Leadership Style
Discover your leadership style across two foundational dimensions: Concern for People and Concern for Purpose. Grounded in the Ohio State leadership studies and Blake-Mouton's managerial grid, refined into five named styles — Supporter, Integrator, Driver, Monitor, and Balancer — with a Best-Worst Scaling format that resists social-desirability bias.
The Two Dimensions
Every leader balances two ongoing commitments. Leadership Style measures how strongly each one shows up in your everyday behavior.
Concern for People
How much you attend to relationships, growth, well-being, and team climate when leading.
Concern for Purpose
How much you attend to results, accountability, planning, and getting the work done.
The Five Leadership Styles
Five distinct leadership styles sit at key positions on the People × Purpose grid. Your scores on both dimensions place you in your signature style — the stance you default to when things are normal — and a backup style you fall back on under stress or ambiguity.
No style is universally better — each produces a coherent leadership philosophy with signature strengths and predictable blind spots. Reports describe the strengths and shadow sides of every style, with coaching reflections tailored to whether the style is your signature, an active part of your range, or a seldom-used lens.
How It Works
Leadership Style uses Best-Worst Scaling (also known as MaxDiff). For each of 12 leadership situations, you choose the response that is most like you and the one that is least like you from a set of five. This forced-choice format reduces cognitive load, minimizes social-desirability bias, and produces sharper style profiles than traditional Likert scales.
Leadership Style can be used as a self-assessment or with the Multi-Rater Option. With the Multi-Rater Option, observers who work with the leader answer the same 12 situations about the leader, and the report sets their view beside the leader's own.
The full assessment takes about 20 minutes. Reports show your exact grid coordinates, your dominant and backup styles with percentile rankings, and per-style strengths, shadow sides, and coaching reflections.
Want a quick first read? Take the free Leadership Style quiz: 10 questions, 2 minutes, and your lead style on screen with no email needed.
Who Uses This
- Coaches: Open a coaching conversation around how a leader actually shows up — not just how they describe themselves
- Workshop facilitators: Anchor a half-day leadership workshop in a shared style language
- Management training: Pair with Leadership Philosophy and the Achieving Leader 360 for a comprehensive leadership development program
- Self-aware leaders: Get a clean read on your dominant style and your backup style under stress
The Science
- Grounded in 60+ years of leadership research — Ohio State and Michigan studies, Blake & Mouton's managerial grid, situational leadership work by Hersey & Blanchard
- Five named style zones on a 9-point dimensional scale: Supporter, Integrator, Driver, Monitor, Balancer
- Best-Worst Scaling (MaxDiff) format reduces cognitive load and minimizes social-desirability bias
- Bilingual English/Spanish administration
Common Questions
What research is Leadership Style based on?
Two lines of leadership research. The Ohio State studies of the 1950s found two largely independent clusters of leader behavior: consideration for people and structuring the work. Blake and Mouton's Managerial Grid (1964) then treated concern for people and concern for results as separate dimensions, so a leader can be high on both. For the full story, see Leadership Style: What the Blake-Mouton Grid Reveals About How You Lead.
How is Leadership Style different from Leadership Philosophy?
Leadership Philosophy measures your beliefs about people and management on the control-to-empowerment spectrum (McGregor's Theory Y / Theory X). Leadership Style measures how those beliefs show up as observable behavior across two dimensions: Concern for People and Concern for Purpose. The two assessments are designed to pair — philosophy answers "what do you believe?" and style answers "how does that play out in your behavior?".
Why Best-Worst Scaling instead of Likert ratings?
When leaders rate statements on a 5-point scale, they often rate everything high — especially items that sound socially desirable. Best-Worst Scaling forces a choice: of five options, which is most you and which is least? That forces meaningful trade-offs and produces sharper style profiles.
Is there a free version?
Yes, as a first step. The free Leadership Style quiz takes about 2 minutes and shows which style leads for you and which comes second, with no email needed. The full Leadership Style Assessment adds your exact position on the grid, your dominant and backup styles, strengths and watch-outs for each style, and the Multi-Rater Option.
Can this be used with multi-rater feedback?
Yes. Leadership Style can be used as a self-assessment or with the Multi-Rater Option. With the Multi-Rater Option, observers who work with the leader answer the same 12 situations about the leader, and the report sets their view beside the leader's own.
Who is this assessment for?
Any leader doing real coaching or development work — from first-time managers exploring how they want to lead, to senior executives looking to sharpen their dominant style. It is especially valuable in coaching engagements and leadership workshops where a shared style language helps the conversation.