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 There are lots of tests that you can take that can help you assess your leadership skills or style. In fact, you can spend hours filling out questionnaires that will help you determine your leadership style, your strengths and weaknesses. Our leadership skills assessment is much simpler than those detailed assessments, but we promise the results to be nearly as insightful.
Our assessment is broken down into two sections. In the first section of our assessment we'll help uncover what makes your personality so special - using examples from Myers Briggs Type Indicator®. Our second section will help you understand your leadership style - especially at work. In that second assessment we're going to help you by identifying the attributes of each of Daniel Goleman's leadership styles.
Keep in mind that this leadership skills assessment is meant to whet your appetite for much more robust tests. There are certainly more detailed assessments that you can take, usually for a fee. But if you're looking for just a quick primer on these types of skills assessments, we think we can help.
Personality Style Assessment
Our first leadership assessment is the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (r). You may have overheard coworkers talking about their type using four letter abbreviations such as ISTJ. These four quadrants are often used to describe the leadership, learning and working styles you may exhibit. There are a total of eight preferences along these four quadrants, meaning there are sixteen possible types.
In this part of the assessment, you would pick the description that best fits your style from each of the following four pairs.
Extroversion / Introversion
The first two letters of the type describe whether or not you're introverted (I) or extroverted (E). This dimension describes how you gain energy.
- Introversion (I) - Introverted people keep their energy inside themselves. They often pause and think carefully before responding and may enjoy communicating through voicemail and email rather than face-to-face.
- Extroversion (E) - Extroverted people often communicate with energy and emotion. They like to communicate with others, even large groups. They'd much rather visit someone to talk face to face rather than call or use email.
Sensing / Intuition
The next dimension describes how you perceive things around you - through sensing or intuition.
- Sensing (S) - Sensing individuals like to be presented with the facts. They like realistic and practical information. They rely on information they can touch and feel and often follow a precise pattern when they communicate.
- Intuition (N) - Intuitive people like broad ideas that consider the future and possibilities. They like to use insights as information and prefer general concepts. Logic is a secondary consideration.
Thinking / Feeling
This third dimension has to do with how you make decisions - via thinking or feeling.
- Thinking (T) - Thinking people like to list out the pros and cons of each approach. They prefer to think of things objectively and use emotions as a secondary consideration.
- Feeling (F) - Feeling people seek out the involvement of others when making decisions. They prefer to be personable and reach agreement before making a decision. They are concerned with the decision's impact on values and people.
Judging / Perceiving
The final dimension in this skills assessment has to do with the lifestyle the person adopts.
- Judging (J) - Judging people like schedules and timelines - not surprises. They expect others to follow through on promises and commitments. Judging people like to hear about results and achievements.
- Perceiving (P) - Perceiving people don't like to commit to deadlines. They like to hear about opportunities and options and enjoy flexibility. Perceiving people enjoy surprises and easily adapt to last minute changes.
So to get a gauge on the MBTI that might apply to your leadership style, you should have picked one description from each pair. For example, if you were Introverted (I), Sensing (S), Thinking (T), and Judging (J), then you MBTI type would be described as ISTJ.
Certainly some of you may see yourself in both sides of each pairing. That is one example of how more detailed leadership skills assessments can help. That being said most things are not black and white in this world but shades of grey and the same can be said of these types of skills assessments.
Leadership Style Assessment
This second leadership skills assessment has to do with your predominant leadership style. There are a total of six leadership styles described by Daniel Goleman. Keep in mind that most leaders will flex their leadership style to the situation; this is appropriately termed situational leadership. However, most leaders do have a predominant style that they often fall back to - usually in times of stress.
Coercive Leadership Style - Coercive leaders often demand immediate compliance with their orders. This type of leader has an extreme drive to achieve. They also exhibit a great deal of self control and often take the initiative when they spot a problem. Over the long haul, coercive leaders can have a negative impact on the workplace.
Authoritative Leadership Style - Authoritative leaders often try to mobilize workers towards a vision. They allow workers to see how they fit into the big picture. They are seen as experts in their area and demonstrate a lot of self confidence. Authoritative leaders also demonstrate a lot of empathy.
Affiliative Leadership Style - The Affiliative leader likes to create harmony and build relationships in the workplace. They believe that people come first and like to communicate with others.
Democratic Leadership Style - The Democratic leader likes to get others involved in the decision making process. They enjoy coming to consensus through the active participation of others.
Pacesetting Leadership Style - Pacesetting leaders set high standards of performance for themselves and others around them. They have a great deal of drive to achieve targets and expect the same type of drive from those around them. Unless workers are just as driven as the leader, this style can also have a detrimental affect in the long term.
Coaching Leadership Style - Coaching leaders enjoy developing people that may one day be the leaders of the company. They have a great deal of self awareness and enjoy helping others improve their skills.
Skills Assessment
That's pretty much it for our leadership skills assessment. We've covered two of the most important aspects of leaders at work - how they operate themselves and how they interact with others.
It's not easy to understand others, but as leaders it's important to understand what makes us tick. Throughout your career you may be asked to take a variety of leadership skills assessments. Our advice is to use each occasion as an opportunity to learn a bit more about yourself and how you interact with others and you'll be a more effective leader in the long run.
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