When I was starting out at work there was a huge culture of “leader as coach” and “leadership at every level”. We were all expected to be learning from senior team members and to be coaching and leading each other.
Looking back I think it was a privilege to be part of a culture that gave me such exposure to leading at an early part in my career. I am not sure if everyone starting out in their careers gets the same chance to practice and reflect on what some people now call “soft skills”.
We had games to play, surveys to do, and zealots who preached all manner of expectations about leading.
Coming through that period there were a bunch of “new and scientific” psychological assessments that allowed you to identify your strengths and gaps and then align your development to become more awesome.
The early ones were based on a theory of leadership and you would be an awesome leader if you had the right traits or habits. You needed (I recall) Listening, Negotiation, Creating a clear vision. They were great, but seemed to be based on little research.
Then next generation of surveys I was exposed to were about your individual style. Unlike hard-core psychological surveys like The Big 5, the survey never revealed you were a bad person or a complete psycho.
Instead, you found your particular strengths or style preferences and learned that others could be quite different. Surveys and games based on Belbin, Myers Briggs and others were really cool in that they lead to great conversations and an improvement in mutual respect. Sometimes these were led by great facilitators and the discussion really opened up conversations that increased my self-awareness of my leadership opportunities and gaps.
However I was always a bit cynical about the claims made about the scientific basis of the survey. I have always thought of these tests as being about as accurate a horoscopes and zodiac signs.
Just for clarity on that though, I am a Capricorn and we generally don’t believe in Astrology. So when I say this I mean the tests are nice to have but believing they define your personality, destiny or potential is to outsource your future to superstition.
I have been told by people that I trust that there are actually psychologically sound models, but I have not taken the time to learn them well enough to use them with confidence. I would love to become certified in one of these to really build my coaching muscles, but I have not done so yet.
I have always used the tests and games as a conversation starter to open up the conversation and explore questions of leadership. For that reason, the “Zodiac level of rigor” was fine.
For some reason, after a peak where there was even a tv series that showcased one of the models (Herman’s Head), I went a long time without being in a workshop or leadership program that used them.
Last year though I did an amazing series of Coursera courses and I encountered some tools that I found really useful for myself. I am keen to also use them in a leadership development program one day.
I thought I would capture them here and I am curious whether there are others I should be testing out on myself.
The six lives test
The first test is a really simple looking one from the book Springboard by G Richard Shell. I did it as part of a Coursera course that the author ran.
The survey consists of a short description of 6 people’s lives. You then rank which you think is the most successful and keep going to rank the least successful. As simple as it is, the decisions you have to make unpack a huge amount of thinking about how you define success and what you would see as a vision for your success.
“SAME” personality and character strengths
G Richard Shell also provided a survey where I was able to assess how I saw myself in terms of sliders between different styles. This worked really well for my own assessment and for getting feedback from some peers.
Unfortunately I didn’t find a publicly distributed version, so I won’t share it here.
Another good survey though was the VIA character strengths survey. I used this to highlight my own strengths and that was useful (I am curious and love learning according to the test).
I also used this same set of strengths in a positive psychology approach to overcoming a weakness. The tool I used basically forced me to confront a gap (closing the loop on things) and then align some strengths I could apply over 2 weeks to close the gap.
I find these surveys really useful for conversations around leadership styles and also playing to strengths.
Surveys on happiness and resilience
I have taken the Authentic Happiness and PERMA surveys from the following list (https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/testcenter) but never used them in coaching. They are a good source for self reflection, but I think I would need to review them properly before using them in a workshop
Moving motivators and decision poker
Management 3.0 has some excellent tools for both team creation and leadership development.
Moving Motivators is a great way to safely explain what motivates each person and even to reflect on how change impacts the team. Discussing these in a group facilitates a robust discussion of what is driving people a the moment and what they will continue to be motivated by.
Delegation Poker is a brilliant way to discuss accountability, delegation and power sharing with a group. It is easy to run and highlights differing expectations around roles and decision rights.
Both of these tools are available as a professional download or a free copy to print.
Leading the life you want
Dr Stewart Friedman created another MOOC that I did on Coursera. He included this survey as part of the course, based on his theory of leadership.
Unlike the “Strengths” type of approach, Friedman proposes the areas that he his research suggests are important in leadership. I find the survey really useful for identifying development areas or discussing where managers can support each others’ growth.
Friedman sees leadership as something that goes across work, home life, community and the whole of your life – so these are not just things to do at work and get promoted. You can even support this holistic approach by considering which areas of your life need work or provide you with energy.
Perill coaching model
Perill is a holistic approach to team and leadership coaching. It’s strengths and uses go beyond this article. But the models and books linked to this approach have a lot of assessment questions that support great leadership conversations.
There must be more
There are more than enough surveys here to support my own growth. Beyond that I find tools like these useful to create a conversation about leadership.
What have I missed though – what else is out there that is really useful?
James King 
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