As leaders, we are constantly evaluating our teams, performance, and the external factors that affect our organizations. But how often do we take the time to evaluate ourselves? In this episode, we dive into the importance of self-evaluation for leaders and how it can unleash our true potential. Eric shares his favorite questions to ask leaders for self-reflection and highlights the value of rigorous reflection, not just blame or self-criticism. We also discuss the power of asking better questions and how it can lead to significant personal and professional growth. So get ready to dive deep into the realm of self-evaluation and discover how it can be a game-changer in your leadership journey.
As leaders, we are constantly evaluating our teams, performance, and the external factors that affect our organizations. But how often do we take the time to evaluate ourselves? In this episode, we dive into the importance of self-evaluation for leaders and how it can unleash our true potential. Eric shares his favorite questions to ask leaders for self-reflection and highlights the value of rigorous reflection, not just blame or self-criticism. We also discuss the power of asking better questions and how it can lead to significant personal and professional growth. So get ready to dive deep into the realm of self-evaluation and discover how it can be a game-changer in your leadership journey.
Dale (00:01.602)
self evaluation to unleash your best in life and work. Welcome to the game changers podcast. I'm your host Dale Dixon. I help leaders be their best on stage and in front of the camera. And I'm the chief innovation officer for a better business bureau. Eric Bowles coaches trains and inspires leaders to unleash their potential and the potential of those around them. Great to be with you today, Eric.
eric boles (00:25.273)
Great to be with you, my friend.
Dale (00:28.034)
this idea of self evaluation where leader is specifically for leaders, leaders are in the habit of evaluating they're looking at PNL, they're looking at balance sheets, they're looking out across the organization, and they are constantly evaluating their evaluating teams. Today's podcast deals with looking in the mirror, and what does that look like? And how does that work for a leader? So
start us off with the I think we can probably surmise the importance of that. But do we actually do it and just before we hit record you said your number of questions that you're asking leaders and they're not able to give you answers immediately because they haven't thought about it. And it's evaluation questions that they have to answer about themselves. So
eric boles (01:01.645)
Hehehe
eric boles (01:20.109)
That's right.
Dale (01:26.966)
What are some of your favorite questions and experiences with this?
eric boles (01:27.277)
So.
eric boles (01:31.249)
One of my favorite questions I like asking of leaders, not only is it insightful, great aha moments for myself, but I try to use it on myself. And, you know, it's a simple question like, you know, what's your greatest learning so far this year, right? And I don't make it super specific yet. I usually ask it that broadly because their greatest learning experience may have nothing to do with work, yet it translates to.
to their world professionally. And the reason I like answering that question is because many times people haven't paused long enough to reflect on it. So we talk about self-evaluation. And so we're always evaluating. I think every leader who's listening right now, we're evaluating everything for people's individual performance, to the performance of our teams, to everything has a measurement to it. The challenge is we do that so often and we're doing it externally or outwardly.
that we're not always taking ourselves internally through the same process. And it's so important that we are also evaluating ourselves with as much openness and eyes wide open as possible. Of course we're asking for feedback from those around us. Of course it can come in different ways, but I always like to view self-evaluation in if we use sports analogy.
I like to cook, you know, it's like practice. It's my practice that I do in the dark when no one's looking. And my goal is that I do that more rigorously than I actually play the game in public. Because if I can make practice harder than the game, when it's time to play the game, the game actually becomes simpler. It becomes easier. And when I said easier, I didn't say easy. It was just easier than it would have been.
without the evaluation process. So it really does come down to, you know, am I ensuring that I'm spending the time to evaluate myself in the process?
Dale (03:36.775)
rigorous reflection.
eric boles (03:40.105)
I like that. Rigorous reflection. Now this is different in those who are listening. I am not talking about rigorous blame or rigorous, you know, if you have a tendency to just beat yourself up or don't feel like you're good enough, this is not what I'm talking about. I am not describing that, hey, I'm tougher on myself than anybody else. We're not signing up for that. I am talking about assessing, evaluating yourself as a...
objectively as you possibly can the same way you will you would objectively evaluate another's performance I've always felt you know I had mentors who remind me all the time that they're one of the best things you can do for your own personal Improvement is Sometimes step outside of yourself pretend you are talking to yourself Sitting in a chair and you're talking yourself and objectively evaluate how you're doing if you can do that then that makes it
less subjective and more objective. And so this is what I'm talking about. That's why I ask people, what's been the greatest learning you've had this year? What's been your biggest failure so far in the last quarter that gives you a sense of, or what's been your greatest success? What are you most proud of that's happened in the last 90 days?
