Leadership skills are essential if you want to learn how to advance your career and manage a team. However, to use them effectively, you need to understand how your personality and behavioural traits impact the type of leader you are. This leadership style quiz can help you determine your natural strengths and style as a leader so that you can develop them further.
Question 1: When you envision your dream office as a boss, which of these does it resemble?
Answer A: You have your own office in the same area as your employees but occasionally you come out to work in the shared workspace.
Answer B: There’s no way to distinguish your office from that of your workers. You believe everyone should be on a level playing field, which means you work alongside your employees.
Answer C: The office is small and unassuming and the door is always left open so your employees feel comfortable coming in as they need to.
Answer D: Your office is on a different floor or area from your employees. As the boss, you need to be in a different location and away from your staff.
Question 2: You find an employee watching Netflix at their desk when they should be working. What do you do?
Answer A: Call them to your office and ask if they’re feeling burnt out or unwell, then see if there’s anything you can do to help.
Answer B: Do nothing. Your employee must have a good reason to feel they need to take a break from work.
Answer C: Hold a team meeting and ask the other employees what they believe is a fair consequence for this type of behaviour.
Answer D: Call them out in front of their peers and deliver some form of public discipline so that they don’t do it again.
Question 3: While working on a big project, one of your employees makes a careless mistake that halts productivity for the rest of the day. What’s your response?
Answer A: Remind them of the company’s vision and how thoughtless errors can undermine the integrity of the work.
Answer B: Give the employee the chance to own up to the mistake and accept it as part of the innovation process.
Answer C: Discuss what happened with the team and ask everyone for ideas on how to make up for the lost time.
Answer D: Reprimand them in front of their colleagues and meet their negligence with additional work.
Question 4: How important is trust between you and your staff?
Answer A: You are proactive about demonstrating trust and leading by example.
Answer B: You trust your staff without question and have faith that they will do the right thing.
Answer C: Trust is a two-way street that employees and employers need to have with each other. Both have to earn it.
Answer D: You didn’t get into a management position to earn trust, which is why as the boss, your employees must implicitly respect your authority.
Question 5: What is your definition of structure in the workplace?
Answer A: Understanding that each person’s idea of structure is different, but that everyone must put in equal effort to make it work.
Answer B: Allowing employees to develop routines and processes that work best for them.
Answer C: A shared timetable that sees employees put in the same amount of effort each day and carry out the same tasks.
Answer D: Strict procedures and rules that are followed diligently by staff and that can only be changed by management.
Question 6: One of your staff members has exceeded their monthly KPIs and beaten a previous company record. How do you reward them?
Answer A: You give them a bonus to show your appreciation, and you share their success with the team.
Answer B: You leave it up to the employee to communicate their win, not wanting to show favouritism.
Answer C: You make a point of celebrating their success publicly and ask them to share their story.
Answer D: You remunerate the employee according to the predetermined commission structure and nothing more.
Question 7: Your team seems less motivated than usual. How do you restore morale?
Answer A: Plan unconventional activities that will boost creativity and stimulate dialogue, bringing everyone back to the same base.
Answer B: Leave them be. It wouldn’t be right to try and push them to work harder when they don’t feel up to it.
Answer C: Organise a team-building exercise that will give everyone the chance to recharge.
Answer D: Remind the team that there will be consequences if they don’t meet their goals and you let this serve as motivation to do better.
Mostly A’s: Transformational Leadership Style
A transformational leader is concerned with more than just work performance. They motivate, intellectually stimulate and build confidence in their people, focusing on the individual and the team.
The drawback to this approach is that employees can find the presence of a transformational leader to be tiring, with the lack of bigger-picture focus being a challenge.
Mostly B’s: Laissez-Faire Leadership Style
The laissez-faire leader is happy being hands-off and letting their employees innovate and work independently. They exercise trust and champion the potential of their people.
The downside to this approach is that high levels of autonomy can cause employees to feel isolated and lacking in accountability for their mistakes.
Mostly C’s: Democratic Leadership Style
A democratic leader favours a shared leadership style. They encourage input, collaboration and critical thinking.
The downside to this approach is that it can slow down the decision-making process and impact employees’ performances as a consensus is required before progress can be made.
Mostly D’s: Autocratic Leadership Style
An autocratic leader values controlled environments and assumes a position of authority on most matters. They enforce workplace policies and make decisions independently.
The drawback to this approach is that employees can develop a mistrust of management, which can lead to a drop in morale.
An MBA can help you develop skills that work for all styles of leadership and personality types. With these, you’ll have everything you need to thrive as a manager, CEO or managing director, no matter the working environment.
To determine the next step in your professional career and discuss the leadership skills you can acquire with the right MBA, speak with one of our Student Enrolment Advisors. We can help you find a study path that suits your goals and allows you to succeed as a leader in any workplace.
Whether you’re ready to enrol, or just have a quick question, simply fill out the enquiry form below to speak directly to the university’s enrolment team. They will be able to guide you through:
