Leadership Skills Assessment
Below you will find a list of behaviors that are associated with leadership. Using a scale of 1 to 5, where a score of 0 is never and a score of 5 is always, read each statement and determine how you would rate yourself on these items. Do not spend too much time on each one but try to be as honest as you can in your rating.
Rating Scale
Never once sometimes more often regularly always
0 1 2 3 4 5
- _______ I like to get my team members input on decisions. I ensure their ideas and suggestions are included.
- _______ For me the goal or task is the most important thing. I focus on reaching the goal.
- _______ I am very deadline focused. I keep a close eye on the project plan to make sure we get things done on time.
- _______ I consider myself a mentor and like encouraging and demonstrating for others how to do the job.
- _______ I rise to a really demanding challenge. I like to show I can accomplish a task.
- _______ I want my team to use their creativity when considering their work.
- _______ I am very detail oriented. I like to see every step completed and documented.
- _______ I am good at multitasking. I can handle more than one thing at a time.
- _______ I consider myself a lifelong learner and continue to read about leadership strategies and skills to improve myself.
- _______ I am clear about correcting errors made by my team. I value results over their feelings.
- _______ I am good at time management and efficiency when working on a task.
- _______ I like sharing my knowledge and skills with my team members and seeing them develop.
- _______ I am good at taking a big project and dividing it into an overall project plan with smaller goals.
- _______ For me, the team comes first. I want to build a strong team.
- _______ I am good at problem solving and troubleshooting.
- _______ I respect the needs of my team members that may be different than mine.
- _______ I am good at coaching performance improvement with my team members.
- _______ I read a lot of journals and articles about my work and the industry and try to use what I learn from reading.
Once you have completed the questionnaire, transfer your responses to the question item listed below:
| Focus on Team | Focus on Goal |
| Question | Question |
| 1. | 2. |
| 4. | 3. |
| 6. | 5. |
| 9. | 7. |
| 10. | 8. |
| 12. | 11. |
| 14. | 13. |
| 16. | 15. |
| 17. | 18. |
| Total | Total |
| X 0.2 = | X 0.2 = |
Total your score and enter the score on the quadrant below, positioning your score based on the labeled axis. The vertical axis is your focus on the Team, and the horizontal axis is your focus on the Goal. Then, draw a line to find the point of intersection on the quadrant and that will show your current leadership style.
| Cheer Leader | Servant Leader |
| Novice Leader | Goal Driven Leader |
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Focus on Goal
Your Results
This chart provides you with a quick view of your suggested style in leadership. It is not a comprehensive assessment and is for your personal use and consideration. You might ask yourself if there are areas of your leadership you would change if you could and what might help you to strengthen those areas of leadership in your profile.
Goal Driven Leader (high goal focus, low team focus)
Those who score in this quadrant are usually focused mostly on their targeted goals and the tasks that need to be achieved and can be hard on their people. They may be less aware of the needs of individual team members and allow little input or collaboration in their leadership. They are strong on details, schedules, and targets, and they expect the team to be driven by the same objectives. There may be a tendency to blame others when targets are not met, as opposed to examining how people are relating to the tasks at hand. Development for this style of leadership would include more time listening to others and considering alternative strategies the team members might offer for managing their work.
Servant Leader (high goal focus, high team focus)
Those who score in this quadrant like to provide a model for their team members of their expectations for the work to be completed. They support input and creative ideas from the team to help with planning to maximize achievements and they demonstrate respect for the ideas of others. They understand the importance and value of the team’s group efforts to achieve goals. They tend to lead the most effective and highest producing teams. Development for this style of leader may be paying attention to mentoring weaker team members who are still developing and being clear with boundaries.
Cheer Leader (low goal focus, high team focus)
Those who score in this quadrant tend to be focused on their relationships with team members and are willing to be less focused on achieving goals if it costs them personal connections. They use social rewards to motivate their team and fear having to use any form of corrective or punitive measures as discipline. They may be uncomfortable with the power of leadership and the implied distance from their team that comes with being the leader. Developmental suggestions for this leader are to be more confident in using deadlines and demands with the team and to keep goals up front to not miss deadlines.
Novice Leader (low goal focus, high team focus)
Those who score in this quadrant are still developing leadership skills and are fully clear on the best use of their leadership role with getting tasks accomplished or building teams. They may prefer to stay at a distance from the work and let people do what they want, which can create conflicts in the team because of a lack of clear task assignment and direction, or they may abdicate the leadership role and hide away from the team and keep busy on their own. Development for the Novice includes making time to meet with team members and establish clear task deliverables with deadlines to help keep everyone motivated and committed to the job.
The most advantageous position for a leader is to be at the intersection of high on the team focus and high on the goal focus, which is the Servant Leader.
That does not mean you should not pay attention to the other styles. There may be times when you are called upon to be more focused on a goal, as in times of crisis, or when teams need more attention, as in times of major changes in the organization. The key is to be aware of your “default” style of leadership and keep other styles available for when the situation calls for a different approach.
Adapted from “The Blake Mouton Managerial Grid: Leading People and Producing Results,” by Mind Tools, n.d., from https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_73.htm
