Moving to the next level of leadership performance often means confronting your weaknesses and vulnerabilities, which is hard, but necessary to move on.

Recently, one of my clients asked that I work with its leadership team to move to the next level of performance. The goal was to put practices into action that would allow each member of the team to be remarkable and A+ in their performance.

Step 1 of the exercise was to define "A+ performance" for each participant. If you haven't done this for yourself, or your leadership team, you are invited to do so.

Step 1 is a great exercise that most teams don't actually do. But what I want to share with you in this column is what we did in Step 2.

What follows is the process my client and I took together. Know in advance, that by the end of our day together, there were some marked "ahhhs" in personal learning. In this guided process, support came from the team members themselves. Each participant held real ownership of the following exercise. This exercise has three parts. Read your way through and, of course, I invite you to do the exercise.

Part 1
As a leader, name your greatest strength. This ought to be pretty straightforward. You've focused on developing this strength -this asset -for years. What is it?

Part 2
As a leader, what is your greatest fear? Go ahead and name your actual fear -not the outcome of the fear -and know your fear might actually show up as you being remarkable, being brilliant. Your greatest fear might be not being good enough, a failure, being found out, being viewed as less than excellent, etc. Explore -when you think you've got it, go deeper.

Part 3
Now that you've named your greatest fear, notice how your greatest strength feeds off your deepest fear. As a leader, you have many strengths or you wouldn't be where you are now. That said, what's the relationship of your greatest fear to your greatest strength? What do you notice? In support of the exercise, I want you to close your door, or go for a walk alone, maybe go sit under a tree for bit. Whatever you need to do, spend some time pondering this question and be honest with yourself.

Then, notice how relying so much on your greatest strength keeps you stuck. As a leader, have you ever felt like you've been blind-sided? Ever feel like you've been dramatically let down or disappointed? Ever realize that when you do get blind-sided or disappointed it's usually from some similar type of event or action? Most leaders don't notice this. I invite you to slow down and actually take a look in the mirror. Take a look and see how your habits are, well, habits.

Getting caught by surprise, or regularly let down is a classic outcome of playing to your strong side as a habit. Maybe one of your staff asked a question, made a statement, or offered a possibility that you hadn't conceived? Maybe something on a budget caught you by surprise. Maybe one of your key people just didn't cut it. What was/is your role in that outcome? I invite you to simply notice how your habit of using your strengths impacted you and your team. When you're caught by surprise, investigate, reflect and take a look in the mirror. Next, notice how your fear stops you, and step into that fear. Experiment here! Being fearless doesn't mean being stupid -so don't be. And, by the time you've reached where you are now, you've worked so hard on being effective, that your fears are more than likely unjustified. So, why not explore a bit.

John F. Kennedy's quote, "There's nothing to fear but fear itself," rings true for most leaders with whom I've worked with. Another notable American comes to mind: Boxer James Braddock (whose story was the inspiration for 2005's "Cinderella Man") had to strengthen his left hand out of necessity; previously, it was his weakness.

The outcome was that he became the world champion, even though many thought him actually over the hill in age and fitness. Until he had to, Braddock never focused on his left hand. By the time we're adults -especially successful adults -fears tend to have created more weakness (read: skill-less-ness) than is justified.

To take your skill to the next level, step into your fear. From my experience personally and with clients, you'll get blind-sided less often and actually laugh at or with yourself a lot more. Finally, please keep asking the real questions. Many leaders hit the target -but not the bull's -in their personal communication. Oftentimes fear is what gets in the way of clarity. Direct feedback and having real conversations in the moment are critical to success in our fast-paced industry. Here are four steps I offer my clients. Each of the four steps is a variation on the other; use each and all as it serves you.

Come up with the real question at hand and ask it. If you want to find management candidates that hold themselves accountable, cut to the chase instead of asking traditional questions such as, "What do you think are great traits in a leader?"

Let the first question be direct, something to the effect of, "Tell me about a time you made a big mistake and what you did to course-correct it. What did you do to ensure it didn't happen again?" Notice if the answer feels real, does it go deep? Whatever is shared is what this candidate senses is a real mistake.

Notice how the answer fits your sense of integrity, of willingness to go deeper than superficial; or is the answer something easy? Is there a match for you? If yes, go on. If no, pay attention -this person's performance won't show up any better than it does right now. Everyday performance is an interview. Is there cause to celebrate? To course-correct? In either case, do it now, not six months from now in some semi-annual performance review.

What's the real statement? Make it. Hold both the intimate and strategic elements of relationship at work. I can like you as an individual and not be pleased at all about your performance. Offer feedback in the moment. Your team deserves to hear from you.

What's the real action? Do it. What's your gut telling you? Listen. Be mindful, aware -not in fear, but in fearlessness. What needs to be done first, second and third? Do you have the time for your team to decide on actions? Do you facilitate your team to take action or is it you who needs to make this action happen?

What's the real conversation? Have it. You've no doubt heard the story of the proverbial "elephant in the room." The elephant is that topic or issue that everyone -except those new to your team -knows about, and about which no one talks. The issue is avoided at all costs. In my experience and research, leaders and team members hold a common fear about having to talk about the "elephant."

What I also know from experience is that naming an elephant is one of the greatest ways to move a team to the next level of effectiveness.

After the fact, I regularly hear, "If we can talk about this, we can pretty much talk about anything." Performance goes up and elephants go away. By stepping into what's not so easy on the surface, you see you and your team develop performance muscles you didn't know you had.

Rudy M. Miick, FCSI, president of Miick & Associates, can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or 720-641-7565.