The New Year is a great opportunity to reset your leadership aspirations.  While we step back to think about taking our organizations to higher levels each year, rarely do we step back with the intention of stepping up our own leadership.

If you are up to the challenge, pause to consider these six questions to elevate your leadership in 2013:

1. The Question of Vision: Where are you headed?  Managers get clear on what to do next, whereas leaders seek clarity on what to go beyond.  Vision is the main elevator of leadership.  It is the longer view.  It takes us beyond the horizon of all past achievements into a more value-creating future.  Pause and ask yourself, “What does this richer, more meaningful future look like?”
2. The Question of Purpose: Why are you going there?  Managers achieve performance through effort; leaders activate purpose through inspiration.  Purpose, the fuel of sustained leadership, brings us all to a more satisfying, service-centered reality.  Recently, I was introduced to a woman, who worked at a healthcare organization.  I asked her what she did.  Filled with energy and clarity, she said, “Mr. Cashman, we heal people here.”  Purpose breathes life into all roles in an organization.  Pause and ask yourself, “Why is our product or service so important?  How does it serve people’s lives?  What is the bigger contribution we are making to the world?”
3. The Question of Strategy: How are we going to get there?  Managers get things done to satisfy short-term needs; leaders create the future in the present.  Strategy is the bridge connecting the present to the future.  The bridge may have a solid design, but each action builds linkage to the other side.  Vision without strategy is a fantasy.  Strategy makes vision and purpose real.  Pause to ask yourself, “What are the steps we need to take now to get to this desired future state?”
4. The Question of Talent: Who will come with us?  Managers expend human resources to drive performance. Leaders see talent as a continually renewing resource inside and outside the organization that must be nurtured, developed and stretched toward the vision.  Vision and purpose without talent are like an empty vessel with a great map to chart the course.  Pause to ask yourself, “Do I have the talent to exceed my goals?”
5. The Question of Personal Growth: How will you develop?  Managers have systems and processes to develop people; leaders also take on the personal challenge of growing themselves.  Leaders stretch their boundaries in direct proportion to the vision and purpose of the organization. The bigger the vision and purpose, the bigger the personal growth required. Once your strategy is clear, what is your plan to grow yourself and to bridge your team and your organization to the next level?  Pause to ask yourself, “What aspects of my leadership will need to be strengthened to get us to the next level?  What support will I need?  How committed am I to grow as a whole person in order to grow as a whole leader?
6. The Question of Renewal