Being a good leader in the workplace is no easy feat. Every day is busy and full of challenges. It’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of everyday management tasks and let leadership style fall by the wayside sometimes. However, as a boss, it’s important that you don’t let this happen, as your employees are counting on you. LEADERS set the standards required of a culture. Your leadership style indicates what’s considered appropriate behavior in your organization, and that your company’s culture will moderate itself based on what you endorse both formally and informally.
So how do you know a good or if you are a good boss? This quiz will help you evaluate your leadership skills. Answer true or false to the following 20 questions, and see how your management skills add up.
1. I am approachable. Employees can ask me anything without fear of rebuke or belittlement, and I listen to them with full attention.
2. I am credible as a leader. I know my stuff.
3. I am able to explain the need for change in our business in a way that interests or encourages my employees and doesn’t dishearten them.
4. I am able to explain the wider context of situations and circumstances that affect or challenge our company in a way that my team can understand.
5. I am able to identify where my team needs to grow and/or develop skill sets and capabilities, and can find the necessary resources to facilitate this growth.
6. I am inspired by my work and the work of my team.
7. I believe in my employees.
8. I can explain to my team our key value proposition for customers in one short sentence.
9. I constantly remind myself and my team of the purpose of our work and why we are doing what we do (e.g., for customer results, customer service or to hit sales targets.)
10. I do not judge my staff based on who I am, but rather on who they could be and should be.
11. I have an up-to-date understanding of our customers’ needs and expectations of us, and their perception of us as an organization.
12. I have communicated clearly and repeatedly to people on my team or department what our core business is.
13. I have communicated clearly and repeatedly to people in my team or department what my expectations of them are.
14. I know and live by my own set of personal values that make me reliable and consistent around my team.
15. I never lose my temper with staff.
16. I personally embody the company values in everything I think, say and do in the workplace.
17. I provide an organized formal performance review process at least twice a year with my people.
18. I provide regular informal feedback on people’s efforts and performance.
19. I regularly praise employees’ efforts and behaviors by describing how they reflect our company or team values.
20. I understand and know our company values, and how our collective behavior reflects or violates these values.
The more you answered true, the closer you are to being a good boss. If you have scored 15 or more statements as true for you, you are well positioned as an effective and inspiring leader. If you have scored 10 to 15 statements as true for you, you must begin work on the oversights immediately in order to become an effective leader. If you have scored less than 10 statements as true for you, seek support or training and development, as you are currently missing many of the vital components required to be an effective leader.
