In all 15 countries where I teach leadership I’ve met leaders who tell me they feel like they’re stuck; that despite their best efforts they’ve plateaued and have hit the wall. Occasionally feeling like you’re going nowhere is a leadership fact of life that eventually happens to each of us. Without a doubt, “stuck” can be a miserable place to stay even for a short spell; work isn’t as fun or rewarding and you can even begin to question your passion, purpose or proficiency at leading. While there isn’t space enough to list all possible reasons for getting stuck, I’ll offer six. Those I’ll present are tests of character and competence one must pass before moving successfully to conquer new leadership territory; both personally and professionally. First, here are four truths concerning leadership test.
1. A test is an opportunity which challenges a leader to demonstrate sound character and competence; fitness for the privilege of advancing to greater responsibility.
2. Leaders are tested through many avenues: by their bosses, challenges the marketplace presents, adverse conditions they face, decisions they must make, and by God. How they handle the test goes far in determining whether they stay put or move on to bigger and better things.
4. The best time to prepare for a leadership test is before you face it. This is accomplished by deciding up front what you stand for, won’t fall for, value and refuse to compromise on.
5. Leaders fall into one of three categories: You have either just finished coming through a test, you are going through a test now, or you will soon face a test in the future.
The clearest evidence you’ve successfully passed a leadership test is visible growth in your character, competence, or both; all of which eventually leads to greater success.
Test #1: The motives test: This test reveals why you do what you do: for your own comfort and enrichment, or to advance the good of the organization.
You fail this test if you:
*Make selfish decisions that benefit you more than others.
*Do what is easy, cheap, popular or convenient rather than what is right—or hard.
*You pass blame and hog credit rather than accept responsibility for team failures and give credit away to the team for its success.
*Demonstrate an “every man for themselves” attitude toward department head peers, rather than act as a team player.
*Fail to develop others.
Test #2: The stewardship test: This test proves you use well the resources you’ve already been given.
You fail this test if you:
*Have talents you don’t fully use to benefit the organization.
*Use corporate resources to plug holes and prop up the weak, rather than more fully support and leverage your strengths.
*Have poorly structured days that waste time, causing you to use more time to accomplish what you could have done in far less time had you been focused and disciplined in the first place.
*Are careless or wasteful with company resources and assets.
Test #3: The “little things” test: This test proves your care for and give attention to detail the “little” things—small tasks and responsibilities—that often seem insignificant or mundane.
You fail this test if you:
*Exhibit sloppiness in personal appearance or surroundings.
*Take lightly or neglect some of your current duties because you believe they’re beneath someone of your abilities and position.
*Fail to max out your current position, opportunities and potential, all the while complaining that you want more power, a bigger job, or a better title.
*Look down on or fail to appreciate the “little” people in your business who do essential, but less than glamorous, work.
Test #4: The growth test: This test is when you continue to work on yourself and upgrade your skills to prepare for the next position or responsibilities before you’re in that place.
You fail this test if you:
*Have developed a “been there done that” attitude that causes you to shut out feedback and stop seeking ideas from others.
*No longer read books in your field to upgrade your skills.
*Treat training like punishment.
*Have gotten better at winging your way through your day than planning and preparing for daily success.
Test #5: The submission test: This test demonstrates that you have the humility to respect and submit to your current authority figures at work.
You fail this test if you:
*Conduct “If I were in charge around here” conversations, or other variations of dissent, that usurp the authority of your leader(s).
*Are disloyal to your leader(s) when they’re absent by gossiping, enabling gossip, mocking, questioning their motives and the like.
*Are unable to rally behind your leader’s decision once it has been made and give it your all, even though you may have argued for another path.
Test #6: The “get over it” test: This test means you reconcile with and forgive those who will inevitably offend, hurt, use or abuse you as you progress through your leadership journey.
You fail this test if you:
*Nurse, rehearse and continue to tell others about the offenses others have inflicted on you.
*Wait and watch for opportunities to even the score with your offenders.
*Allow personal differences with team members to cloud your judgment to the point that you no longer do what is best for the organization overall.
In addition to the six tests presented, there’s a seventh test you must pass that enables you to ace the six I’ve outlined: the humility test. After all, without humility:
*Your motives will remain selfish.
*You’ll be careless with resources.
*You will tend to look down on and despise the “little things” about your job and responsibilities.
*You’ll become a prideful know-it-all who thinks he’s arrived.
*Your tendency will be to resent, rebel against, and disrespect authority.
*Being right will be more important to you than having healthy working relationships.
If you feel like you’re going nowhere, have been passed over, are under-utilized, or are perpetually frustrated, it may be time to face the reality that you have discovered the enemy and it is you. Until you become more you won’t get more; until you are right your world isn’t going to be right; it’s up to you to change and pass these key tests, rather than wait for circumstances to change in your favor.
Incidentally, if you have been able to power your way to newer and higher leadership positions despite failing one or more of these tests, don’t get smug. If you had fallen earlier in your leadership climb you could have learned your lesson, corrected your course, and bounced back. But when you plunge from twenty rungs up—and you eventually will—you’ll splatter in front of a much larger crowd, making a comeback far less likely.