I’m the boss so how do I get feedback on my leadership style?

When you’re the CEO it’s hard to get an insight into your leadership style. You are (hopefully) giving regular useful feedback to your employees, but who is giving it to you?

You may have a coach or mentor but unless they are working in your business they won’t know how you really behave, day in day out, in the business.

In the short-term ignorance is bliss. Not knowing your faults is a pain free way of conducting your business. But if your behaviour is holding the business back, wouldn’t you rather know so that you can fix it?

Of course, I’m not implying that you have some awful behavioural problem, but we all have characteristics that could do with a tweak.

If you are brave enough to face your flaws, here’s a good way to do it.

Find three to five people in your business whose judgement you trust – employees who you would enthusiastically rehire – and ask them, individually, this one question: “What two specific suggestions can you give me to improve my effectiveness?”

The wording of the question is important. Ask them for just two points to make them focus on the important stuff, and use the word “specific” so that you get good content, not obsequious waffle.

If you are worried your interviewee will be suspicious or give you bland feedback, you can start the interview by telling them that they are one of five people you have asked (safety in numbers) and that you picked them especially because you admire their perspective (a little honest flattery always helps). And don’t think that your employees will think less of you for asking the feedback – they absolutely won’t.

One of the most interesting findings from CEO’s who have done this exercise is that they have discovered enormous perception gaps, but ones that are easily bridged.

For example, one chap considered himself open and approachable but from feedback discovered that employees thought he rarely asked them questions and when he did he never listened to the answer. The CEO made a few tweaks to his manner and the problem was largely solved.

To make the most of the upward feedback you should meet with your interviewees every three months. Start the subsequent meetings with, “Last time we discussed… this is what I have done..” to show you are committed to taking their comments on board.

After a few sessions you will probably find that your interviewees approach you with feedback without you having to ask, providing you with a useful little early warning system too.

Julia Bickerstaff’s expertise is in helping businesses grow profitably. She runs two businesses:Butterfly Coaching, a small advisory firm with a unique approach to assisting SMEs with profitable growth; and The Business Bakery, which helps kitchen table tycoons build their best businesses. Julia is the author of “How to Bake a Business”  and was previously a partner at Deloitte. She is a chartered accountant and has a degree in economics from The London School of Economics (London University).