In a coffee shop, everyone was listening to a man who was shouting over his phone.
“Oh come on! You’re the team lead.. and you tell me you can’t mentor the guys? I took you for a born leader, damn it”
A couple of tables away, an elderly woman, in her sweet sixties who listened to this convo, told her grandson “Son, that man is wrong. Leaders aren’t born. They’re made.”
Leadership is an underrated quality. But at the same time, they’re the very pillars of any organization. They don’t simply lead, but work, mentor, manage, plan, and whatnot! They not only set the vision but also serve as an inspiration for others to follow.
But whatever it is, they aren’t superheroes. They need to be assessed to discover what their strengths or weaknesses are and see if they can match up to certain standards. This can be done with the help of proper leadership assessment tools.
Even though the concept is pretty alienated in most organizations, regular assessments can improve the quality of the leadership and, thereby, steer the organization’s overall growth.
What does the leadership assessment tool do?
The leadership assessment tools identify an individual’s leadership capabilities in various domains and describe what stands out best in them. It helps to figure out how a person would fit into a certain role in an organization based on that role’s requirements.
9 best leadership assessment tools to look out for in 2023
Let’s face it, with tons of leadership assessment tools and tests, it’s quite hard to figure out what works best for your needs and what isn’t feasible. Well, considering that we have lined up the 9 best leadership assessment tools to checkout in 2021. Scroll down to find out the one that rightly fits your expectations and needs. Here are the 9 best leadership tools to look out for this year.
- SurveySparrow
- DISC
- Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
- Gallups Strengths Finder
- Saville Assessment
- Enneagram
- USC’s Leadership Style Self-Assessment
- The IHHP Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
- MindTools Leadership Skills Assessment
1. SurveySparrow’s 360 Feedback
A good 360-degree feedback tool lets you collect feedback from the employees on how their leader works and mentors them. This data can then be analyzed to know the manager’s strengths, weaknesses, and overall personality.
SurveySparrow’s 360-degree feedback tool promises several features that make the process easier and much faster. With a compelling UI that offers both conversational-style and chat-like surveys, you are going to get a whopping 40% response rate. Here’s an employee 360-degree feedback created using SurveySparrow..
To create similar employee 360-degree feedback surveys or any online survey, you can sign up here for FREE!
14-Day Free Trial • No Credit Card Required • No Strings Attached
Once the responses start pouring in, you can quickly spot the trends and patterns using the report-savvy dashboard.
Pricing: starts at $19 per month
2. DISC
If you have been researching leadership assessment tests, it’s sure that you are aware of DISC. It’s one of the simplest leadership assessment tools out there. The name DISC stands for the four most important traits/profiles that the tool checks out for in a person.
- (D)ominance – (task-oriented and active)
- (I)nfluence – (people-oriented and active)
- (S)teadiness – (people-oriented and reserved)
- (C)onscientiousness – (task-oriented and active)
The concept used to formulate this tool is quite straightforward and this makes the tool popular. The tool takes into account the noticeable behavior in a man and therefore, the results can be predicted beforehand.
The tool comes in different versions and the most advanced one allows you to differentiate the behavior exhibited by the person at work and home. The final test results will let you know if you are more of a people person or a task-oriented individual.
The major concern regarding this tool is that it provides just a surface-level understanding of a person’s capabilities. Moreover, as the results are predictable, the person can easily give wrong inputs to turn the tide in their favor.
Pricing: plan-based pricing scheme and starts at $4 for an admin account
3. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
This assessment test has been in the field for more than 50 years now. Compared to the DISC assessment, MTBI is a bit more complex but much more effective. The test results give detailed insights into a person’s character traits and capabilities.
The MTBI identifies 16 personalities and they are represented using the four-letter combination as below:
- Extroverted (E) vs Introverted (I)
- Thinking (T) vs Feeling (F)
- Judging (J) vs Perceiving (P)
- Sensing (S) vs Intuition (N)
One drawback of this assessment tool is that everyone using this must be aware of the four-letter combinations. Without a thorough understanding of these categories, the results remain meaningless.
Pricing: Free
4. Gallups Strengths Finder (Formerly Clifton StrengthsFinder)
True to its name, the test gives you well-detailed information about a person’s strengths. The test is widely used to identify where a person can perform the best and suggests areas to improve to be the best.
The tool motivates the individuals to work on their strengths, instead of developing their weaknesses. It figures out your top 5 traits/strengths from the lot and gives constructive feedback to improve the same.
