Jill Geisler: 10 ways to tell if you’re a successful leader

Wouldn’t you like to know — with certainty — that your team truly values the way you lead and manage? It can be hard to determine. Your organization may conduct engagement surveys, but even those might not give you a clear answer. Engagement scores can be affected by economic downturns or corporate changes beyond your control. One lone curmudgeon on a team can bring down an average score.

Managers who don’t have the benefit of survey insights may just hope for the best, assume a lack of complaints means things are okay and cherish the occasional compliment from a staffer.

But what if you wanted a better read on your success as a leader? I think I can help. From working with many teams and supervisors, I’ve identified the following 10 telltale signs that managers are doing something right. See if you spot yourself in this list:

1. People tell you about their mistakes. This is a clear signal that you’re known for exploring rather than exploding when employees mess up. You make sure you know the whole story, and together you determine how to keep the error from happening again. Your staff may fear letting you down, but they don’t fear you will excoriate or publicly humiliate them. They know you hold people accountable — calmly and fairly.
2. People tell you about your mistakes. Criticizing the boss isn’t easy. But you’ve let people know that you want their feedback. Even though you project self-confidence, you also tell them you’re not infallible. You want to be as accountable as everyone else, so there’s no risk in letting you know if you slipped up. You know when to apologize and when to thank people for their candor.
3. You have a story to tell about a shared experience with each of your direct reports. This is a sign you aren’t an absentee leader. You’ve made important contacts and connections with your team members. The stories you tell might be about something you learned from them or discovered about them, memories from a shared project or conversations about a mutual interest outside of work. The point is that you can speak to them and about them as individuals, not just faces in your crowd.
4. An outsider observing you and your team could accurately describe your culture. That culture is both apparent and appealing (as in collaborative, innovative, inclusive, low-stress, respectful, high-performing, entrepreneurial or family-friendly). The culture’s values show up in the behaviors of your staff in an environment you’ve nurtured. An observer can see it in how your meetings play out, how people communicate, how they express and resolve differences and how well they understand everyone’s roles and responsibilities and the team’s priorities.
5. You can listen to your team members discuss an issue and not feel compelled to immediately jump in with your solution. In fact, you enjoy hearing their process play out. This is a mark of a successful leader. You’re not driven to be the source of all wisdom and the premier problem-solver. You hire and promote for skills and values, so you’re comfortable giving people space to figure things out. They know that they’re welcome to ask for your input at any point, especially if things get sticky — and you’ll gladly help.
6. People refer their friends to your organization when jobs are open. What better tribute to a leader and team than to have the staff be your best recruiters? This was one of my hiring secrets. After interviewing promising job candidates, I’d turn them loose to independently chat with any staffer to find out what it’s really like to work here. When you can be confident that the staff’s views of the working conditions are aligned with yours (and, they’re positive!), you know you’re doing something right.
7. You walk around the workplace, and no one jumps to attention, worries that something’s wrong or feels they are being micromanaged. You are a welcome and unsurprising sight because you don’t stay holed away in your office. You make it a point to see what’s happening on the front lines, and you take care to respect their busiest times and deadlines. Folks are happy to get extra face time with you. Those chats may be professional or personal. You can sense when people need more than a casual conversation, and you invite folks to private follow-up meetings.
8. When you praise people, they often give credit to others on the team. They naturally share the spotlight because you have made collaboration a signature value on your team. People don’t feel they must compete with coworkers to prove their worth to you. They know that their evaluations are based on their skills and expertise, but also on their collegiality and cooperation.
9. There’s a lot of laughter on your team. It’s clean and not mean. People genuinely have fun at work and enjoy each other’s company. And while you are treated with respect as a leader, even you can sometimes be the butt of good-natured jokes. (To your face, not behind your back.) That’s how comfortable people are with you.
10. You can look out your door and see potential successors. Great bosses aren’t afraid to hire people smarter than they are. They identify deputies and high-potential team members to whom they delegate meaningful responsibilities. The best leaders set people up for success. They are likely to hear from staff, “You believed in me even before I believed in myself.”

How did you do? Did some of these hit the mark for you?

If you’re still hungry for more direct feedback on your leadership, here’s a simple and straightforward question you could ask your direct reports: “Is there anything you need more of or less of from me?”

It’s less of a request for an evaluation and more of a conversation about goals and needs. Some people won’t have an instant reply. Let them think about it and check back with you. You’re giving them a chance to identify specific resources you can provide, problems you can solve and even behaviors of yours that might need an adjustment.

You’re also telling them they matter to you. That’s what good leaders do.