Note: the Seven Key Questions are presented in Practical Lessons in Leadership by Petty and Petro.  The content here is expanded based on feedback received since the book’s publication in July ’07.

One of the fundamental tasks of any leader is to identify and develop his/her leadership bench strength.  In the ideal situation, the leader is watching her associates for signs of effective informal leadership skills, and then providing developmental assignments to those individuals interested in moving into more formal leadership roles. In this case, the aspiring leader gains valuable context for the role and challenges of leading and the manager is able to provide feedback and coaching.

Another scenario occurs when individual contributors or early career professionals recognize the potential benefits of a leadership role (usually it’s about money or title), and declare to their manager that they are ready to lead a team. Ask any experienced leader if they have been on the receiving end of someone walking into their office and making this declaration, and the leader will likely smile.

In either situation, the leader in charge can benefit from some simple but powerful questions to guide the ensuing discussions and activities.

The Seven Key Questions for the Ambitious Aspiring Leader:

1. Why do you want to lead other people?

This straightforward question can be disarming to the erstwhile leader.  Often, well-intentioned professionals have not thought through what it is about leading others that they find appealing.  If the motivation is simply money, title or overall advancement (all reasonable desires), this question provides the opportunity to draw these objectives out and begin discussing the many ways that advancement can occur.  Often, this question will clearly indicate that the individual does not have proper context for the true role of a leader, again opening the door for an important discussion.

2. What do you think the true role of a leader is?

This is a good open-ended question that can ferret out whether the ambitious professional has proper context for the role and purpose of a leader or whether he is preoccupied with advancement and perceives this as the best and fastest way.  Even experienced professionals (individual contributors) are often naive about the true and tasks of a leader.  The book goes into great detail on this topic and my article on my website in the Leadership Resource Center, The Leader’s Charter, can prove helpful as well.  Proper context for the true role of a leader is an essential part of any development plan.

3. Do you understand that the skills that make you successful as an individual contributor are not the   skills you need to succeed as a leader?

This enlightening topic often comes as a shock to accomplished individual contributors.  I’ve noticed this in particular in technical teams (software development, engineering), where the common process is to promote a great individual contributor into a leadership role.  This individual is used to surviving and prospering on their technical prowess, and in general, that knowledge and those skills are of less importance when it comes to motivating, leading and guiding others.

4. Are you prepared to give up domain expertise as your foundation for results?

Related to number 3, many otherwise talented individuals struggle to accept that the skills that propelled them to this point are not the skills that will help them succeed in a leadership capacity.  Further, many individuals are simply unwilling to give up their persona of “go-to expert” as part of the process of becoming a leader.  This important topic must be covered early in the development program and the manager in-charge should observe and provide feedback on the aspiring leader’s handling of this situation.

5. What do you believe are the skills and personality traits that you need to succeed as a leader?

This question allows the manager and aspiring leader to dig deeper into the role of leadership and to raise awareness of distinct skills and traits essential for leadership success.  One potential assignment is to ask the aspiring leader to think about leaders that he has admired and to describe what it was about this person that made them a positive role model.  All of these questions are about building context for the role and life of a leader, and through studying others, the individual can think about their own skills and how they apply or where they need to be strengthened.

6. Do you understand that you will be responsible for the output of your team members, and that you will be judged on this output?

The stark reality of the leader.  You are accountable for your team’s results.  While some lousy leaders manage to weasel their way through life by dodging accountability, they are the miserable exceptions.  This question brings the issue of accountability front and center, and also opens up the topic of the leader’s role in identifying and developing talent and in creating the working environment required for success.

7. What do you imagine your workday life to be like as a leader?

This “day in the life” discussion will help clarify what a leader does everyday and how it differs from the role of individual contributor.  One suggestion is to allow aspiring leaders the opportunity to shadow you from time to time, as a means of understanding just how unglamorous leading can be.

The takeaway:

The Seven Key Questions for the Ambitious Aspiring Leader are powerful conversation starters to support a manager’s leadership development activities.  They are not intended to be delivered in machine-gun style, but rather to be used in concert with an approach to helping individuals discover and explore the profession of leadership.  Not everyone should lead, yet someone motivated by advancement might believe that leadership is the best or only way to achieve this goal.  An effective mutual discovery process is the leader’s best friend in helping identify leadership talent and in helping individuals come to their own conclusion on whether leading is a good choice for their own careers.