FAQ: Leadership Role Compass

General information

• Our organization already has a leadership development program. How does the Leadership Role Compass complement it?
  The Leadership Role Compass complements and enriches your current leadership development efforts by giving managers a personalized resource for continuous growth. Unlike most programs that focus on group workshops or generic training, the Leadership Role Compass provides a dashboard with data and recommendations specific to each manager's leadership context. It also collects feedback from the people they lead, helping managers see what’s working and where they can improve. This approach ensures that leadership development is ongoing and directly relevant to real-world situations. 
  
  
• How does the Leadership Role Compass align with Effectory's library of leadership questions in engagement surveys?
  Effectory's Employee Engagement Surveys that include leadership questions assess the overall state of leadership in an organization and its impact on areas like employee engagement and productivity. However, they aren't specifically designed for individual leadership development. The Leadership Role Compass complements our offering by providing personalized, targeted growth opportunities for managers. Together, these tools offer a powerful combination: the surveys give an overview of leadership's impact on the organization, while the Leadership Role Compass offers practical guidance to help managers grow and improve.
  
  
• How does the Leadership Role Compass differ from other common views on leadership?
  The Leadership Role Compass takes a unique approach, emphasizing that leadership is not about adhering to a universal ideal but about leaders determining how they should lead through honest self-reflection. According to our model, an effective leader: 

• • Deeply understands their specific leadership context. 
  • Knows their primary leadership role: Boss, Partner, Enabler, or Coach. 
  • Develops a clear, personalized leadership approach that aligns with their context, personality, and abilities. 
  • Clearly communicates their leadership vision to their team. 
  • Acts consistently in line with their leadership approach. 

• • Overemphasize ideals, ignoring real-world challenges, like time constraints. 
  • Focus narrowly on the leader, overlooking the critical leader-team relationship. 
  • Neglect the impact of context, treating leadership as one-size-fits-all.
  • Disregard the dynamics of change, failing to adapt to unforeseen events like pandemics, economic crises, or global conflicts.
    
    The Leadership Role Compass challenges these outdated assumptions, offering a more realistic, adaptable, and context-driven approach to leadership development.
    
    
• What scientific research supports the Leadership Role Compass?
  The Leadership Role Compass is a leadership model developed by Armin Trost, a renowned professor of Human Resource Management (HRM). Prof. Trost has been recognized as a top HR thought leader, earning this distinction four consecutive times from a leading HR journal. He is an accomplished author and editor, contributing extensively to the field through books, articles, and his regular column in Harvard Business Manager. As a sought-after keynote speaker, he shares his insights at major HR and leadership conferences worldwide.
  
  Prof. Trost's practical experience includes leading SAP's global employee survey project, where he successfully translated scientific research into actionable organizational tools. His approach has been extensively applied and tested in various corporate settings through his consulting engagements.
  
  The scientific foundation of the model lies primarily in its four leadership roles: Boss, Enabler, Coach, and Partner. These roles are statistically distinct and have been rigorously validated. Significant research also focused on everyday leadership challenges, ensuring the model’s relevance. For example, the way a "Boss" handles a customer problem is demonstrably different from a "Coach," highlighting the practical distinctions between the roles.
  
  For more about Prof. Armin Trost, visit his website, explore his videos on YouTube, or look out for the English release of his upcoming book, Reflect: Your Pathway to Cognizant Leadership.
  
  
• Can the Leadership Role Compass be used to assess our managers' performance?
  No, the Leadership Role Compass is not designed for performance evaluation. Instead, it focuses on supporting managers in their personal growth as leaders. Its primary purpose is to help managers lead with intention, fostering healthy and productive working relationships with their teams.
  
  Feedback tools like the Leadership Role Compass are most effective when used for developmental purposes, as they create a safe, non-threatening environment that encourages open and honest feedback. Using these tools for performance evaluations can reduce trust and discourage honest input. Their real value lies in promoting self-awareness and continuous leadership improvement.
  
