Responsive Leader Questionnaire

It's no secret that leading people in a way that responds to their individual capabilities yields the best results. Easy to apply and internalize, the Responsive Leader Questionnaire and Capability Inventory enables both new and existing leaders the ability to adapt their leadership approach to best match an individual employee’s capability.

How It Works

The Interpretive Guide Toolkit uses a combination of assessments for both leaders and their employees. Comparing the leader's responses to the leadership questionnaire and the employee's responses helps to validate the results. Meanwhile, gaps between the results provide the opportunity for discussion, exploration, and then improvement.

The Interpretive Guide Toolkit also provides leaders with insight into the responsive leader model, defines each of the four leadership styles in detail, and discusses the role that coaching and energizing play in helping a leader maximize employee performance. It also includes helpful tips and techniques to assist the leader in improving these two core skills.

Uses and Applications

Responsive Leadership Style Questionnaire is a situation-based leadership assessment for management development training. It measures current skills in managing employees and improves leadership effectiveness by developing supervisory skills, leadership skills, coaching skills, and the ability to motivate employees.

Use the Responsive Leadership Questionnaire to identify the four levels of leader intervention:

• Direct: "This is the way we do it"
• Persuade: "We do it this way because…"
• Involve: "How do you think we could do it better?"
• Trust: "Use your initiative freely so we can do it as well as possible"

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this workshop, participants will:

• Determine if the current leadership style is appropriate for individual employees
• Learn how to assess employee commitment and capability levels
• Quickly discover how to identify which leadership style is best for each employee
• Understand why coaching and energizing are critical to maximizing employee performance

Product Details

• Product Type: Assessment and workshop
• Target Audience: Managers and supervisors
• Measures: Leadership effectiveness
• Dimensions: Assertiveness, expressiveness, problem-solving, and leadership skills
• Time Required: Two hours

What to Order

Interpretive Guide Toolkit: Order One Toolkit Per Trainer

The Guide Toolkit provides everything you need to start making use of the Responsive Leadership Questionnaire, including the Interpretative Guide, one Leader Version questionnaire, and one Employee Version questionnaire. Each version is taken with a particular employee in mind. Additional copies of the Leader and Employee versions can be purchased in packs of 5.

We suggest using the Responsive Leader Interpretive Guide to interpret both your own and your employee’s scores to help you better understand the Responsive Leader theory. Then, scheduling a coaching meeting with your employee to compare and review your assessment results together.

Responsive Leader Questionnaire and Capability Inventory

Employee Version 5-Pack: Order One Pack for Up to Five Participants

The Employee Version is used by an employee (selected by their manager) with whom that manager has a direct reporting relationship.

This booklet contains two separate assessments, each with directions for manually scoring results. First, they complete the 16-item Responsive Leader Questionnaire (RLQ) which asks them to provide feedback on their manager’s leadership style as they have personally experienced it. This insight allows the manager to improve their effectiveness as a leader.

After scoring the RLQ, they then complete the two-part Capability Inventory, which asks the employee to assess their perception of their ability to do their job. The Capability Inventory is comprised of two components: an assessment of competence, and an assessment of commitment. Each contains five questions.

Leader Version 5-Pack: Order One Pack for Up to Five Participants

The Leader Version is used by a manager.

This booklet contains two separate assessments, each with directions for manually scoring results. First, they complete the 16-item Responsive Leader Questionnaire (RLQ) which asks them to assess their leadership style with an employee with whom they have a direct reporting relationship (that employee must subsequently complete the Employee Version). The manager scores the RLQ. 

After scoring the RLQ, they then completes the two-part Capability Inventory, which asks them to assess the employee’s ability to do their job. The Capability Inventory is comprised of two components: an assessment of competence, and an assessment of commitment. Each contains five questions.

After the employee has completed and returned their scoring form and booklet (i.e., the Employee Version), the manager then compares the employee’s observations with their own and may invite the employee to discuss any similarities or differences.

About the Authors

John Nicholls, Ph.D., is a manager and consultant. He was the creator of the Davos Symposium and served for six years as the first director of the World Economic Forum. He now heads his own consulting firm.