Oftentimes, leaders fall into the trap of scoring themselves based on their own experience–a skewed perception, Dave Anderson would argue. In today’s episode of Lessons in Leadership, he reveals how leaders can more accurately judge their success and uncover their true score.
Many leaders will assess their performance using the following metrics:
- How long they’ve been in the role
- What they used to do
- Credentials and awards they’ve received
- What they’ve been through
But according to Anderson, these measures don’t truly reflect a leader’s effectiveness. The true score, he says, lies in the performance of the team and whether or not that team is growing under the leader’s guidance.
At its core, leadership is about developing people and leading them toward success. Anderson challenges leaders to ask themselves honestly: “Is my team consistently improving on my watch?“
If the answer is no, the leader is not fulfilling their primary responsibility. Leaders have two choices: help their team improve or get better people.
According to the law of attraction, individuals tend to attract what they are, not what they want. Through the lens of leadership, leaders will often attract team members who operate just a bit below their level. This is why leaders must continue investing in their growth so that they can attract higher-tier talent.
Credentials and experience don’t matter if a leader can’t grow their team. If there’s no progress, the stagnation directly reflects their leadership.
No matter how much knowledge a leader has acquired or how many management courses they’ve attended, if they fail to apply what they know, model it, and teach it to others, their score isn’t likely as high as they thought.
"Remember the law of attraction. You don't attract what you want, you attract what you are. On a scale of one to ten, if you're a six, you're not going to naturally be attracting eights, nines, and tens. You're going to attract threes, fours, and fives." – Dave Anderson
