25 Great Leadership Questions to Ask Yourself

How great are you as a leader? In all circumstances, your ability to be a great leader will dictate your success as well as your team’s success. Ask yourself these 25 great leadership questions and for each question you answer ‘Yes’ to, think about how you demonstrated the skills to mirror that particular trait.

By Catherine Adenle

No one should underestimate the power of a great leader. We hear every day that great leaders seamlessly make the impossible seem possible. This explains why most organizations go to great lengths to seek out great leaders.

Some think leaders are born and others think they are developed. However, I think it is a little bit of both. Nevertheless, I am of the opinion that anyone can work to improve their leadership skill set in order to become great at leading.

As rightly written by Marcus Buckingham, in his best-selling book “The One Thing You Need to Know: …About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success, “To be a great leader, you must find what’s universal, and capitalize on it.”

The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant. —Max DePree

So, do you know what’s universal to your staff and organization? How great are you as a leader. Your views or perception of your leadership skills may not be the same as held by your team or group. Consequently, it’s imperative that you ask yourself these 25 great leadership questions. These great leadership questions will help you to know how great you are as a leader.

25 Great Leadership Questions

First and foremost, let’s cut through some expected great leadership traits as highlighted in our article; Have the 8 Most Critical Skills to Ride Your Career Wave to the Max? Great leaders must be good role models as leadership success requires real effort and the ability to drive any change should distinguish great leaders. Just as well, great leaders must know that they are nothing without their people. People can make or break a leader. Thus, great leaders treat people well and earn their trust.

Above all, great leaders are self-aware and to be self-aware, you have to be willing to answer these tough 25 great leadership questions and for the questions you answered ‘Yes’ to, think back and recollect the times when you executed each of the leadership behaviours or traits to mirror your answer. For the questions you answered ‘No’ to, it’s never too late to work on the skills that will guide you in order to facilitate the traits repeatedly until it’s embedded into your leadership style.

1. Do I hold myself accountable before holding anyone else accountable?
2. Have I readily admitted to a mistake I have made in the past in front of my team?
3. Do I highlight several strengths or skills I see in another person and tell them?
4. Do I always treat my staff and others respectfully?
5. Do I help my team and others to win and learn new skills?
6. Do I show empathy and compassion to others?
7. Do I listen to different views from my staff and take the views into account when making important decisions that will affect them?
8. Do I believe that inclusion and delegation, together, are the essence of shared governance?
9. Do I place myself beside my team and not above them by considering them as my colleagues in the truest sense of that term?
10. Am I scrupulously honest in all of my dealings? However, if the situation warrants it, do I simply say, “I can’t comment on that right now?”

11. When it comes to it and when all is said and done, can I be counted on to do what I believe is right and best for all concerned, even if it is unpopular in some quarters?
12. Do I actively pursue and encourage continuous improvement for myself, my team’s processes and tasks?
13. Do I usually focus more on ‘people’ and not just concentrate and talk about ‘numbers’ most of the time?
14. Do I encourage, promote change and be a change agent?
15. Do I keep business performance and expectations independent of any personal relationship as business is business and personal is personal?
16. Am I willing to take risks and remain bold in my actions?
17. Do I always give credit to those I work with or who work with me once they do a good job?
18. Do I bring up and engage in a difficult subject or conversation?
19. Have I clearly defined a goal or common purpose and supported its achievement?
20. Do I plan, strategize and make decisions that build a team and not an individual?
21. Do I build trust by offering to trust people first before expecting trust to be earned?
22. Can I choose to promote someone else’s idea over my own?
23. Do I regularly review and recap my team’s progress and accomplishments?
24. Do I usually have the courage to say ‘No’ to unimportant time-wasting requests?
25. Usually, do I stay calm and control my emotional outbreaks in all situations?

I could go on and add a hundred more leadership questions to these 25 great leadership questions, but I’m interested in hearing what you have to say regarding the qualities of a great leader as you see them in yourself. These 25 great leadership questions above are just some of the questions to reveal the traits needed for you to be a great leader.

Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others. —Jack Welch

See Top 10 Qualities That Make A Great Leader

In all circumstances, your ability to be a great leader will dictate your success as well as your team’s success. Your ability to navigate the complexity that exists in modern day organizations with clarity, courage and integrity will propel you to a great leadership position.

See Leadership Characteristics

Are there any other great leadership questions that you can share with us? Let’s hear from you by adding your comments below.