When establishing your credibility as a team leader, what you do, more than what you say, plays a big part. Find out what your actions say about you. For each of the following ten leadership qualities, give yourself a frequency score:
4 = quite often
3 = some of the time
2 = occasionally
1 = seldom
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I am on time for meetings, my own and those called by others.
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I do quality work in my technical area and meet deadlines with it.
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I see plans and projects through from start to completion.
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I stay calm under challenging and stressful situations.
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I deal with problems in a responsive and solutions-oriented fashion.
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I follow through and do what I said I would do.
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I listen to and seek to understand viewpoints different from my own.
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I openly communicate and keep others informed.
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I take initiative to get work done or tackle problems.
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I function collaboratively with others in working through issues.
Add up your score and see where you stand:
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33 and above: You lead by positive example.
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26 to 32: You show flashes of setting a positive leadership example but need to be more consistent.
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Below 26: You have a lot of work to do to become an effective team leader who functions as a coach.
All the behaviors listed on the leadership inventory are exactly what you’d expect from your team members:
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Producing good work
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Listening and communicating constructively
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Helping to solve problems
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Meeting commitments
As a manager, you can assert leadership influence through the authority of your position (positional influence) or through the character you show as demonstrated by your behaviors (personal influence). Employees tend to follow and want to work with managers they respect and care about most — those with a positive personal influence.