There are hundreds of assessments for leaders. The content and quality of these assessments vary greatly. You can spend a lot of time and money taking surveys to tell you the quality of your leadership.
There are a few leading indicators that can be used to give a pretty good picture of the overall quality of your leadership. These are not good for diagnosing problems or specifying corrective action, but they can tell you where you stand quickly. Here is one of my favorite measures.
Generates Passion
Great leaders are not only passionate people, but they have an uncanny way of igniting the entire population with that passion. This is a real gift.
Note that in the current times of many people working remotely, it is far more difficult to generate new passion. It requires extra effort to communicate more and more often. Enthusiasm and passion are easier to spread when you can be with people in person or one on one.
I believe most leadership skills can be learned, but the ability to spread one’s passion to others is different. Passion has to be genuine. Passion comes from within, and the key is to let it out and show it. Speakers, classes, and books can inspire passion, but you have to find your own authentic way to communicate it.
Most people do have the seed of passion in their DNA. They just need to hone their communication skills so they are optimized and available.
So, how does a leader develop this skill? One way is through a great mentor or a role model. If you do not have any charismatic leaders in your organization that can teach you this skill, I recommend you go online and look up some of the great people from history or present who are particularly good at spreading passion.
I think of people like Zig Zigler, Earl Nightingale, Warren Bennis, Napoleon Hill, Lou Holtz, or Vince Lombardi. There are literally hundreds of great role models, and they all have content on the internet or in programs that can be purchased or just viewed at no cost on YouTube.
You can find enough material to keep you learning about spreading passion for years. I know because I have most of the programs or DVDs with their content and listen to them often. I have memorized the key points and seek to apply them in my life.
For more contemporary content, you might tap into the daily blog of Seth Goden, or the weekly articles by Gary Burnison of Korn Ferry. Look around and find a few favorite authors who tend to inspire you and subscribe to their periodic publications on the internet.
Passion is closely aligned with the sense of ownership and buy-in. If you can get people to recognize the quality of their life is really more in their own hands than they realize, you are on the right track.
Teach people to reject being victims and take control of their situation. Once that is accomplished, it is easy to generate passion, because passion is all about an intense desire to achieve something. It will improve the quality of one’s life.
Bob Whipple is CEO of Leadergrow Inc., a company dedicated to growing leaders. He speaks and conducts seminars on building trust in organizations.