Test Your Leadership Skills: A 3-minute self-assessment (PDP

Put your leadership team in a room. Ask them three questions.

Why are we here? Where are we going? How are we doing? Give them a minute each with no talking or phones. Then go around the table and read the answers out loud.

Hundreds of CEOs have done the same thing through my CEO coaching program, Highland Academy. The first time is almost always humbling. The answers come back all over the map. And these are the people at the top, the ones who are supposed to be the most aligned in the building.

Here’s the uncomfortable part. If your leadership team can’t answer these three questions the same way, the people underneath them have no chance.

I learned this the hard way. For years I confused communication with clarity. I talked constantly and assumed the message landed. It didn’t, and it cost me some of my best people.

The full story, and the framework that came out of it, is in The PDP Leadership Framework. This article is the practical companion: a self-assessment to see where you actually stand, and the exact exercise to run with your team.

A Quick Refresher on the PDP

PDP stands for Purpose, Direction, and Progress. Three questions every leader must be able to answer, for themselves and for their team:

• Purpose → Why are we here?
• Direction → Where are we going?
• Progress → How are we doing?

That’s the whole thing. Absurdly simple, and most leaders still can’t do it cleanly. If you want the deep dive on each component and the tools behind them, read the full PDP article. If you just want to find out where you stand right now, keep going.

Take the PDP Self Assessment

Remember, best leaders masterfully communicate Purpose, Direction, and Progress (PDP). Let’s see how you do.

Grab a pen. Give yourself 60 seconds per question and write your answer down. Don’t overthink it, because your team doesn’t get to overthink it either. They get whatever you actually communicate, nothing more.

1. Why are we here? (Why does your company exist, beyond making money?)
2. Where are we going? (Where is the company headed in 3, 5, and 10 years?)
3. How are we doing? (What are your top three priorities this year, and are you on pace?)

How to Score Yourself

After you go through each question below, score yourself honestly:

🟢 Green: fast, specific, and you’d bet your team would say the same thing.
🟡 Yellow: you got there, but it came out fuzzy, or you’re not sure your team would match it.
🔴 Red: you stumbled, hedged, or realized you don’t actually have a clear answer.

Be brutal with yourself. A yellow is not a green. If you had to think for more than a few seconds, or you caught yourself saying “kind of” and “basically,” that’s a yellow at best.

Three greens and you’re in rare company. But don’t celebrate yet, because the real test isn’t whether you can answer. It’s whether your team answers the same way. That’s what the exercise below is for.

Now its time to start the test:

Question 1: PURPOSE: Why are we here? 

Test question #1: Can you explain ‘why’ your company exists? beyond making money?

This is the deeper meaning behind your day-to-day activities. The reason that your team or company exists in the first place. 

Explain your purpose in 60 seconds or less. Ready, go. 

[1 minute time clock]

Ok, we’re back. How’d you do? 

_________

If you were able to answer this question without hesitation, good for you (and the organization!). Understanding and communicating the ‘‘why’ is critical for any team’s long-term motivation and success. 

If you couldn’t answer this question succinctly, dont’ get down on yourself, but you might have some work to do. These articles will help you:

• 1
• 2
• 3

Question 2: DIRECTION: Where are we going? 

Test question #2: Describe where your company is going (where you want it to be) in 3, 5 and 10 years?

(hint: your answer should focus on strategic milestones, not revenue and profit targets).

Explain your direction in 60 seconds or less. Ready, go. 

[1 minute time clock]

And, we’re back. How’d it go?

_________

Direction is so critical in any organization. If the team doesn’t know where you’re headed, then you’ll almost certainly never get there. 

If anything was fuzzy, these articles will help you:

• 1
• 2
• 3

Question 3: PROGRESS: How are we doing?

Test question #3: What are your top three priorities for the year, and how are you doing against them? 

Explain your progress in 60 seconds or less. Ready, go. 

[1 minute time clock]

Now we’re sweating. How did you do? 

_________

If you weren’t able to rattle off the answers to these questions, it’s time to take a look at how you’re identifying your top annual priorities (goals), and how you’re tracking progress against them.

These articles will help:

• 1
• 2
• 3

Turn the PDP test into a Team Exercise

This is where it gets real. It takes about 20 minutes, and it will tell you more about your company’s clarity and alignment than any engagement survey ever will.

1. Get your leadership team in a room. No laptops, no phones. Perfect for offsites.
2. Ask the three questions one at a time. Why are we here? Where are we going? How are we doing?
3. Give everyone one minute per question to write their answer privately. Two minutes if you’re nicer than me.
4. No talking, no peeking. This only works if the answers are independent.
5. Go around the room and have each person read their answers out loud.
6. Say nothing while they read. Just listen for the gaps and take notes.

If the answers are tight, congratulations. You’ve built something rare. If they’re all over the place (which is normal), you didn’t fail. You just found exactly what you need to tighten.

Then do the work and run it again at another meeting or offsite. The second time, when the answers line up, is when you realize how much your team was carrying without clarity.

Turning gaps into work

The test tells you where you’re fuzzy. The tools fix it. Each PDP question has a couple of tools sitting behind it:

• Fuzzy on Purpose? Tighten your Mission and Values.
• Fuzzy on Direction? Tighten your Vision and Strategy.
• Fuzzy on Progress? Tighten your annual Goals and track a small set of health metrics.

I break all of these down in the full PDP article here.

One last thing

Every team can improve the tightness of their PDP. It’s something you need to work on every year, especially as new people come into your leadership team. Taking this test and running this exercise takes a little courage and a little vulnerability, especially the first time, when the answers don’t match and you’re standing at the front of the room owning it. Do it anyway. Clarity is the highest-leverage thing you can give your team, and it starts with being honest about where you stand today.