Those kind of questions I like to ask, and I put a timeframe around them, because if you only ask one, sometimes we don't attach it to time, but if you add some timeframe around it, it allows a little bit of a focus, allows for focus to show up, and then you might discover you had four or five of them that are significant game changers, that are really shaping how you're making decisions right now.
Dale (05:32.59)
It just occurred to me that if, and I'm always working on improving a journaling practice, and these are fantastic prompts to be writing down because we're
We're in a fast paced world, especially as leaders and something that was important to remember two weeks ago, three months ago can take a lot of questioning to actually pull out of the ether of one's memory.
in order to have the level of conversation that you're talking about answering these questions of what's the greatest learning you've had in the last quarter? What's the biggest failure you've had, the greatest success, you know, and those questions with a timeframe. So great opportunity to maintain a daily practice of journaling about these types of things and putting this list of questions as prompts through the process.
eric boles (06:31.753)
without question and be in the process. When I talk about self-evaluation, I encourage people, don't even overcomplicate it. Go to Google and type in great questions to ask of yourself, great leadership questions to ask of yourself. Like I am not telling, none of us need to walk around and have all these great questions memorized. We just need some great questions that we can ask. If I want greater insight, I need better questions.
Right? Like I can't evaluate myself without a question that raises my thinking. Like, you know, it was a general question that was asked one time, you know, about, hey, write about a difficult decision I had to make. Man, that was a great question. And then they took it one step further. You say, now write about a difficult business decision you had to make. Write about a difficult...
hiring decision or firing decision or personnel decision you had to make. Man, when you start evaluating and identifying those things, all kinds of stories and not only narratives, but part of the process comes out of that. Like, how did I get to that conclusion? How did I do a good job of making sure the information I was working with was the correct information?
I actually heard this quote before, but I remember the quote in something John Maxwell wrote. A leader actually said it to him, which was, in order to set things right, you have to see things right. I really appreciate that. The real work goes in, was I seeing things correctly. So when I have to assess or evaluate a decision that I made.
You know, the reality is my actions and decisions are only as wise as the information they were based on. So when I evaluate not just the decision, but the process I went about making the decision, that's where the real value is. One thing I've been asking leaders, especially getting close to the end of the year, to evaluate when it comes to developing and working with their people, I said, you know, the question isn't, you know,
eric boles (08:52.669)
ever telling your people what to think. But it is important for your people to know the process by which you go through in terms of how you think. Like I think those are the kind of, so when we're talking about evaluation, evaluating performance, we're just not talking about evaluating results. And we spend so much time evaluating results that we really don't spend enough time evaluating the process. We don't spend enough time evaluating causes.
Right? Like what's the thinking that perceives the action we're evaluating, right? And these are the kinds of things that as a leader, we have to do these things on purpose because everything around you doesn't demand that. Everything around you is instant, right? Like I see this P&L, I see this result, I'm getting this and it's happening so quickly that many times we don't take the time to sit back and really evaluate.
What was the causal factors to that? Not just what was the result.
Dale (09:55.746)
I think about one of my favorite quotes and I'm having a tough time actually attributing it but it is the quality of your questions will determine the quality of your answers.
eric boles (10:05.289)
Oh, that's it. That is it right there. That is it right there. One of the leaders who, you know, I have the benefit of, and when I say coaching, this is just relationships, partnership, we gave it a title like that, but I learned so much and gained so much from every leader I had the opportunity to work with. But one of the leaders that I spend time with and every time I realize that I may ask one or two questions.
but the rest of the time I'm just listening and I get so much out of it. I mean, what he shares, the insight and the way that he shares it, he's actually from Denmark, a good friend, but it's so insightful. And then he always asks me a couple questions and it's just, you know, the scripture says, as iron sharpeneth iron, I leave every time better. I mean, I just so much enjoy it, but I realize it's all a result.
of asking questions that allows the evaluation process to take place. So, you know, the evaluation, and when we think about evaluation, we almost, you know, if you're not careful, you'll view it through the lens of scorekeeping or it's not, you know, it's exploration actually, right? I'm exploring these decisions. I'm learning from them. We're evaluating.
the situation and the only way we can get to it and truly see it is the questions we're willing to ask. One reason I like when leaders are willing to self-evaluate and ask a lot of questions is they won't, they may have a, I may be leaning in this direction, like, you know, as Malcolm Gladwell says, you go through enough experiences, you're, it's like blink where, you know, you can just make decisions quickly, but it's because of experiences.
but you still want to challenge that assumption. And when you do some evaluation, it slows you down. You may get to the same place, but when you get there, it feels far more significant because you went through a process in order to get there versus just jumping to conclusions.
