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Your Leadership Style Assessment Results
Your assessment results show that you have the characteristics of these types of leaders:
• Ambassador – your score is 16 points out of 25
• Advocate – your score is 17 out of 25
• People Mover – your score is 18 out of 25
• Truth-Seeker – your score 19 out of 25
• Creative builder – your score is 19 out of 25
• Experienced guide – your score is 22 out of 25
See the sections below for more detail on your natural roles and some suggestions for next steps.
Ambassador
Ambassadors instinctively know how to handle a
variety of situations with grace. They tend to be the people diffusing nasty
situations. The ones getting involved in conflicts on behalf of broad
constituencies, as opposed for their own benefit. They are apt to be persistent
in a gentle way — to be persuasive and at the same time respectful.
An Ambassador, for example, might be someone who can introduce a whole host of
people-assessment and development frameworks with the result that employees
understand and accept the new order easily.
Advocate
Advocates instinctively act as the spokesperson
in a group. They tend to be articulate, rational, logical, and persuasive. They
also tend to be relentless (in the positive sense of the word), championing
ideas or strategic positions. Advocates tend to use both linear and non-linear
approaches when they argue a point.
Top managers who are natural Ambassadors may do very well at navigating through
rough waters. But for Advocates, being in rough waters is part of the reason
they revel in their work. (Many Advocates tend to see things in black and white
only. Advocates very often need Ambassadors on their senior management teams —
to help them temper their messages and persuade employees to “buy into” their
decisions.)
People Mover
Think: Talent-spotter, career-builder,
motivator, someone with parental, nurturing qualities. People Movers
instinctively take the lead in building teams. They’re also instinctive
mentors. They generally have large contact lists; they are always introducing
new people to new ideas and new paths. They’re also generally mindful of their
employees’ lives outside of work; they view performance through the larger lens
of potential.
There is a certain “holiday card joy” that comes with being a People Mover;
when people continue to update you on their progress because they know you’ll
care, even if you have nothing in common with them and are effectively out of
touch with them, you know you’re a People Mover.
Truth-Seeker
Think: fairness, good judgment, equalizer,
level-headed, process-oriented, scrupulous neutrality, objectivity is the high
standard. This is the only role for which there is a “prerequisite;”
Truth-Seekers are unfailingly competent in their field; their competence is
unquestioned.
Truth-Seekers instinctively level the playing field for those in need. They
also help people understand new rules and policies. They act to preserve the
integrity of processes. They try to identify the root-cause issues, or pivotal
issues. They also step in to ensure the just and fair outcome if the process
has failed to yield the same.
Successful individuals in the Human Resources function are generally natural
Truth-Seekers. Truth-Seekers also tend to gravitate towards line-manager
positions.
Creative Builder
These individuals are visionaries and
entrepreneurs – they are happiest and most driven at the start of things. They
instinctively: see new opportunities for new products, new companies; spot
niche markets; take ideas and make them real. They’re also often “serial
entrepreneurs” over time, even if they remain in one leadership post.
Creative Builders instinctively understand that building is not necessarily
about invention, but about process of making an invention real. Builders are
constantly energized by new ideas, yet they have the staying power to see them
through to fruition.
The issue is rarely simply the idea; builders aren’t “Hey Dave, what’s your
latest scheme?” people. Builders are fascinated with implementation. Real
estate developers are often “builders” in this way (beyond the obvious
connection); they feel most rewarded when a project gets underway, or is newly
completed.
Builders sometimes get into trouble if they remain in one place for too long.
There are case studies, too numerous to mention, of entrepreneurs whose
legacies are negative because they became enmeshed in the day-to-day operations
of the companies they created, and didn’t know when it was time to leave.
Builders can successfully remain in a single leadership position only if they
figure out how to feed their own need for new projects.
Here’s an equation to try on yourself if you identify with the role of
builder:
Strength of belief in end result + Ability to tolerate the process = Creative
Builder
Experienced Guide
The term “Experienced Guide” conjures up an
image of someone very old and wrinkled, with the experience that comes with
age. That’s not incorrect, but Experienced Guides don’t have to be old, or
necessarily experienced. What they do have to have is an ability to listen, and
to put themselves in others’ shoes. They have a way of helping people think
through their own problems; they are natural therapists. Often, they are
seemingly bottomless wells of information on a diverse range of topics. These
are the people who can always be counted on to supply the right quotation or
the right historical connection.
They are not necessarily mediators, yet the experienced guide is often the
person who finds him or herself “in the middle,” with people on both sides of a
conflict seeking advice. When a corporate meeting has been particularly
stressful or fraught with conflict, the “post-meeting, closed-door meeting”
often takes place in the Wise One’s office.
Remember the “family lawyer” of old? The person, outside of the family, who
knew (and kept) all the family secrets, and was often sought for advice? The
experienced guide role naturally lends itself today to the position of
minister, counselor, trusted advisor.
Renato Tagiuri, emeritus professor at the Harvard Business School, noted that
natural “experienced guides” are often found one level down from the top in
organizations. They get their greatest satisfaction helping others get through
the day and helping others see the bigger picture. They empathize.
