• Do you have a clear Vision for where you and your company is going? (Purpose and your North Star)
• Do you know how you'll get there? (Mission strategy)
• Do you have a process for situational analysis to set tactics along the way?
• Is all of this clear to everyone in your organisation?

• Do you have a framework for setting goals to deliver on your mission?
• Have you linked your long term goals to shorter and medium term goals?
• How have you fostered collaboration across and within your teams. 
• Are they fully engaged?
• Have you established a clear measurement framework?
• Does everyone understand how and why and on what they will be measured?
• Is all the above clearly communicated and re-communicated regularly?

• How do you communicate with your teams?
• Are you too 'command & control" or more "trusting and Inspiring"?
• Does this need to change?
• Do you actively listen? https://hbr.org/2024/01/what-is-active-listening
• Can you improve how you communicate through setting up more team communication sessions / 'town halls' / 'stand ups'?
• Do you understand the power of story telling? If not learn more about why story telling is a powerfull communication mechanism.
• Learn how to engage your audience. Get trained
• Learn the 'power of three'  when communicating whether presenting and or talking to your audience
  • eg 'Brevity, Levity & Repetition'
  • Say it once, twice and a third time'
  • Repeat the above :).
    
    

• Is diversity 'natural' in your organisation? What are you doing to improve diversity?
• Does everyone in your organisation understand why you do what you do?
• Does everyone understand your core focus is on the customer and are there mechanisms in place to connect everyone to your customers?
• How do you encourage collaboration in your company?
• Do you have regular team events to bring everyone together and generate teamwork?
• Does your recruitment policy focus on making sure all hires are a good fit with your core values and not simply functional proficient?

According to the Harvard Business Review, many leaders now define their roles as essentially about coaching.

They developed the following acronym. How do you compare against these principles?

• Care for your Team 
• Organize them into their 'sweet spot'  
• Align them around the organisation's purpose and values 
• Challenge them to reach their full potential 
• Help them reach their goals

https://hbr.org/2022/10/successful-leaders-are-great-coaches

• Have you established your organisational core values?
• Are they clearly communicated and embedded in everything you and your teams do?
• Do you have a framework for recognising when team members exhibit these core values?
• Are they celebrated when they do?
• Are they wrapped into your appraisal processes?

The ability to delegate and be comfortable not micro managing is essential and obvious. However, its always worth checking you are actively delegating enough and effectively.

Check your process.

• Have you devolved real responsibility and accountability?
• Have you made delivery goals clear (FAST goal framework)?
• Have you enabled your teams to be able to achieve delegated tasks with the required level of autonomy, resources and contextual information?
• Have you implemented a clear reporting and communication cadence and structure to assess performance?

• Do you have a firm grasp of how to lead change in your organisation?
• Do you have a framework established to undertake changes required?
• Do you understand the principles and methodolgies of change management?

• Do you know when and how to make important decisions?
• Do you lead by example when tough conflict resolution decisions are needed?
• How do you communicate the decisions you make?
• Do you communicate your decisions in the context of the 'bigger picture'?

To achieve your goals as a leader you need to motivate and inspire others to follow you.

To do this requires just about all the other leadership skills and chacateristics noted, but there are some specific things that will help.

• Do you tend to micro manage? If so back off and let your team take responsibility. Micro manging is a big demotivater. 
• Encourage recognition and do it yourself. 
• Always embed the Why in all aspects of your leasdership communication and processes.
• Encourage 'be an owner' across your teams
• Radiate a positive vibe - even in the face of adversity. This doesnt mean not facing up to problems but framing solutions to address them.
• Be generous with your time and advice
• Have some fun!

Great leaders are human. Being able to relate to others on a human level is an essential skill and a critical goal for leaders to aspire to. 

Empathetic leaders perceive how others may be feeling,

understand that these feelings are real and can and will impact on work, health and wellbeing. Take time and care to help out where you can.  This helps build trust and 'pyschological safety' in the business which engenders engagement, motivation and improved productivity. 

Some skills to consider are:

• Active listening (a core element in communication)
• Putting yourself in someones shoes to truly understand 
• Inquiring about people's 'challenges' and doing something to help 
• Understanding the toll work challenges can have on people
• Self awareness
• Taking time to pause and reflect
• Being honest in your assessment and solutions.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/karadennison/2023/02/24/the-importance-of-empathy-in-leadership-how-to-lead-with-compassion-and-understanding-in-2023/?sh=28263fa559e3

Leaders who trust their teams and empower them to drive forward are far more likley to build successful and sustainable enterprises. 

Trust takes a long time to build, can be lost in a second and forever to repair as the saying goes so there are no easy fixes if trust is an issue in your organsation. However, there are some measures you can take to start building the foundations:

• Are you open in your communications? 
• Are you communicating regularly and always proving context so others always know the 'why'?
• Are you decisive in the actions you take to fix things 
• Do you embody the priciples you expect others to abide by?
• Do you follow through on what you say - Walk the Talk
• Have you initiated a feedback process to capture what others are thinking / feeling?
• Do you assume 'best intentions'  
• Do you 'own up' when you make a mistake

In todays shifting business sands being adaptable to changing circumstances is a vital element of leadership. Being adaptable means leaders can:

• Respond to new situations and provide solutions
• Quickly learn and deploy new frameworks, processes, and technology.
• Exemplify agile problem solving

To be more adaptable:

• 'Come out of you office' and collaborate with more people and teams
• Get involved and volunteer to help and assist in areas of the business which you may know least about. This will open your mind to new ideas, potential challenges and likely solutions
• Stay open minded and not dogmatic in any way
• Be constantly learning and encourage your team to follow suit.

The ability to be personally creative may not be 'natural' to some but if that is the case you need to focus on how you can address this. We are not talking about nuanced design principles or graphical creativity but about how you solve problems through a creative approach. 

Great leaders dont fail they learn. 

Elon Musk says

“In terms of a day-to-day habit, I think being curious about the world and how the world works — curious about everything really … I think curiosity is an extremely important thing to have. And [we need] to be somewhat obsessive about that curiosity. Probably obsessive curiosity is the number one thing,”

The ability, facility and urge to learn is essential for leaders. It drives innovation, critical thinking and change.

Leaders who dont fully embody all thats gone before in this leadership goalscape will struggle to achieve their aim of 'great leadership'.

You have to Walk the Talk, always and everywhere!