Dale (12:22.051)
So as the mentor asked you questions, what were some of the questions that set you back on your heels a little bit? Took you some time to think through.
eric boles (12:28.149)
Ooh, oh man. Oh, one of the questions, one of the questions that he asked me was, what is taking place in your life right now that has you confused?
I was not ready. I mean, I'm just being honest. Like when he asked that question, I said, what, say it again? He goes, what is taking place in your life right now, either personally or professionally, that has you somewhat confused, like stumped. You haven't been, you know. That was a phenomenal question because it made me think. And he was very accurate on that. So that got me. He asked me another question too. What is...
what area of my life do I believe I'm struggling right now because of a lack of knowledge, right? Where I'm missing information. And that was a really good question because to be honest, some of the areas I'm struggling with wasn't because of a lack of information, right? Which is what he was getting to, right? I think he was kind of getting there because the ability to get that information was high. And I said something to him.
in answering, I was like, um, oh, I, I'm, yeah, I can look this up. I need to find it. He goes, yeah, you can do that. Or you can talk to a few people that you admire, you respect, who I've already lived that out, experienced that are out, whatever the case you want to describe it. And actually it doesn't mean you're skipping the books and grabbing that, but man, isn't it nice to talk to some people who've actually went through that, who's actually went through the process of that.
And so you get the benefit of the relationship, you get the benefit of the information, you get the benefit. And I just went there and went, wow. It reminds me, there's a particular CEO I'm working with right now. And I was so moved by what he shared with me the other day about the group by which he works with. And it's a group of CEOs like himself. And obviously, these are billion dollar companies.
eric boles (14:41.805)
the number isn't as impressive or isn't significant. It's the learning they have from each other that is. They just bring their challenges, their questions, and to each other. And it's a group as they talk about it. And so what makes it so powerful is what they learn, how they look at, nobody comes with great answers, but they do all come with great questions and they all come extremely curious and humble and...
and willing to challenge. And one of the things they talk about the most and which moved me so much is how each of them have grown really comfortable with not having the answer, with not knowing the answer, but learning better questions so their teams and their organizations can help with coming up with those answers. And, you know, go ahead, you were gonna say.
Dale (15:37.974)
that's a unique switch to flip. Because I have a feeling so many leaders are in a position where they feel like they have frontline workers, they're coming, coming asking questions and wanting answers. But to move into a room and switch that, flip that switch off, and flip the switch of curiosity on to say, you know what, I don't need the answers. The people in this room.
eric boles (15:50.989)
coming.
eric boles (16:01.754)
which one.
Dale (16:07.718)
don't need me to have the answers, they need me to ask better questions.
eric boles (16:09.622)
I think.
You just hit it, Dale. So if I, one of the leaders, he's always been, he's still to this day. And I don't mind saying his name like, you know, loudly. Paul Tuich, who for years worked with Starbucks, Panera. I mean, he's all got Duncan brands. He's had all great career. But I've always admired him because I feel like he's led his whole career with just asking questions, right? And in, now the running joke is he's
been an incredible leader, not doing a whole lot, yet his impact is significant. I say it in complete admiration, right? He has just leaders from his leadership tree who are leading in all industries because of him. But what he was always great on is listening and asking great questions. Now, he's also very good at decision making, but his ultimate area where he spent the majority of time being concerned about from a decision making…
was always in people. So who gets promoted? Who needs to get promoted? Who needs to get developed? Who needs to get moved? Whatever the case may be, because ultimately the decisions you make when it comes to people are the ones that are legacy driven, are the ones that will have the most significant impact on an organization than anything else. People think it's these things that are KPIs and what our objectives are this year. That stuff is price of admission.
but the people decisions and that's evaluating, the evaluation of that is huge. But the way he does it and he's always been effective is he evaluates people, but he evaluates himself way more strenuously than he evaluates people because he keeps, he would always ask himself, am I the leader to lead that team? Am I the leader to bring out the best in that person? Am I the leader? And when you start there, then it makes it so much more.
eric boles (18:07.961)
consistent or more important, more in alignment, congruent, when you establish that same kind of evaluation for the very people.
