Are You the Best Leader You Can Be? 5 Questions to Ask Yourself

by Santiago Torregrosa

Mountain climbers at sunset

When considering your abilities as a Latino businessperson and team leader, it’s important to understand that you can continually improve and grow. 

Here are a few questions you should ask yourself as you consider what makes a good leader:
  1. Are you available, even when someone can’t see you in person?
Good leaders are available when their team needs them, either in person or via technology. When you’re starting as a leader, it can be hard to keep track of your responsibilities with the new demands on your time.  This means that it’s crucial for you to prioritize the tasks and responsibilities to take less of your valuable time. It can be easy to think of all the tasks that need doing and then forget what’s most important when working on something else.
  1. Are you able to accomplish tasks effectively and efficiently, or are you consistently late? 
If your employees see that you are constantly late, they will begin to wonder if you will be late on deadline driven projects. They think about this when determining what tasks they want to take on (i.e., do I want to give this project to the leader who is late all the time, or do I want to take this on myself?).
  1. Do you trust other people’s opinions on your team? 
If you don’t believe what others have to say because you think your way is always right, how can they follow your lead? They need to feel that  you will listen to them and their input on an issue. In essence, you need to find different ways to build trust as a leader to offer a better environment for your team to communicate.
  1. Are you able to overcome unexpected obstacles without getting angry? 
Similar to not trusting others, if your team sees that you can’t handle pressure or criticism, then they won’t follow your lead out of fear of making the situation worse for themselves. If they see you as a leader who can’t work through issues, how will they know they should try?
  1. Are you always positive? Or are you a leader who only focuses on the negatives?
If your team sees that instead of being open-minded about what they are doing and why they are doing it, you are just looking for things to complain about, they will lose faith in your leadership abilities. If you look at their work in a negative light  instead of as an opportunity to improve, how will people respond when they see your name on the bottom line? Invest in yourself as a leader! As a business leader, especially in the Latino community, it is important to invest in your own development. Whether it’s taking a class at the local college, hiring a mentor, or reading books on leadership, you need to be dedicated to being the best leader that you can be. With the work-from-home world continuing to press forward as the new normal, you need to ensure that you are equipped with the skills and the knowledge to continue producing positive results.  If you  work  toward being a better leader your employees will trust you to lead them in the right direction. Related content: Small Business Leadership Communications & Emotional Intelligence [Video] Successful Leadership Through Perspective Ownership vs. Leadership: Leading for success?

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