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A Leadership Quiz

16 June 2014

For fun, and to stimulate thinking, here are some leadership questions to get us all pondering about what leadership really means…

1. Are leaders born?

2. What is a Level 5 leader?

3. What are the two classic leadership types?

4. What is the essence of a leader in action?

5. What characterises a modern leadership style?

Here are my answers, and you’re welcome to email me with your own thoughts.

1. Leaders are made, but only if people really want to take on the role and the responsibility. Being a leader should be a positive choice and not simply one of being anointed into the post. In my experience all the leadership skills we need to have are learnable. However, we choose our mindset – and it’s our responsibility to choose well!

2. This is taken from the classic book, Good to Great. If you want to know more then Google it and find out. That’s the kind of thing a Level 5 leader would do!

3. In the Belbin Team Role Types model, Meredith Belbin identified the
Driver as a leader who leads from the front and charges forward, for good or for ill. The second type is the Consulting leader, who is great at building consensus and less useful in an emergency. What do you tend to do?

4. According to my time at the fabled Leadership Trust, many years ago, the answer was to: Grip self, Grip task, Grip team ….and in that specific order. I still use this as the core of my leadership workshops today.

5. A modern leadership style embraces flexibility. Colleagues need to be coached, they need to feel important and supported. Generations Y and Z need to be listened to – they value collaborative work, have no time for pointless hierarchy and expect to have the tech they need to get the job done. At the same time, the leader needs to balance tactical and strategic needs and in the words of the famous conductor, Benjamin Zander, never lose sight of Rule No6.

What are the foundations of your leadership style? Do your attitudes come from 2014 or 1974? What support do you need to develop your leadership style? Which book will you read next?

We can all learn…and we can all be effective leaders!

Next week: Rule Number 6