Dale (18:18.232)
You're starting an evaluation process tomorrow, you shared. Walk us through that. What does that look like as much as you're willing?
eric boles (18:24.593)
Yeah. So tomorrow, and it should have somewhat began a little earlier, but what we do is I bring my entire team together and we do a complete evaluation dealing with each client that we have. And so our ultimate goal with each client that we have is to evaluate how effective we are being. That's our self-evaluation. Now we confirm this evaluation.
or more importantly, align this evaluation with actual conversation with our clients after the fact. Because this is our view of it, doesn't mean that's accurate because of how they look at it. But the reason we do that is our ultimate goal from an evaluation standpoint to stay consistent with our information and what we teach is we don't just wanna evaluate our effectiveness just on opinion or thought, we wanna evaluate our effectiveness on.
What potential do we believe that organization has? Not in terms of our ability, but our ability to help them accomplish whatever their goals are. And so, you know, our goal is to help them, assist them in such a way, and that isn't dictated by the amount of time, billable hours, nothing like that. No, this is assessed or evaluated based on did we help them collapse time between where they are and where they wanna go? Were they able to get their
faster because of our involvement? Or do we have any impact at all? And not only their measurable goals, those measurable quantities, right? But also those qualitative measures as well, where there comes a culture, where there's certain leaders who confidence went up, they went for opportunities they wouldn't have done before, have people been stretched, grown. We even evaluate our effectiveness sometimes of leaders who were at a company and made a decision to leave.
And we were like, what is that? Because we help both the company and the individual when you're able to give accurate feedback that quickly. And so it's not the company that we're amazingly evaluating, but ourselves being as honest. I like to call it a truth bearing analysis to be as truthful as possible. And that is sometimes the truth hurts, but then it heals. Hurts, but then it heals. And so we're gonna walk through starting tomorrow. We walk through.
eric boles (20:46.417)
every single, and we got a lot of clients. I've talked to a lot of groups. Now there's a difference between the companies I keynote to, that's in and out, and the companies that I get a chance to consult with, do executive coaching. Those relationships are so dear. All the companies we work with matter, but those companies are a little more intimate. So, you know, really assessing, are we adding value or not, is something we have to keep asking ourselves, because if we're not adding value,
You know, we say all the time like and whether if you play dominoes and those who may play there's a Term we use all money isn't good money, right? And we reason we describe that is you know If in for our standpoint if we're not actually adding value if we're not making a difference if we're not helping the company And those individuals in the company Even if they are willing to pay or willing it no then I wouldn't say we're really making a difference on the flip side
There's some companies we can help probably a whole lot more than we are. And we have to evaluate ourselves in a way of saying, are we doing enough? Are we making it known what we can do? Are we suggesting how we can help? All those kind of areas as well. So it's a great, thorough process. But what I believe is a great place to begin everything with self evaluation.
Dale (22:09.091)
Just the questions that you posed through the process of explaining your evaluation process are going to work for any leader who sits down and says, you know, what's my role in this organization? Am I being as effective as possible in that role, in those responsibilities? How do I get better? How do I improve?
eric boles (22:16.249)
this.
eric boles (22:20.38)
Yep. So now, what's my?
eric boles (22:30.481)
That's right. How do I get better? How do I improve? Yep. And when we do that, that is the, you know, I've used this quote and those who have heard me say it and Dale, you and I talk about off time, but Eric Hoffer's quote, he said it best, learners are the ones who inherit the earth. While the learned, beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists. So self-evaluation and then.
getting that confirmed as objectively as possible is the learning process. Only way we continue to add value to ourselves and others is that we keep growing. And the only way to keep growing is to keep learning. And the only way to keep learning is to assess where are there gaps? Where do we need to learn more? And so evaluation helps ensure or it helps facilitate that process.
Dale (23:21.726)
And it truly is a virtuous cycle, something that we can just continually do constantly.
eric boles (23:28.889)
Constantly, man, constantly. Well, they say the biggest danger is to believe you learned it all. I've learned that in my house. I got plenty of learning after 28 years with my wife. She was like, you still got some work to do. All right, so it's still happening. Yeah.
Dale (23:46.851)
We'll let you figure that one out. You'll have to figure out the right questions to ask.
Dale (23:55.994)
I'm going to ask our listeners a huge favor if you would jump in to your favorite podcast playing app and rate this podcast we would most appreciate it while you're there make sure you're subscribed so that you are alerted when a new episode drops. Write a review if you could just write a few words about how you're putting this specific episode into practice that would be fantastic and then we would love to connect with you. Eric can be found at the game changers Inc.
com all one word the game changers inc.com he's also active on LinkedIn. I'm a Dale Dixon media.com We would love to hear from you if you've got a topic or an idea for a podcast definitely send it our way you'll hear back from us so with that have yourself a fantastic week being your best in life and work