The Results Are In - D'oh!

This is probably rehashing something that you great leaders are already acutely aware of, but I’ve just been reflecting on it for the past couple of days, attempting to “test” my own leadership skills. So I'll spew.

Jack Lowe Jr. (TD) said once that the role of leadership is to serve, and the test is whether people grow. So I’ve been running through my grid over the past couple of days all of the great people that I get to serve, wondering if I have had any impact on them, wondering if in any way they have grown in their ability to lead themselves and others. Are they well able to lead themselves and to serve others as a direct result of how I led and served them.

. . .

Since being in this role for that past 6 years, I’ve “subjectively” (ha!) concluded the following.

That I’ve significantly screwed up about 13 people, and significantly impacted about 20 people. Everyone else fits somewhere between those two points (somewhere around 120, including the key volunteer leaders within my reach).

. . .

They’re coming for me! !

(Meaning those I’m accountable to, and meaning that my record sucks!)

I know this is highly subjective and I’m having a little fun here, but it’s a great thing for me to think about. It drives me towards my staff in new ways every time I reflect on my ability to serve them well. For the past two years I have begun to dream big dreams for the individuals on my staff. Not for the purpose of imposing those dreams on them, but to help me see high value in every person, and to further fuel me in finding creative ways to serve and develop them as individuals.

How about your leadership "test" results?

Leading Change - The Stuff of Leaders

I just finished reading a book called The Extraordinary Leadership by John H. Zenger and Joseph R. Folkman. I found this book challenging on a single front for myself. It caused me to reflect on my past leadership wins and losses. So very many of them were around the issue of change. Leading people in value development, cultural change, exposing and couching teams and individuals in their move from one paradigm to another.


Perhaps the greatest test of a leader is how they lead a team through change. Greatest test or maybe the better word is "indicator" as to a leader's capacity to lead at different levels.

So a great question that the authors through out at me was to ask myself what change lay in front of me that I was working on. Do I have a running list of things that I wish were different in my organization? So I sat down and started writing. I ended up with a very long list! So a quick prioritization helped me focus on a couple of key things I need to lead my teams through. Should be fun!

So how about you? What is the change in front of you that you are working on?