The Clifton Strengths Assessment is ideal for personal coaching purposes as it helps them identify the fields they are best at, but the tool fails to prove worth when the team context is considered.
Pricing: plans start at $49.99 (one-time payment)
5. Saville Assessment
The Saville leadership assessment test is perfect for testing out an individual’s aptitude and personal skills. The aptitude test comprises a set of questions that assess the person’s numerical, spatial, linguistic, mechanical, and error correction skills.
While the personality assessment tests out the behavioral and personal preferences and details the person’s strengths and shortcomings. In addition to this, the test also reveals which culture-orientation would be the best fit for the person.
The test is certainly complicated when compared to the MTBI and DISC, but the results obtained are easy to understand. The final results are given on a number scale that describes the person’s various abilities and where he should provide attention to improve.
Pricing: starts at $39.99 (lifetime access)
6. Enneagram
The term Enneagram means Nine Types and categorizes people’s behavior into 9 types with 9 subtypes for each section. In total, this assessment groups the people’s traits and behavior into 81 different categories.
Until now, you were introduced to tests that take into account a person’s surface behavior and then check if they are the ideal leader you are looking for. In the case of Enneagram, the motive behind each action of an individual is thoroughly investigated. Thus, the results are unpredictable and vary from person to person.
The tool envisions the motivation that led to an action/reaction, and this tells a lot about a person much deeper than what he/she appears to be. But the complexity involved in the whole process turns out to be a drawback and for this reason, many organizations don’t go for this tool.
Pricing: starts at $22.50 per month
7. USC’s Leadership Style Self-Assessment
An accurate perception of oneself will help to bring out the best in themselves. Rightly said! The USC’s Leadership Style Self -Assessment is based on this simple idea and tells you what kind of a leader you are.
When you yourself and the team are on the same page regarding your leadership style and trait, you get to bring out the best performance. Failing to understand what kind of a leader you are can break apart your team and demotivates them to continue under your guidance.
This assessment helps you identify the right style and gives constructive tips to be on the right track of that particular leadership style.
The six-leadership style envisioned by this leadership assessment test are:
- Servant
- Front-Line
- Transformational
- Metamodern
- Postmodern
- Contrarian
Apart from listing out the leadership style that best adapts your perceptions and traits, the tool doesn’t help you identify your strengths or weaknesses. Also, the style is decided based on a set of limited questionnaires, and once a person masters it, they can easily divert the final outcome to the results they want.
Pricing: Lifetime free access
8. The IHHP Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and Performing Under Pressure Assessment
This leadership assessment test developed by the Institute for Health and Human Potential puts into test two major aspects– Emotional Intelligence/Quotient and under pressure performance. The test has to be carried out separately and the details have to be compared together to analyze a person’s performance as a leader.
The main idea behind this assessment is that Emotional Quotient is two times valuable than Intelligence Quotient in determining an individual’s success. According to IHHP, EQ is defined as the ability to identify, acknowledge, and manage one’s own emotions and inhibitions.
As a leader, you will have to face a number of instances that challenge your emotional stability, and to be successful, you need to balance out the positive and negative emotions.
When coming to the under-pressure performance assessment, the tests revolve around the simple concept “Nobody performs better under pressure”. When under pressure, a person’s negative side of emotions is triggered. As a leader, one needs to be sane in such situations and drive their team to the path that yields the best solution.
The tests are offered separately by IHHP, but in order to figure out a pattern, you need to conduct both of these tests.
Pricing: Lifetime Free access
9. MindTools Leadership Skills Assessment
The MindTools Leadership Skills Assessment assesses a person’s leadership skills based on a questionnaire that consists of 18 questions. The questions inquire about your different actions and instances that encounter in your professional life and details if you are already at your personal best or if there is room for improvement.
The final results are driven by three basic character traits:
- Self Confidence
- Personal Outlook and Attitude
- Emotional Intelligence
Once the leadership style is predicted, you get to take a more detailed test followed by an article that thoroughly explains that particular leadership trait.
Pricing: Free
Winding Up
Surely, all of these leadership assessment tools/tests are complex in their own ways, but here’s a pro tip: it’s always better to try out two different tests and then arrive at a final decision. This helps you to find out two things – whether the tests are reliable and if the person is giving in manipulated/honest inputs.
It’s hard to be a leader. But do you know what’s even harder? To follow a bad leader.
