“Robin, now that we’ve defined the KPI’s that drive the business, I have confidence that the numbers tell me exactly how we are performing,” Sean, the CEO of his business, said. “I wish I had the same for my leadership performance.”

This Week’s Edition

Don’t question your leadership efficacy any longer. Get the data you need to evaluate your own leadership performance.

Clarify Your Thinking

“I wish I had a set of metrics or a dashboard that told me how well I’m performing as a leader,” Sean said. “I would like to silence this voice in my head that is questioning how I am actually doing.” 

Leadership efficacy is hard to quantify. Leaders often wonder how their stock is peforming? Is it a bull market or a bear market? 

Sean went on to share, “sometimes I feel like I am doing a good job. Other times I know I’m not. The rest of the time, I just don’t know.”

Because leaders are busy executing & running their business, they have little time to answer open questions about their leadership performance. Absent a dashboard of quantifiable metrics, leaders just live with this open question about their performance perpetually running in the background. 

Old Thinking: I’m not sure how I am doing as a leader. This causes me to question myself almost every day even though I think I can muster the energy to move forward, but I find myself just hoping for the best. 

New Thinking: If I am missing key information about my performance as a leader, I should go get that information. 

Thoughts Lead to Actions

Sean asked, “Robin, what do I do? How do I get the data about my leadership?”

“Just ask them,” I offered.

“Ask who?” 

“Your team,” I said. 

The information you need to evaluate your leadership is right in front of you. Ask your team how well you are doing as a leader. 

This might frighten some of you for a few reasons:

• I don’t know what they are going to say.

• I know exactly what they are going to say.

• I’m not prepared to change the way I am leading.

If you don’t care about how well you are leading or are unwilling to change, stop reading and repurpose your time. 

If you do care, then go get the information. Ask your team for feedback. They won’t bite. It’ll take courage and humility.

Set a time to meet with your team member individually and follow these three steps:

Step 1: Let them know the topic of the meeting in advance. Ask them to think through the question you will ask: How am I doing as your leader?

Step 2: At the meeting, ask them: How am I doing as your leader?

• What would you like me to do more of?

• What would you like me to do less of?

• What would you like me to do differently?

Step 3: Conclude the meeting by asking: 

• How would you like to be led?

After these meeting, you will have the information you need. Use your Leadership Thinking Time to ponder their input. Make the changes that need to be made. Follow up with a thank you and any update you want share given their feedback. 

Boost Your Performance

Watch this week’s video to hear another story about a leader who realized the power of asking their team for feedback on their leadership. 

What’s Your Opinion?

What do you need to do to pursue simple? Share it with me at robin.pou@robinpou.com. 

If you are going to be a leader, you might as well be a good one. Don’t let doubt count you out. Have a confident week!

Robin Pou, Chief Advisor and Strategist

We live to make bad leadership extinct so forward this newsletter to others who strive to be confident leaders. 

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What is “The Confident Leader”?

During the Covid-19 Pandemic, I began a video series called “Panic or Plan?” It was designed to equip leaders to navigate the doubt they experienced and to rise in the confidence they needed to lead during turbulent times. It took off. I then started this newsletter to equip leaders in the same fashion each week for the doubt that crashes across the bow of their leaderSHIP.