  
• How often should managers use the Leadership Role Compass?
  Regular reflection is essential for continuous leadership development. We recommend that managers use the Leadership Role Compass quarterly to foster ongoing growth and alignment with their team’s evolving needs. Using the tool regularly, especially during periods of change (such as taking on new responsibilities or navigating shifts in the business environment), helps managers identify any gaps between their leadership approach and employee expectations. Frequent use also enables managers to track progress and evaluate whether the desired improvements have been achieved
  
  
• Is the Leadership Role Compass a personality test for managers?
  No, the Leadership Role Compass is not a personality test. It is built on the principle that successful leadership is not a fixed personal trait, nor is there a single definition of "good leadership." Instead, effective leadership requires managers to understand their team’s unique context, recognize their natural leadership roles, and communicate these clearly to their team.
  
  The Leadership Role Compass is designed to guide managers through this reflective process, helping them align their leadership approach with their team’s needs and expectations.
  
  
• Is the Leadership Role Compass confidential?
  Yes, the Leadership Role Compass is designed to protect the confidentiality of participants’ feedback. We have implemented a minimum of five respondents to ensure confidentiality.

Survey setup

• Can I customize the questions and roles in the Leadership Role Compass?
  We understand the interest in customization. However, the strength of the Leadership Role Compass lies in its carefully designed framework. The leadership roles (Boss, Partner, Enabler, and Coach) and questions are thoughtfully developed and validated through extensive academic research and real-world application. This standardized approach ensures reliability and effectiveness in leadership development, which is why customization of the questions is not supported.
  
  
• What should a leader do when team members have different expectations of their manager?The Leadership Role Compass offers a structured approach to address this challenge. Misalignments between a manager's leadership style and the expectations of their team often arise from two main causes: 

1. 1. Unsuitable leadership approach: The manager may have a leadership approach that doesn’t align with their context, personality, or competencies. For example, a directive "Boss" leadership style may be ineffective for a highly skilled, creative team that expects more autonomy. 
   2. Misaligned expectations: The team might have different expectations of their leader, even if the manager's approach is appropriate. For instance, employees might prefer a "Partner" approach, while a "Coach" style is better suited to the current situation.
      
      In the first scenario, the manager should view the misalignment as an opportunity for personal growth and adjust their leadership approach. In the second, it’s important for the leader to openly communicate and clarify their leadership approach to ensure alignment with the team’s expectations.

• Can managers request feedback from peers or their own manager?
  The Leadership Role Compass focuses on self-reflection and team feedback. While it does not collect input directly from peers or a manager's manager (higher-level managers), it helps managers develop a leadership vision that fits their unique context and personality.
  
  To create a common understanding of leadership, we recommend rolling out the tool to all managers simultaneously. This allows managers to share their reflections and insights with peers and senior leaders in a structured, collaborative setting. The accompanying workbook offers practical guidance for having productive conversations with teams, peers, and senior leaders, improving the leadership development process/experience. While the tool centers on team feedback, this approach also helps managers gain broader organizational insights through facilitated discussions beyond the tool itself
  
  
• Who should managers collect feedback from?
  Managers should collect feedback from individuals they directly lead and whose performance they are responsible for—essentially, their team members.
  
  For managers without direct people-management responsibilities, the Leadership Role Compass can still provide valuable insights. For instance, project managers can collect feedback from colleagues they collaborate with closely on project teams.
  
  In organizations with a matrix structure—where employees report to multiple managers (e.g., a functional manager and a project manager)—team members may receive feedback requests from more than one manager. We’ve found this is generally not an issue, as providing feedback typically takes only five minutes, and employees appreciate having their voices heard.
  
  For managers who oversee other managers, it’s technically possible to request feedback from the team members of their direct reports. However, we recommend focusing feedback requests on individuals who have a direct relationship with the manager. This keeps the process concise, ensures actionable insights, and respects the time of feedback providers.
  
