Questions for the person in the Mirror

I recently read an excellent book by Robert S Kaplan, entitled “What to Ask the Person in the Mirror: Critical Questions for Becoming a More Effective Leader and Reaching your Potential”.
The book immediately became my favourite on leadership, and I believe it will become a classic on the subject. It is full of advice upon which action can be taken to help us to grow, to overcome our shortcomings and to become more effective leaders.
To clarify, it is not the same Robert S Kaplan who co-created the balanced scorecard method with David P Norton. By coincidence, both Kaplans are professors at Harvard Business School.
In the introduction of his book, Kaplan states:  “Good leadership is not about having all the answers – it is, more often, about having the courage to ask the critical questions.” The book challenges the reader to reflect on him or herself, and this requires courage and honesty. The fact is that the higher you climb in the hierarchy and the more senior you become as an executive, the more challenging it becomes to maintain an accurate and realistic self-perception.
Kaplan provides a valuable framework, including seven vital areas for inquiry:
--1. Vision and priorities
Critical questions:
-Have you developed a clear vision for your enterprise?
-Have you identified three to five key priorities to achieve that vision?
-Do you actively communicate this vision and its associated key priorities to your organisation?
I used to hold presentations about vision and strategy in my previous company, and I always showed a chart that read: “If you don’t know where you are going, any path will take you there.” Kaplan’s message in the book is similar: “If you know where you are going, it’s a lot easier to get there.”
The development of a vision is a crucial process in a company, and it should not involve only the chief executive. A modern vision should not only address the interests of the shareholders, but also take care of the needs of employees, customers and society. A clear vision provides guidance to all employees and can be a powerful motivator.
The vision must be complemented by three to five top priorities that are critical for achieving it, and the corresponding metrics for those key priorities.
Vision, strategy, and top priorities must be communicated frequently and deeply, not only by the chief executive, but by all managers. No matter how often you communicate, you can hardly over-communicate these messages. Too often, the communication needs of your people are not met.
--2. Managing your time
Critical questions:
-Do you know how you spend your time?
-Does it match your key priorities?
Make sure that you are spending your time on vital tasks relevant to the implementation of your vision and your strategy. Be aware that your time allocations as a leader send an important message to your coworkers regarding what activities are truly valued in your company. Therefore, it is crucial that you plan, track and assess your time.
While reading the book, I recalled a positive and a negative example of myself. In my previous company, attracting, developing and retaining top talent was a key priority. So I spent a considerable amount of time in these fields. For example, I devoted a lot of my time to interviews, assessment centres and other human-resources related activities.
However, I fell into a trap described in section in the book. At one stage, I had up to 20 subordinates, and of course there was no way I could have led, managed and coached them all effectively.
--3. Giving and taking feedback
Critical questions:
-Do you coach and actively develop your key people?
-Is your feedback specific, timely and able to be acted upon?
-Do you solicit feedback from your key subordinates upon which you can act?
-Do you cultivate advisers who are able to confront you with criticisms that you may not want to hear?
Kaplan makes the point that effective leaders coach their people and actively seek coaching themselves. Giving and getting feedback is a difficult and time-intensive process. At the same time, feedback is a critical vehicle for reinforcing priorities and creating alignment to achieve the employees’ and the company’s goals.
Kaplan states that, in many companies, giving feedback is concentrated in the year-end review. This doesn’t give employees adequate time to take actions that will influence their compensation, review ratings and promotion prospects.
He says that in the most successful enterprises, there is a culture of learning, in which all professionals, regardless of level, are doing their best to improve and to reach their potential. A mind that is open to learning, adapting, and hearing constructive feedback, is essential to this learning culture.
--4. Succession planning and delegation
Critical questions:
-Do you have a succession-planning process for key positions?
-Have you identified potential successors for your job? If not, what is stopping you?
-Do you delegate sufficiently?
-Have you become a decision-making bottleneck?
An essential responsibility of an outstanding leader is to develop potential successors for vital positions, including his or her own. You must meet this challenge.
Dominant leaders need to realise that their subordinates may not do tasks as well as them – but that doesn’t mean that they won’t do them quite effectively. Allowing them to do so will train them, build your bench and free you to focus on tasks critical for your company.
Also be aware that there are delegated tasks that are different in terms of importance to the organisation. Some tasks need to be done at a very high-quality level, while for other tasks “sufficient” quality levels are okay.
--5. Evaluation and alignment
Critical questions:
-Is the design of your company still aligned with your vision and priorities?
-If you had to design the enterprise today with a clean sheet of paper, how would you change the people, key tasks, organisational structure, culture and your leadership style?
-Why haven’t you made these changes?
-Have you pushed yourself and your organisation to do this “clean sheet of paper” exercise?
Kaplan states that two of the most important roles played by effective leaders are those of “architect” and “change agent”.
The architect asks the crucial questions and is constantly seeking clues in order to determine whether the business is in or out of alignment. In today’s fast paced and rapidly changing world, businesses can easily be derailed.
When it becomes clear that the business is out of alignment, the leader has to be an effective agent of change.
--6. The leader as a role model
Critical questions:
-Do you act as a role model?
-Does your behaviour match your words?
-How do you conduct yourself under pressure?
-Is your conduct consistent with your stated values?
Leaders need to communicate what they truly believe and the values they hold. Then, they must act accordingly. A leader’s behaviour will speak louder than any slogan, speech or leaflet.
In developing my own leadership point of view, I followed a seven step -process described in Ken Blanchard’s book “Leading at a Higher Level” and shared it with my co-workers.
Self-discovery, self-awareness and self-management are critical for leaders.
Success in senior-management positions requires that you have an understanding of who you are, an appreciation of the power of the role in which you find yourself, a careful plan for delegating important responsibilities and empowering others, and a conscious approach to the messages you want to be sending with your behaviour.
--7. Reaching your potential
Critical questions:
-Are you pursuing a path that is consistent with your assessment of your strengths, weaknesses and passions? If not, what are you waiting for?
-Have you developed your own style at work?
-Do you speak up, express your opinions and conduct yourself with confidence?
-Do you encourage your people to be authentic and express their opinions?
Kaplan says that being true to yourself is critical for reaching your potential.
Superb leaders are constantly learning and adapting. They are learning about the world, their industry and the people around them – but in particular, they are learning about themselves. This learning evolves at every stage of their life and career.
You need to understand your strengths and weaknesses and to recognise your passions. The challenge for you is to develop a leadership style that fits not only who you are, but also the needs of your company. If your style doesn’t fit who you are, it is unlikely to be sustainable.
Kaplan urges you to have the confidence to say what you think. You have that obligation to your colleagues and to your company. Great companies are built around a willingness to debate and disagree, and on the wise decisions that arise out of those disagreements. People in these companies are true to themselves, and act like owners.
At the end of his book, Kaplan mentions that the key to managing your organisation and your career does not lie in “having all the answers”. It lies in making a conscious effort to regularly step back to reflect, and then identify and frame the issues that are central to leading your organisation effectively into the future. Kaplan makes a strong case for building time for reflection into your life, and to build it into the life of your organisation.
Kaplan’s book is full of savvy and practical advice that, if constantly applied, will help us to become more effective leaders.

Heinz Landau is former chairman and managing director of Merck Thailand. Follow his articles in Hi! Managers on every second Wednesday of the month. He also writes a blog on caring leadership at www.thecareguys.com.