6 Ways to Tell If You’re a Great Leader

All successful leaders, from front-line supervisors to senior executives, constantly want to know if their leadership style is effective. Great leaders are humble enough to know it might not be, empathetic enough to care and driven enough to make adjustments so that it does.

After spending 15 years in leadership and evaluating the effectiveness of leaders at all different levels, I’ve learned there are a few litmus tests that always give great leadership away. Under great leadership, here’s what you’ll notice.

1. People are engaged

There are hundreds of ways to measure engagement, so I’ll just tackle a few. When leadership is working, people are happy. They want to come to work, and they do. Teams with strong leadership have lower attrition and vacancy rates than teams that don’t. There’s truth in the cliché, “People don’t leave their company, they leave their boss.”

Under strong leadership, people aren’t just happy to show up and do their jobs; they’re also highly engaged. They participate and ask questions in group meetings, town halls and open forums. Silence in these settings is a dangerous sign that something is wrong. When people don’t readily share their thoughts and opinions, it’s usually because they don’t feel secure and safe to do so, or they don’t believe anyone is truly listening.

When people are willing to speak their mind, it’s a sign they’re paying attention to what’s going on and care about the outcomes. In environments where there’s great leadership, this engagement also happens proactively. When people have been led well, they don’t reactively wait to be asked to contribute or step up — they willingly volunteer, all on their own.

Related: This Is the One Question I Ask My Team Every Week That Transformed Our Performance

2. People advance and/or change roles

Great leadership can also be measured by the amount of growth and development occurring. For years, as a leader, I didn’t just list my own accomplishments on my resume — I listed the accomplishments of my team. I knew the specific number of direct (and indirect) reports that had been promoted into more senior or complex roles underneath me. They had been selected for advancement because they’d been well-trained, grown and developed.

Under great leadership, employees invest in their futures by going back to school, getting certifications and earning promotions. You’ll find people on development plans and able to articulate what they’d like to do next or what they’re working towards. When that’s happening consistently, it’s because strong leadership has encouraged it.

3. People spend time together

In situations where leadership is poor, people move into silos and stay there. They don’t regularly (and willingly) collaborate. They don’t invite other groups or teams into brainstorming sessions to solve problems together. Rather, they deal with things in a vacuum. If people are frequently by themselves — in their offices with the door closed, eating alone and skipping out on key events — that’s a bad sign. Under great leadership, people join ERGs and go beyond the confines of their regular jobs to get involved and take on more.

4. People speak differently

Under great leadership, people literally talk differently. That’s because they’ve learned to think differently. First, their language gives away a win-win mentality. Under great leaders, people will use words like “we” or “our” versus “me,” “I” or “my.” That’s because great leaders encourage people to think globally, not locally. Under great leaders, people see themselves as part of a bigger picture. Thus, individuals don’t see clients or goals as solely their own, but rather, the organization’s.

Great leaders also take accountability and keep their commitments, so others do the same. Under great leaders, people don’t reschedule their priorities, cancel meetings or miss deadlines. They don’t feel powerless, incapable or unsure of their ability to control their own success. So instead of saying things like, “I’ll try,” they say, “I will.” Then, they consistently follow through.

5. People innovate and fail

Under poor leadership, people are afraid to try new things for fear of making a mistake. They often feel they must be perfect and fear they’ll be punished for getting it “wrong.” Under great leaders, people will routinely experiment and try things that have never been done. They’re confident and courageous enough to know that if they fail, it’ll just be a learning experience and they’ll grow stronger as a result. They don’t have their identities wrapped up in perfection and this allows them to be more creative than teams under poor leadership, that focus live in the past, doing things as they’ve always been done.

Related: How This Crucial Leadership Style Will Increase Your Employee Retention

6. People deliver results

Great leaders always get performance. They focus on behaviors because they know they can control those. But they also ensure those actions lead to results. Teams that struggle to deliver results and perform well, especially over time, have lousy leaders. That’s because great leaders practice what I call PDCA: plan, do, check and adjust. They take action, evaluate and shift course if things aren’t working. They don’t accept the status quo. Rather, they work hard to improve things. As Michelangelo said, “No problem can stand the assault of sustained thinking.” Good leaders know this, so even though they may periodically stumble or hit a roadblock, they figure out a way around. They also teach others to do this. In general, if you’ve got a team of people scoring low on their annual performance reviews and unable to meet their own key objectives, you’ve likely got a leadership problem. Under great leadership, not only does the whole team perform as a collective, but people perform individually, too.

Over time, if you observe a team and notice these six things in place, you likely have strong, effective leadership at the helm. In instances where these things are not present, there’s no doubt that it starts with the leader. If you want to know if your own leadership style is working, check for these signs (or ask someone unbiased to give you their opinion). Self-awareness is where progression can begin.