A growing number of organizations are looking for tools and strategies that will enable the leadership team to reach its maximum potential. Leadership is a tricky thing to deal with. Most people have the false assumption that leaders are born with the ability to lead others. But executives and coaches are well aware that leadership skills can also be developed. This is why leadership assessments are critical in order to identify potential areas of weaknesses and for the team to map out the right steps to improve leadership.
Importance of Leadership Assessments
Leadership is multifaceted. It is important to continually assess your skills in order to make sure that every facet of your leadership style is aligned with your individual goals and the goals of the organization as a whole.
There are plenty of tools out there that are designed to assess these aspects of leadership. It is also important to identify a baseline with which you can measure the different parameters of effective leadership against when making these assessments. By measuring your leadership, you have an idea of what to work towards in order to boost the relevant leadership skills.
Just like a car that needs a regular oil change and maintenance check-up, you must also take the same approach with your leadership assessments. Make sure to conduct them periodically to address issues as they arise and to ensure that you can achieve more with the help of the right leadership approach.
Top 5 Tools for Leadership Assessments
With that in mind, it’s time to look at the top assessment tools for leadership. There is no shortage of leadership personality tests online which can provide some insight into essential leadership strengths and weaknesses. However, they might not be as comprehensive as you might need to impact your entire organization.
Here are some of the best assessment tools that are available right now to meet your organization’s various objectives.
1. DISC Profiling Test
When searching for tools and tests for leadership assessments, this is one that is always on the list. This is one of the simplest leadership assessment tools on the market. DISC stands for Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness.
This assessment tool takes into account the prevailing behavior of a leader. These behaviors make their succeeding actions and the results of those actions predictable. For example, it determines how a specific individual approaches a problem and their response to it.
There are several versions of this assessment tool and the most advanced ones enable you to differentiate between a person’s behavior at home and at work. The end goal is to assess if the person is a people person or a task-oriented person. The primary criticism with this assessment tool is that it is surface-level and does not provide a detailed insight into a person’s personality.
2. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
This is common test that you would hear about when it comes to studying personalities. For this reason, it is an excellent assessment tool for leaders too.
This test is designed to identify an individual as one of the following personalities:
- Extroverted vs Introverted
- Thinking vs Feeling
- Judging vs Perceiving
- Sensing vs Intuition
It has been more than 5 decades since this assessment tool was introduced and it remains popular today. The goal is to identify an individual’s characteristic traits and the complexity these add when it comes to a person’s choices and viewpoint in terms of personal and work life.
3. Gallup Strengthsfinder
As the name implies, this type of assessment tool is designed to gain a deeper insight into a person’s strengths. It specifically looks into the areas where an individual performs his or her best and identifies ways for improvement.
It is a unique assessment tool because it provides you with the steps needed to continue building on your strengths rather than working on weaknesses. The main criticism with this particular assessment tool is that it is more focused on the individual, rather than being fit for a team context.
4. Saville Assessment
There are two types of assessment that this tool has to offer: personality and aptitude tests. The aptitude test is designed to identify a wide range of skills while the personality test examines an individual’s personality at work and their behavioral preferences.
There is an option to go for the short or long questionnaire, depending on your reason for conducting the test. The test will provide a detailed insight into strengths and weaknesses, as well as the culture-orientation fit. It is for this same reason that this test is also used for new hires to facilitate a smooth onboarding process.
5. Emotional Intelligence Assessment
Howard Gardner, an education professor at Harvard University, claims that humans have multiple intelligences – from linguistic to spatial. And then there is IQ, which measures one’s capacity to understand.
One of the most important intelligences in a human is emotional intelligence. It refers to an individual’s ability to recognize their feelings and those of others. An effective leader must have high emotional intelligence. They should be able to feel emotions from others without being driven by them, and remain logical when making decisions.
The best leaders have to know the emotional makeup of those that they lead. It’s no secret that the work environment is innately stressful. A leader’s ability to understand the feelings and emotions of their employees can take those emotions into account when making decisions that impact them. That’s why all leaders are recommended to undergo emotional intelligence tests to assess how well they are in tune with the emotions of others. Some of these quizzes are free online and can help identify areas where you can improve.
The Bottom Line
Leadership is a process. The work on improvement never ends, especially as the needs of your organization change over time. The best leaders can adapt their skills and their leadership style to meet those changes. With these tools for leadership assessments, you can expand your ability to lead your team towards success.
