At the seminary where I teach, we are now completing end-of-the-academic year faculty evaluations. Annual evaluations like these are helpful and necessary. They push us to ask how we might improve over the next academic year.
Most leaders, though, would benefit from more regular evaluations – particularly self-evaluations. Even daily and weekly self-evaluations merit our consideration if we want to lead well, regardless of our position.
Listed here are ten questions to help you evaluate your life and leadership at the end of each week. Take some time today to do some assessment.
- Have I decreased, and Jesus increased during this past week? By looking at your schedule, activities, conversations, thoughts, and priorities, whose kingdom have you sought to build this week– God's or yours?
- What do I know about God and His Word I didn't know last week? If you've learned nothing new, it's possible that: you haven't sought God through study this week; you've studied, but it's been routine and non-transforming; you've been a Christian so long you don't think much about any needed growth; and/or, you've stopped growing. None of these possibilities should mark a godly leader.
- Would someone want to pray like I've prayed this week? Jesus' disciples watched and listened as Jesus spent intimate time with His Father — and they in turn wanted to pray like He did. Knowing your prayer life this past week, would you be pleased for someone to model his/her prayer life after yours?
- Would my family say they are my priority based on this week's activities? You can't answer this question, of course, on your own–but you can take the risk to ask it. How would your spouse answer this question? your children? What or who would they say is most important to you?
- With whom did I attempt to share the gospel this week? Some evangelistic attempts do not result in your proclaiming the whole message, but we are never given permission to do less than share the Word with others. Did you at least make legitimate attempts to do so this week? Are you praying for those persons?
- Who will walk more with Christ next week because he/she learned from me this week? This question hits at your disciple making work this week. If no one learned from you in an intentional mentoring relationship, I doubt it's because no one wanted to walk with you. More often it's because we haven't prioritized mentoring like Jesus did.
- Did I hide anything this past week (and, more pointedly, am I hiding anything now)? The devil works in our secrets. He delights in our darkness, even when our outward Christian walk appears to be solid. Godly leaders, on the other hand, know that nothing less than honest confession and heartbroken repentance bring our sin under the light of God's forgiveness.
- If I were to step out of my leadership role today, would the work continue well without me? You may be new in your role, but even new leaders must quickly seek to improve their organizations. If the work you lead would be seriously stymied by your departure, you may not be leading the organization well. In fact, you may be committing idolatry of the self if you are the center of the work.
- What would my immediate reports say about my leadership this week? They hear your words, watch your reactions, and examine your life. They know when you say one thing and do another. They recognize when you lead reactively rather than proactively. Your reports can probably tell you whether you’ve been a good leader this week.
- What are my plans for leading better next week? An evaluation without an intentional plan for improvement is an exercise in futility. What will you do differently next week? What steps will you take to improve? Who will hold you accountable to these plans?
Which question above most challenges you? What other questions might you add to this list?
Ten outstanding questions. Every Christian should ask these same questions.
bit.ly/1m5P51T
Thanks, Jeanne. Blessings!
Great article! These questions helped me immediately. Honest questions deserve honest answers.
God bless, Nathaniel! Thanks.
Chuck these are piercing questions that every leader should ask themselves each week. Tough to answer but will result in leading us to become a better leader and follower of Jesus. My personal favorite that was like a punch in the chest was question #3 on prayer! 🙂 Wow, that is convicting. Thanks for sharing and I hope to share these with leaders around me.
God bless, Brett, as you evaluate yourself. Pray for me as I do the same.
These are fantastic questions not only for leaders but for laypeople as well. I think numbers 8-10 could be just slightly adapted to make all 10 fit perfectly for the active local church member. A rephrasing could be something like, “If I were to step out of my service position(s) today, would the work continue well without me?” and “What would my immediate reports say about my Christian walk this week?” Similarly, number 10 could be, “What are my plans for improving my Christian walk next week?”
Thanks for these great questions, Dr. Lawless!
Good point, Madison. All of us need to evaluate ourselves.
I had never thought about #1 in the way you worded it; excellent. I will be examining that in my life and ministry as a result of your article along with #2 & 3 which I believe are the top three in the list. Thanks for your insight in this article.
God bless, David.
Ouch! A great convicting kick in the hide. Thanks for sharing!
Blessings, Stacie.
What a challenge. I am having these emailed to myself each week for evaluation, but will go beyond, to see that my mentors are copied on my answers so they can help me to keep at this necessary check-up.
Thank you very much Dr. Lawless
Number 5 & 6 pose an extreme challenge to me, as I often battle the idol of “busy”, which shelves His priorities.
Great idea to have the questions emailed to you, Corey. Thanks.
Numbers 4 jumped out at me in particular… as soon as I read it I texted home to arrange a dinner out together with the kids… something we’d not done, “just because”, in quite a while. Thanks for the challenge… dinner was great and we had some good laughs!
Thanks, Mike. You made my day!
Thanks Dr. Lawless! Timely and very helpful!
Blessings, Kendall!
Thanks for this excellent reminder to be accountable…it’s what we need…it’s what I need! Grateful for your leadership with us, Chuck.
Thanks, Bob. Always good to hear from you.
Hi Chuck,
Thanks for the post.
I am picking up two points which I feel practical, important and my reasons why ..
Your 1st and 2nd points
“Have I decreased, and Jesus increased during this past week?”
“What do I know about God and His Word I didn’t know last week?”.
I am aware of two practical daily challenges that warns me everyday to be on guard and stand firm.
1) distractions and diversion. have anyone notices as we compare how life is today with all our modern facilities, life styles and conveniences, we are actually faced with more distractions and diversions compared to the days of the Gospel and Acts.
2) numeric growth not matched by Bible knowledge growth. I am more familiar with church growth across Asia and is it a fact Asian churches are exploding and increasing more and faster then the U.S, but Christian Educations and Bible knowledge are very shallow and weak! i find more people who do not know what Jesus actually said and taught to them. Furthermore the usual people who are lazy to read their Bible seems to be the one who quote things like “Be doers of the word and not hearer only” and “knowledge puff up but love edify”. The joke of the matter is when I realized these people do not even hear what is written! Funny?
Therefore I fell it is important for leaders to be good example of kingdom priority and deeper Bible knowledge.
We cannot put into practice what we do not know. But what we know in depth and understanding we become effective servants of Christ!
Thanks, David!