Leadership Style
Visionary, coach, harmonizer, democrat, pacesetter... or the one who takes the helm?
Free, no account needed.
Most leaders have a favourite way of leading and a few they rarely use. This test is built on six leadership styles described by Daniel Goleman and colleagues: visionary, coaching, affiliative, democratic, pacesetting and commanding. You will meet workplace situations and choose what you would most likely do, pick between pairs of statements and rate a few statements about yourself.
Answer as you actually lead (a team, a project, a club, a family), not as a textbook says you should. If you have never held a formal role, imagine yourself as the person others look to. No single style is best; the aim is to see your repertoire.
What it measures
Visionary
Mobilizing people toward a shared vision: explaining where the group is heading and why, then leaving freedom over how.
Low: You rarely frame work in terms of a larger purpose; people may know what to do but not why.
High: You naturally paint a picture of the destination and connect everyday tasks to it.
Coaching
Developing people for the future: exploring their goals, giving stretch tasks and feedback, and accepting short-term costs for long-term growth.
Low: You focus on getting today's work done more than on growing the people who do it.
High: You invest in people's development and see each task as a chance for someone to learn.
Affiliative
Putting people first: building harmony, trust and belonging, praising generously and healing rifts.
Low: You keep the focus on the task and leave the team's mood and relationships to take care of themselves.
High: You pay close attention to morale and relationships and work hard to keep the team together.
Democratic
Building consensus through participation: asking for input, listening and deciding together.
Low: You prefer to decide yourself rather than spend time gathering views.
High: You involve people in decisions and value their ideas and agreement.
Pacesetting
Leading by example with high standards: doing things better and faster yourself and expecting the same of others.
Low: You accept a range of paces and standards and rarely push by example.
High: You set a demanding standard through your own work and expect others to keep up.
Commanding
Taking firm control: giving clear directives, expecting compliance and monitoring closely, especially in a crisis.
Low: You rarely give direct orders and prefer to influence in other ways.
High: You take charge decisively, give clear instructions and expect them to be followed.
Possible results
About this test
In a 2000 Harvard Business Review article, "Leadership That Gets Results", the psychologist and writer Daniel Goleman summarized research by the consulting firm Hay/McBer on several thousand executives. It identified six distinct leadership styles, each drawing on different components of emotional intelligence: coercive (here called commanding), authoritative (here visionary), affiliative, democratic, pacesetting and coaching. In Primal Leadership (2002), Goleman, Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee called four of them (visionary, coaching, affiliative, democratic) resonant styles that tend to build a positive climate, and described the other two (pacesetting and commanding) as powerful in the right moment but corrosive when overused.
The central claim is not that one style is best but that effective leaders switch between several as the situation demands, the way a golfer chooses a club for each shot. Leaders who had mastered four or more styles, especially the resonant ones, were associated with the best climate and business performance.
This test scores each style from twelve workplace scenarios, six forced choices and twelve self-ratings. Scores are relative to the range of possible answers, not to other people, so read them as a profile of your preferences. Caveats: the original findings come from proprietary consultancy data rather than peer-reviewed studies; the styles overlap with other models such as situational and transformational leadership; and self-report captures how you intend to lead, which can differ from how others experience you. Asking your team is the best second opinion.
References
- Goleman, D. (2000). Leadership That Gets Results. Harvard Business Review, 78(2), 78-90.
- Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R. & McKee, A. (2002). Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence.
- Hersey, P. & Blanchard, K. H. (1969). Life cycle theory of leadership. Training and Development Journal, 23, 26-34.
For self-reflection and curiosity, not diagnosis. Scores describe how you answered, relative to the possible range; they are not compared with population norms.
Leadership Style
About 7 minutes · 30 questions
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