Developing Your Personal Leadership Philosophy

7 Important Questions To Ask Yourself When Developing, Reviewing or Fine-Tuning Your Personal Leadership Philosophy 

Great leaders know and understand their beliefs, values and personal rules of leadership. Your personal leadership philosophy drives the workplace environment and climates of the teams you lead.

No single leadership philosophy can be viable for everyone. Each leader is faced with different circumstances, brings different backgrounds to their leadership position and leads widely different teams of people. Hence you have to figure out what the right leadership philosophy and mindset is for you.

Stop and ask yourself, “What is your personal leadership philosophy?” When was the last time you paused and seriously gave this question sufficient reflection? If it has been awhile, read our article on why it is important to have a written leadership philosophy. You will find the article, and others, under the Resources Tab on our company website at www.CalienteLeadership.com.

There are seven sets of questions to ask yourself in developing, reviewing or fine-tuning your personal leadership philosophy:

1. What is the primary focus of your leadership beliefs — results, people, both? Why?
2. What do you want to accomplish in your current leadership role and as your career advances? Why?
3. How would you like others to describe your leadership style and behaviors? With what specific words and terms?
4. What do you expect from those you lead? How will you demonstrate and communicate this?
5. What level of control makes you comfortable? What level of delegation makes you comfortable? Why?
6. How do you view the mistakes of others? Of yourself? Why?
7. What are your personal rules of leadership? Are these written down? Are these rigid or flexible?

For your reference, I have shared my personal rules of great leadership in the appendix in my book 8 Keys To Becoming A Great Leader. These are instrumental components of my personal leadership philosophy. If you would like a PDF copy of these rules, send me an email ([email protected]) and I will be glad to share these with you.

This blog post is excerpted from the book 8 Keys To Becoming A Great Leader, available now at Amazon in Kindle ($3.98) and paperback ($6.38) formats.