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Before the survey: Reflecting on your leadership

You are a manager and are planning on conducting the Leadership Role Compass Survey? In our experience, you can maximize the benefits of the Leadership Role Compass survey by taking a few preparatory steps. These steps ensure a smoother process and provide deeper insights for your leadership development.

In short, the preparatory steps are:

  • Step 1: Familiarize yourself with the four different leadership roles.
  • Step 2: Reflect on your leadership context.
  • Step 3: Tell your team members why you value their feedback and encourage them to participate.

For more details on each step, see the information below.

Step 1: Familiarize yourself with the four different leadership roles

Our leadership model is based on Professor Armin Trost's field-tested leadership model and distinguishes four different leadership roles:

For more information about the Leadership Role Compass, you can read this article.

 

How can you reflect on the four leadership roles? In our experience, the best way to reflect on leadership roles and understand your current approach is by analyzing your behavior in typical day-to-day situations as a leader. Here are two example scenarios (Trost, 2023) with typical responses for each leadership role. You can also use any situation from your daily work to reflect on your own behavior.

Example scenario 1 Example scenario 2

A team member emails you a proposal and asks for your approval as their manager.

  1. I review the proposal and provide suggestions for changes if necessary (Boss).
  2. I ask the team member whether s/he is uncertain and how they could feel more certain about the proposal (Coach).
  3. I invite them to a meeting to discuss the proposal together (Partner).
  4. I explore what they need in order to assess their own performance (Enabler).

Two employees are engaged in an ongoing personal conflict, which is disrupting their environment and dampening the team’s morale.

  1. I listen to both sides individually and decide what action to take (Boss).
  2. I encourage the colleagues in a discussion to find solutions themselves (Coach).
  3. We sit down together as a group and develop a solution (Partner).
  4. I consider how I can support colleagues in general with conflict resolution (Enabler).

Step 2: Reflect on your leadership context

Understanding the various factors that shape the leadership context is crucial, as they influence which leadership roles are appropriate.

Example: If you as a manager hold the most expertise in the team, and team members come to you for your specialist competence, then the roles of a boss or coach are more appropriate than responding to this as an enabler or partner.

Take some time to reflect on your leadership context. Here are some factors (among others) that shape it:

The team's tasks

  • Task certainty: Are the tasks clear and defined, or unclear and innovative?
  • Task stability: Are the tasks in the team frequently changing, or constant and ongoing?

The team members

  • Motivation: Are team members intrinsically motivated, or do they need external encouragement?
  • Expertise: Who holds the expertise in the team? Is it the manager, or do the team members possess specialized knowledge?

Group characteristics

  • Dependencies: Do team members work independently on tasks, or do they have to collaborate closely?
  • Management span: How many employees report directly to the manager?

The team within the organization

  • Strategic relevance: How critical is the team to the company’s success
  • Interconnectedness: How much does the team have to collaborate with other departments?

 

Good to know: While the leadership context influences which roles are most suitable, the relationship is not straightforward or one-dimensional. The reality is more complex and layered. Ultimately, your reflection on the leadership context will help you develop a more nuanced and contextually aligned leadership approach, and this is the crucial point of this reflection.

Step 3: Tell your team members why you value their feedback and encourage them to participate

You can perform this step in whatever way suits you best. If you are looking for inspiration, check out our e-mail template that you can send to your team members in preparation for the upcoming Leadership Role Compass survey. You can find the template at the bottom of this article: Timeline for managers: Running the leadership survey

Source

Our approach is based on Professor Armin Trost's, PhD, field-tested leadership model: Trost, Armin (2023). Das richtige Führungsverständnis. Wie Sie Ihre Führungsrolle definieren, vermitteln und wirksam umsetzen. Berlin: Springer.