How much of your team looks like you?

This is not a post about diversity. It’s a post about reflective practice.

How self-aware are you as a leader? Not of your technical skills or of your achievements. I’m wondering how self-aware you are of your personality.

Over the years, I have become increasingly curious about the cultures leaders unintentionally create around themselves. A leader who is naturally competitive can create a competitive team. A leader who is fast-thinking and sharp-tongued can create a team that values speed over reflection. And a leader who is highly methodical can create a team that prizes structure and certainty.

None of these qualities are inherently good or bad. In fact, many of them are the very qualities that helped people become leaders in the first place. But every strength casts a shadow and every personality creates ripples.

My question is not about whether your personality affects your team. It does. The question is whether you know how it does.

That kind of awareness rarely comes from looking in the mirror alone. It comes from feedback. Not just the annual form-filling exercise that we call 360 degree feedback. Real feedback. Feedback from peers. Feedback from those more senior than you. And perhaps most importantly, feedback from those whose voices are easiest to overlook. Those who experience your leadership every day.

When similar themes start appearing from different directions, a picture of your leadership style begins to emerge. Not a perfect picture, but a useful one.If we want healthy teams, we have to become more curious about the effect we have on them.

Perhaps the next right thing is to spend less time evaluating your team's performance and a little more time understanding your own influence. Because whether we mean to or not, our teams often become reflections of what we repeatedly model.

#dothenexttrightthing