How good are you at balancing on the leadership tightrope?
There are no shortage of leadership models and assessments - however we have developed one with a bit of a twist!
As well as letting you conduct a quick assessment of your overall leadership style (or that of a colleague or a politician!) the infographic also offers some useful insights into your leadership “balance”.
The idea is that each leadership style characteristic has an “opposite” or counter-balance and both forces should be maintained in healthy tension for well-rounded leadership [see footnote 1]. The 16 styles selected were a difficult choice - they are not intended to be an exhaustive list. For example, we had to leave out some important "leadership pairs" such as Confidence/Humility and Risk Mgt/Boldness [see footnote 2].
Leadership balance is very important as it can highlight some important blindnesses or biases in your style which could reduce your effectiveness as a leader in certain situations.
For example:
- Do you do lots of “telling” but perhaps not so much listening?
- Are you very focused on outcomes but possibly sometimes at the expense of your principles?
- Are you very agile but sometimes could be more tenacious?
Simply print out the 1-page infographic on PDF and follow the instructions.
This infographic is also particularly useful during team-based experiential learning activities such as business simulations.
If you would like free access to an online diagnostic tool which allows you to assess against this model please click here.
[Footnote 1: The inspiration for the balancing of different leadership characteristics came from the Enneagram which is worth checking out]
[Footnote 2: Feel free to adapt our 16 styles but beware of trying to create a comprehensive list and thus destroying the usefulness of the model as a practical leadership tool. So if you add 2 in you should take 2 out!]