  
• How can managers select their feedback givers?
  The platform makes the nomination process simple: managers can easily select respondents by first name, last name, or email address. This flexibility allows managers to request feedback from anyone within the organization
  
  We have intentionally not pre-configured a list of respondents, as team structures often include exceptions and unique formations. While the Leadership Role Compass enables managers to request feedback from a wide range of individuals, the focus should remain on those they lead and interact with daily.
  
  By taking ownership of the feedback invitation process, managers ensure the feedback they receive is meaningful and supports their personal development without the need for controls.
  
  
• What languages are supported by the Leadership Role Compass?
  The Leadership Role Compass supports English, Dutch, and German. Managers can choose the language for their questionnaire, which will be sent to all respondents in the selected language. Respondents also have the option to switch to any of the other supported languages.
  
  
• How can I ensure my managers have access to the Leadership Role Compass?
  Providing access to the Leadership Role Compass is straightforward. Make sure the managers' email addresses are included in the Manager Email Address column in the Employee tab of My Effectory.
  
  For detailed instructions, check out this support article: Employee data for 360 Feedback.
  
  
• Will the Leadership Role Compass survey automatically close once all respondents have completed it?
  No, the survey remains open until the designated closing date. This flexibility allows managers to add respondents even after the survey has been set up. If needed, managers can adjust the closing date to close the survey earlier.
  
  
• It is possible to use printed invitations?
  Currently invitations can only be sent via email; printable invitations are not available.

Results

• How are leaders supported in acting on their results?
  In addition to a personalized results dashboard, The Leadership Role Compass comes with a detailed workbook designed to help managers tackle daily leadership challenges with intention. The workbook guides managers through a step-by-step reflective process, enabling them to assess their leadership context, clarify their personal expectations of effective leadership, and understand how these expectations align with those of their team. It also helps managers identify any misalignments and offers practical steps to address them–such as scheduling one-on-one meetings, organizing workshops or focus groups, or consulting with HR or their own manager.
  
  
• Can I access the feedback that my managers receive?
  No, the feedback collected is requested by managers and is only visible to them. Managers are not obliged to share this feedback with anyone unless they feel it would support their personal development or improve their leadership. However, we are continuously enhancing the Leadership Role Compass, and a dashboard with aggregated results may be a feature we introduce in the future.
  
  
• Can employees access the feedback that their manager receives?
  Employees cannot directly access the feedback their manager receives through the platform. However, we encourage managers to express gratitude to those who provide feedback and engage in open conversations about the results of the Leadership Role Compass with their team.
  
  These discussions can be highly beneficial, as they allow managers and teams to address issues that might otherwise feel vague or unspoken. The feedback helps clarify where a manager's view on effective leadership overlaps with the wants and needs of their employees, and where there are gaps. The Leadership Role Compass includes a workbook that provides guidance on how to facilitate these conversations.
  
• What do gaps in the results of the Leadership Role Compass mean?
  Effective leadership requires managers to align their leadership approach with employees' expectations. When there is a gap between the two, it can lead to misunderstandings, conflicts, and frustration. The gap analysis in the Leadership Role Compass highlights these mismatches, which generally arise from one of two causes:

1. 1. The manager’s understanding of leadership doesn’t align with their context, personality, or competencies.
   2. The manager’s approach to leadership is suitable, but employees expect different behavior from their leader.

• • In Scenario 1: Managers should use the gaps as a guide for personal development. For instance, they may need to improve their coaching abilities or give employees more autonomy in decision-making.
  • In Scenario 2: Managers should clarify their leadership vision with the team to create better alignment.
    
    In most cases, managers will need to address both aspects to improve their effectiveness.
    
    
• What does the results dashboard look like?
  The Leadership Role Compass dashboard is designed to provide clear, actionable insights in a user-friendly format. While responses are collected using a Likert scale, the results are displayed through intuitive graphs accompanied by concise written explanations. For managers seeking a deeper analysis, managers can easily identify gaps at the level of individual questions.