New Ground · Leadership bench

The Bench Diagnostic

If you disappeared for two weeks, with no phone and no email, what stops?

Twelve statements, three for each of the four conditions a real bench needs. Answer them about how things stand this month, not how you intend them to be. Nobody sees your answers but you.

Takes about two minutes.

Recognize You know who is on the bench.

I can name three people who could take on more responsibility in the next twelve months.

I picked those names on how they work with other people, not only on how well they do their own job.

For each name, I could describe one specific thing I have watched them do that put them on the list.

Ready The gap is named out loud.

For each name, I can state the gap between where they are and the bigger role in one sentence, without using the word potential.

I have said that gap to them directly.

We are doing something about that gap, rather than waiting to see whether it resolves itself.

Reps They practice before the title.

In the last month, each of them led something real where they had to get an outcome through other people.

I told them what the assignment was for and what I would be watching.

When one of them handles something imperfectly, we talk it through instead of me quietly taking over.

Release You let go of the work.

There is work I used to do that I genuinely no longer touch.

My team knows what they can decide without asking me first.

Nothing I handed over in the last month has quietly come back to my desk.

Your bench, so far

0 of 12 answered

Answer all twelve to see which condition is doing the most damage.

Your bench, so far

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