This article is inspired by two recent conversations. The first was with one of our consultants. He shared his frustration with leaders who, while clearly appreciating the need for dedicating time to hobbies if they want to see improvement, don’t appear to have the same insight when it comes to leadership. In short, if I want to be a better cyclist or a better pianist, I see the importance of practice. If I want to excel, I may even consider getting a fitness coach or music teacher. Leadership, on the other hand, doesn’t appear to inspire such an obvious need to put in the time and effort to become exceptional.

Perhaps it is too easy to convince myself that I’m an accomplished leader. All I really need is an accomplished team and the rest takes care of itself. If my team is good enough, I don’t really have to have much leadership knowledge or skill at all and I still get the credit – both from others and often from myself. It is certainly harder to convince myself that I’m an above-average cyclist when I can’t ride up a steep hill, or an exceptional pianist when I can’t play a C major scale!

The second conversation took its cue from the first. I asked a client what he felt was the most important skill in differentiating average from exceptional leaders. For him it was clear: the ability to remember and recall detail – from details about business strategy to details about colleagues’ careers and life stories.

While I am not sure I agree 100% with our client, the conversation did start me thinking. At Legitimate Leadership we often reference the primary role of intent or motive in leadership. We even have assessment tools to diagnose how others perceive our intent. But how do leaders know whether they are good or not from an ABILITY point of view? Perhaps the simple self-assessment below will be helpful.

Have you developed the necessary skills required to …

While I recognise that the above list is not exhaustive, it hopefully gives a good sense of the wide range of skills that effective leaders must develop if they are to be able to deal with diverse situations appropriately. In my experience, the common-or-garden one-off conversation is far too frequently employed in place of carefully-planned feedback, a well-considered empowerment intervention, or a methodical approach to raising standards.

That said, none of the above skills is outside the reach of well-intentioned, thoughtful leaders. We simply need to make the choice to deepen our skills and invest the time and energy to improve a little every day.