15 Questions To Ask Before Advancing Your Career

Leading your peers is more than just telling them what to do and expecting them to get in line. If it's one of your career goals to become a successful nonprofit leader, you will need to learn that leading has a lot more to do with bringing out the best in people.

That includes yourself.

Vicki Halsey, in her book "Brilliance By Design," wrote that bringing out the best in people has much to do with being a teacher, and further than teaching involved a dimension of self-awareness. Knowing who you are helps a lot when trying to know about and teach others.

Before you can even think about advancing your career as a nonprofit professional, Halsey recommended asking yourself the following questions at least once a year:

• Who am I?
• What is important to me?
• What are my gifts and strengths?
• What are some areas that need improvement?
• What inspires and motivates me?
• What are my goals/What do I want to achieve?
• What are barriers to my goals?
• What are my passions?
• What is my purpose?
• What energizes me?
• What do I need to sustain my passion, my purpose, my energy?
• What have I done recently that makes me happy?
• How could I do more of that?
• What has become clearer to me after answering that question?
• How do I best learn?