Time and again when I speak with successful leaders I am reminded that one of their greatest strengths is their devotion to regular self-reflection.
Their courage to face the truths about their thoughts, expressions, decisions and actions, plus their desire to always improve themselves leads directly to their higher performance.
Here is a non-exhaustive list of daily self-reflection questions leaders can ask themselves. It’s a useful idea to record these in your private leader’s journal.
- What have I achieved today?
- What did I intend to achieve today but didn’t?
- What should I do about that?
- What did I do today that worked really well?
- What did I do today that didn’t work?
- What should I do about that?
- Where did I model our values today that could be noticed by others?
- In what way have I breached our values today?
- What do I need to do about that?
- Have I engaged effectively with my direct reports today?
- Who do I need to spend more time with?
- What have I done today to remind us of our vision and purpose?
- What have I avoided today?
- Why did I avoid them?
- What do I need to improve in my leadership?
- What will I do about that?
- What one big thing can I influence, so that a major improvement will take place?
- Have I demonstrated today that I value and care for our people?
- What must I do tomorrow to rectify any of the items I’ve listed above?
What other self-reflection questions could be added to this list?
