of hope.
   Your team will only follow you if they believe in you and your ability to navigate the business through calm and chaotic waters. You may “dip” on occasion, and show some hesitancy – you are human – but you must bounce back quickly with optimism for the future.
2. A leader is a simplifier.
   They are the person who sums up a complex issue or situation with conciseness and clarity; no word is wasted. The path forward is suddenly clearer to the team. This ability also gives hope as it suddenly unleashes the team to find their way forward.
3. A leader has a burning ambition to make a difference; they have a clear purpose.
   No leader should be in the role to achieve status quo. Leadership is a privilege and comes with the responsibility to make positive change. Great leaders embrace this and drive hard every day.
4. A leader is a role model and understand their leadership shadow.
   People leave companies if they do not respect their leaders. They think “do I need to be like that to be successful here?” If their answer is no; they depart.
5. A leader is a passionate life-long learner.
   The world evolves constantly; business continues to change at breakneck speeds. To stay ahead as a leader, you cannot stop learning. The concept of reverse mentoring, learning from young leaders, is a powerful approach to stay current.
6. A leader has the confidence to lead and has natural humility.
   A critical role for the leader is to confidently make decisions, even when there is insufficient information and ambiguity.  However, this confidence should never be confused with arrogance.  A great leader understands the risks, and accepts them.
7. A leader does not make decisions for others.
   Your team will rise to what is expected of them. If they are not provided the space to grow because you micromanage them, then that becomes their ceiling.
8. A leader speaks last.
   The moment you provide your point of view, you have put a stake in the ground and influenced everyone around the table.  You may have a team that has confidence to debate with you, however, some of the team will be reticent to engage in a debate. Disagreeing with the boss has never been a recipe for promotion.
9. A leader knows when it is time to leave.
   A great leader said to me about company functions once “nothing good happens after 9pm”. Maybe that is a bit early, so let us say “after 10pm”.  On a similar note, know when it is time for fresh legs and fresh ideas to come in as the leader of the business.

Impactful Leadership can help you on your journey to master your leadership.

Note: These ideas are those learnt through experience as an executive leader for over 30 years, as well as learnt through observing other leaders, and from reading great books from authors such as Jim Collins. A few of the above are mentioned in his books (Good to Great; Built to Last).

Image credit: iStock.com/gorodenkoff