Leadership Compass Exercise
The Leadership Spiral is a framework designed to create clarity and orientation for leaders. It does not prescribe solutions. Instead, it gains its power when filled with tools, approaches, methods, and practices that best fit the leader and their context.
One practical way to work with the Leadership Spiral is through structured reflection. The Leadership Compass Exercise uses reflective questions aligned with the four segments of the spiral — Me, You, Team, and Organization — explored in this deliberate order. While leaders are always free to choose the questions most relevant to them, I offer curated sets of questions, each designed to serve a specific leadership purpose.
The “Four Rooms of Leadership” form a foundational set of questions to begin working with the Leadership Spiral. They help leaders clarify their leadership approach, become familiar with the spiral’s segments, and experience firsthand the clarity and impact this model can create.
Pause. Look inward. Move forward with intention.
Leadership does not grow through answers alone. It grows through reflection — honest, sometimes uncomfortable, always clarifying. The Leadership Spiral invites you to return to these questions again and again. Each turn of the spiral offers a new perspective, deeper awareness, and more conscious choice. Use these questions as moments of pause. Do not rush them. Let them work on you.
Leadership Compass: “Four Rooms of Leadership“
me – leading myself
- Write down 3 values that are important to me as a leader.
- What helps me stay connected to my purpose?
- What is my personal “compass” in turbulent times?
you – my relationships to the individuals around me
- What helps other people to open up to me?
- What role does presence and clarity play in 1:1s for me?
- How do you handle my own emotions during challenging conversations?
- 🧩 Bonus : What do I need to let go of to truly empower another person?
team – how can I serve my team best
- What do I enable vs. control?
- How do I support psychological safety?
- How do I balance structure and autonomy?
organization – how can I change today
- What kind of leadership does my system need from me today?
- How do I lead across formal structures?
- What communication, alliances, or structures could change the system?
- 🏛️ Bonus: What symbols, habits or language would shift the culture?
Returning to the Spiral
As emphasized above, these questions are not meant to be answered once. They are meant to be revisited — with more experience, more honesty, and more responsibility each time. Over time, they are meant to be sharpened – with more purpose, more intention, more experience.
Leadership is not linear, neither is growth.
The spiral continues.