Leaders need a sense of themselves and their strengths and weaknesses in order to develop effectively. This may not always be possible. Ideally we would spend time with our manager in a 360 environment discussing detailed improvement areas.
Time constraints may not make this possible so it becomes realistic to conduct an informal 360 from time to time as a sense check of where you are and what you need to focus on.
Ask those around you (bosses, colleagues, friends):
1) What are my strengths? have the people you ask identify specific traits (showing integrity, problem solving etc)
2) What are my fatal flaws? ask people to highlight any traits that could de-rail your career or lead you to fail in your current job
3) Which of my strengths is most important to my company? Identify which of your leadership abilities if you were truly outstanding would have the biggest impact on your organisation (for example, you may be good at both motivation and innovation but the business requires more inspiring leaders than idea generators
4) Which of my strengths is most important to you? Have each person tell you what they value most about you.
The key to asking these questions is to be receptive
to the
feedback, even when it's negative and don't forget to create a sense of safety
around the process, especially if you are the boss.
The benefits will be two fold. This process shows you a path ahead for your development and also shows your colleagues you are working on your leadership skills.
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