The Leadership Challenge

You are a business owner that continues to thrust ahead and grow your company. It is time to take stock of your Leadership Skills.

There continues to be lots of advice on how to be a good leader. Despite all of the great advice, how are your leadership skills? Would you describe yourself as an outstanding leader? If so, why? If not, what is missing?

To help you assess your leadership capabilities, I have developed a leadership assessment tool that you will find useful. The critical question is not so much "am I a leader?" but rather, "how can I improve my leadership skills?" The assessment is only part of the process - what you do about it is the most important.

Look at each of leadership characteristics listed below and think about yourself and where your own attitudes and behaviours fall on the five-part scale shown. Circle the score that best indicates your level of development. Then total the scores and compare your score with the comments provided at the end of this assessment.

Self-evaluation requires that you be brutally honest with yourself. The only right answers are honest answers. I understand that it is difficult for most people to be objective about themselves so you might want to see yourself through the eyes of a trusted friend or associate. Score yourself the way he or she would score you. Remember, you are looking for information to guide your own self-improvement. The more objective you can be, the more successful will be your efforts to improve.

The Leadership Tool™ by the Burns Innovation Group Inc (PDF File 66KB).

Now that you have performed your self-evaluation, what do you think others would say about you? Why not have them complete the evaluation on you. Compare their evaluation to your own. What differences are there? Why? What did you think you were strong in but they didn't? What did they think you are strong in but you rated yourself lower? Be prepared to be vulnerable - some feedback can be brutal so be prepared.

Assuming that you have areas to improve upon, give some thought to implementing the following action items:

• Work with another business leader, someone that you trust who will hold you accountable to improve your areas of weakness. You could also consider using a leadership coach.
• Start working on your leadership skills by utilizing the following resources:
• Practice What You Preach (www.davidmaister.com). Practicing what we preach as leaders may be the most critical element of leadership.
• Leader to Leader Institute (www.pfdf.org), formerly the Drucker Institute, is a website rich with leadership resources.
• Servant Leadership (www.greenleaf.org). Servant-Leadership is a practical philosophy which supports people who choose to serve first, and then lead as a way of expanding service to individuals and institutions.
• Executive Thinking - The Dream, The Vision, The Mission Achieved (www.kossoff.com/executivethinking.html)
  Management Consultant Leslie Kossoff's second book invites Executives to dare to dream and challenges them to take the actions necessary to align their organizations with their dreams.

If you have excellent leadership skills, I would encourage you to seek out opportunities to mentor other business leaders. If you need help in this area, I would encourage you to seek out those that you respect to become your mentor. I envision the day when Kelowna will have an informal leadership mentoring program of its own. Perhaps the idea is missing one thing - your leadership skills to make it happen!

Steve Burns, CA, CMC, CFP, is the President and CEO of Burns Innovation Group Inc. (www.burnsinnovation.com) and Steve Burns Inc. Chartered Accountant (www.steveburns.ca), which provide consulting and accounting services to entrepreneurs. You can reach Steve at 763-4716

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