What is a Leadership Compass exercise?
- Please refer to this post: Four Rooms of Leadership
- I recommend starting your use of the Leadership Spiral with the set of questions provided in that post…
- … and return here once you are familiar with the Leadership Compass exercises of the Leadership Spiral.
Leadership Compass: “Developing Myself as a Leader“
Leadership is not a role you step into once and then master. It is a practice—one that evolves as context, responsibility, and expectations change. The Leadership Compass Exercise is designed to support this continuous development by offering structured reflection across the four essential dimensions of leadership: leading myself, leading one other person, leading a team, and leading within the organization.
The questions are not meant to be answered quickly or correctly. They are invitations to slow down, notice patterns, and challenge familiar assumptions. Used regularly, they help leaders develop clarity, intentionality, and inner stability—qualities that become increasingly critical as complexity and ambiguity rise.
This exercise follows the natural flow of leadership responsibility: from inner alignment, to relational awareness, to collective capability, and finally to systemic impact. It can be used individually, in coaching, or as part of leadership development programs. What matters most is not how many questions you answer, but how honestly you engage with them.
🌱 Leading Myself (Me)
Exploring inner clarity, self-regulation, and growth edges.
- What parts of me lead naturally — and which parts tend to follow out of habit or fear?
- When I’m at my best as a leader, what inner conditions make that possible?
- What am I currently unlearning about leadership — and what new stance is emerging?
- How do I care for my own energy and mindset so that others can rely on me sustainably?
🤝 Leading One Other Person (You)
Building awareness in relationships and mutual growth.
- Who challenges my leadership most right now — and what do they reveal about my development edge?
- When I try to “help” someone, what assumption about my role sneaks in?
- How do I balance honesty and empathy in difficult conversations?
- What might change if I approached each 1:1 relationship as a shared learning space rather than a performance zone?
👥 Leading a Team
Expanding from individual influence to collective growth and capability.
- How do I enable my team to grow beyond my current leadership capacity?
- Where do I step in too much — and where do I leave too much space?
- How does the team mirror my own mindset and behavior patterns?
- What practices or rituals could help the team continuously develop itself without relying on me?
🏛 Leading in the Organization
Seeing and shaping systems — influencing through purpose and culture.
- How does my leadership contribute to or challenge the existing organizational culture?
- What systemic patterns do I notice repeating — and what might my own part in them be?
- What’s the smallest meaningful change I can make that would ripple beyond my immediate scope?
- How am I developing my capacity to think, act, and communicate at the system level — not just the team level?
Leadership is a Continuous Act of Development
Leadership does not improve by default. Experience alone is not enough. Without reflection, experience merely reinforces existing habits—effective or not.
The Leadership Compass exercises exist to counter that drift. They remind us that leadership maturity grows when we repeatedly return to ourselves, examine our impact, and consciously expand our capacity to take responsibility at broader levels. Each spiral through these questions strengthens self-awareness, sharpens judgment, and deepens the ability to lead with intention rather than reaction.
Becoming better at leadership is not about fixing deficiencies. It is about growing into the role again and again—as situations change, as people change, and as you change. Leaders who commit to this ongoing development create trust, stability, and momentum not because they have all the answers, but because they continue to learn.
Leadership, in this sense, is never finished.
And that is precisely what makes it a responsibility worth embracing.