by Howard M. Guttman

PwC recently issued a report on the key questions that audit committee members should be asking senor management. The questions related to issues dealing with accounting and disclosure to risk management to compliance. The report got me thinking about a different type of audit: one that might be conducted by an audit committee on high-performance leadership. What kinds of questions would such a committee put to you to test your high-performance leadership capability?

Close your office door, and candidly answer these 10 questions:

1. Have you led an alignment effort to ensure that everyone on your team is clear and committed to a common strategy and set of operational goals, to clear roles and accountabilities, to ground rules for decision making, and to transparent business relationships?
2. Do you require that your team act as if it were a mini board of directors, on which each team member puts aside functional self-interest and "owns" team results?
3. To what extent have you encouraged your team members to hold one another accountable for business success? And that they hold you accountable—and say so?
4. How attuned are you to the leader/player dynamic of each of your team members? Do you adjust your behaviors—directing, coaching, collaborating, delegating—to player and situational needs?
5. Do you cling to the old leadership story, "As a leader, I get paid to make the decisions?"
6. Do team members view you as answer man, night watchman, referee, an enabler—or as a questioner/coach with a maestro's baton?
7. Do you role-model effective leadership behavior in leading your team—and in how you manage upward: say, to your board of directors?
8. Think about the last time a team member disagreed with you: Did you (a) say thank you and dispassionately assess the contrarian position; (b) use sarcasm, avoidance behavior, or seek rescuers from your team; (c) become unglued; or (d) press the eject button?
9. When was the last time you asked your team to give you a reality check as to whether or not you are a leader who contributes to the team's ability to reach high-performance goals and expectations?
10. When you look behind you, do you see a team of leaders—or followers?

There is, of course, one high-performance leadership question that's missing: What results have you and those you are leading achieved? I've omitted the question for good reason: Results tend to be a derivative occurrence. If your answers reveal that you are a high-performance leader, then chances are that high-performance results have followed.