What is your Leadership style? (self-assessment grid)

What is your Leadership style? (self-assessment grid)

Leadership styles are behavioral traits and personalities which are consistently exhibited by leaders in various situations. Jeremy Tozer explains these Leadership styles in his book “Leading Through Leaders: Driving Strategy, Execution and Change”.

These styles can be divided into 4 quadrants showing the Leader’s predominant style:

• Purposeful

• Inspirational

• Considerate

• Organized

View this self-assessment Grid on Leadership Styles (as per Jeremy’s book)

Purposeful Leader:

- Ensures that results are effective

- Focuses on inventing more than improving

- Challenges norms, anticipates and removes obstacles

- Values intellectual competence

Inspirational Leader:

- Ensures results are in line with values

- Focuses on helping people grow

- Champions the team to achieve results

- Values making a difference

Considerate Leader:

- Ensures that results help people

- Focuses on listening and on sharing information

- Is quick to praise, thank and reward

- Values the individual

Organized Leader:

- Ensures clear objectives, procedures and measures

- Focuses on continuous improvement

- Has a disciplined and efficient approach

- Values logic & physical competence

Leadership Divergence – these are polarities which drive Outcomes

Strategic Leadership         -> Focused on vision, values, mission. Designs changes

Collaborative Leadership  ->  Brings out the best in people. Inspires transformation

Directive Leadership        ->  Clear and firm. Helps overcome inertia

Tactical Leadership          ->  Monitors key task details. Causes incremental improvement

Too Much & Too Little of Leadership Styles

Un-Purposeful Leaders are AIMLESS

Over-Purposeful Leaders are FANATICAL

Un-Inspirational Leaders are DULL

Over-Inspirational Leaders are MESMERIZING

Un-Considerate Leaders are HARSH

Over-Considerate Leaders are GULLIBLE

Un-Organized Leaders are CHAOTIC

Over-Organized Leaders are MECHANISTIC

If you visualize the Leadership Style as a Grid on (x,y) axis, then:

AIMLESS, DULL, HARSH, CHAOTIC would be (0,0) on this (x,y) axis.

If max value of x and y is 3 on this grid, then:

FANATICAL would be (-3,3)

MESMERIZING would be (3,3)

GULLIBLE would be (3,-3)

MECHANISTIC would be (-3,-3)

How to improve Recruitment Quality

How to improve Recruitment Quality

·       Write a job description which gives a realistic preview of the work, and list down the key performance expectations. This gives candidates clarity and attracts those who are seeking this type of role as their next play

·       For broadcasting this job description choose the right medium – one which is frequently visited by candidates that match this type of role

·       Conduct a screening call to find-out whether the candidate has experience in the skills which are mandatory (3 to 5 must-have skills) for performing the role. During this call ascertain whether the compensation expectation matches the offered range

·       For interviewing of shortlisted candidates:

-  Ask detailed questions from the candidate’s recent projects to assess their performance on these mandatory skills. Rate how the candidate’s work and performance matches the job to be filled

-  Pick a ‘challenge’ which the candidate is likely to face in this new role - overcoming which will be critical for successful performance in this job. Ask the candidate to detail a situation in their current job when he/ she faced the same ‘challenge’, what specific actions the candidate took to overcome the challenge, and what was the outcome.

-  Pick 2 to 3 soft attributes required for the role. Ask scenario based questions (what-ifs) about situations needing proper utilization of these attributes. Listen to the candidate’s response and likely actions to be taken. Probe further in case of indistinct/ book-ish answers.

·       When the candidate is answering your questions, listen to the verbal tone and read her/ his facial expression to qualitatively ascertain soft traits such as: motivation, attitude, work ethic, learning ability, team adaptability etc.