Before we continue, let’s take a moment to reflect on your natural leadership style based on the two key aspects discussed: control and support.
Follow these steps to assess yourself in relation to your professional life. At this point we are focusing on your natural leadership style, the one that feels most comfortable to you:
Control Spectrum
Think about how much control you prefer in various situations. This can range from being highly directive to very hands-off. For example:
High Control: You might be the leader who needs to know every detail of a project, like checking each slide of a presentation before it’s shown to clients.
Medium Control: Perhaps you set clear expectations for a team event but allow your team to handle the specifics of planning.
Low Control: You might fully delegate tasks, like trusting a team member to represent your department at a meeting without your input.
On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is very low control, and 10 is very high levels of control, where do you naturally sit?
Control Score: _____
Support Spectrum
Now, reflect on how much support or assistance you typically offer to others. This can vary from being highly supportive to preferring others to work independently. For example:
High Support: You might be the first to offer help when a new employee is struggling with the computer system, or you regularly check in with team members to see if they need anything.
Medium Support: You may offer help when asked, like when a colleague directly requests your input on a report they’re writing.
Low Support: You might expect team members to solve their own problems, like figuring out how to resolve a conflict with a difficult client without your intervention.
On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is very low support, and 10 is very high levels of support, where do you naturally sit?
Support Score: _____
Now that you have your rating for control and support, you should be able to roughly plot your position in the graph below. This graph is based on the work of Ken Blanchard, and will be fully explained in the following videos.
Reflection Questions:
- Why did you give yourself these ratings?
- Can you think of specific examples that justify your scores?
