Servant Leadership Workplace-PQM

The Servant-Leader’s “PQM” – 7 Questions to Ask Yourself Quarterly

It’s important for servant-leaders to withdraw and reorient themselves regularly. To focus. To be mindful. To reflect on their leadership.*

One great way to do that is with a “Personal Quarterly Meeting” – a PQM, for short.**

A PQM is a “one-person” meeting that happens once a quarter. For a PQM, you get away from the office. Take a trip to a favorite place. Leave the phone and the computer behind. Find solitude. Set aside at least four uninterrupted hours for your PQM.

Then, reflect on these questions. You might find it most valuable to write out your answers to each.

  1. My self-assessment: What have I done well as a servant-leader last quarter? What could I have done better? Would my followers agree with my self-assessment?
  1. My goal: Where I am leading? Am I clear about my goal, in my own thinking and in the way I express myself to others? For my team and me, what’s the difference between where we are and where we want to be?
  1. My priorities – developing people: How have I served my followers? How have I helped them to develop personally and professionally? Can I identify specific individuals who have benefited from my leadership?
  1. My priorities – building a trusting team: Has trust improved on my team? In building a trusting team, what have I done well? What could I have done better?
  1. My priorities – achieving results: What results have I accomplished? What am I most proud of? What has pushed me forward? What has held me back?
  1. My own development – principles and practices: How have I incorporated servant leadership principles into everything I do? How have I improved in my servant leadership practices? Can I identify specific examples?
  1. My objectives for next quarter: What results do I want to accomplish, as a team member and an individual servant-leader? For my next PQM, what improvements do I want to see in my team, my followers and myself?

What do you think? Do you like the idea of the PQM? Are there PQM questions you would add?

Let us know.

As always, we appreciate your views.

Thanks

Joe – [email protected]

And don’t forget to download our latest ebook, Servant Leadership in the Workplace: A Brief Introduction. It’s free!

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* See what you think of this one: “Servant Leadership and the Art of Systematic Neglect”

** The PQM is a tool that comes out of the Sherpa executive coaching program. Sherpa coaches sometimes suggest the PQM (with specific client-oriented questions) in the course of their coaching.

One of the best executive coaching programs in the world, Sherpa is closely aligned with servant leadership. To learn more, visit the Sherpa website.

Several of our Cairnway executive coaches are Certified Sherpa Coaches. Contact me if you want to learn more about Sherpa or our servant leadership executive coaching services.

1 thought on “The Servant-Leader’s “PQM” – 7 Questions to Ask Yourself Quarterly”

  1. Super article—such a vital ‘pause to catch my breath’ and regain a true sense of direction, impact, and influence activity. Another way to describe this is leadership ‘de-cluttering’ and leadership ‘re-calibration’. We can get lost or can be moving down a less than optimal path and need cleansing and re-focus.

    While recognizing that you present a time suggestion as a guideline, I encourage fellow servant leaders not to tie the PQM to any specific time element. Quality time requires quantity time and the quantity of time to achieve quality moments differs for each leader. Sometimes we maybe able to re-calibrate in two-hours; sometimes it may require an overnight disconnect. The important element is to disconnect, reflect, and renew. Grace and peace to you and your team!

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