Day 4: How Inclined Are You to Lead?

Do you step forward naturally, or do you prefer to contribute from behind the scenes?

Image from 16personalities.com

TL;DR: Your leadership inclination reveals how likely you are to step into leadership roles when no one’s officially in charge. Understanding whether you naturally embrace the spotlight or prefer behind-the-scenes influence helps you lead more authentically and effectively.

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Welcome back to Day 4 of our Leadership Styles Challenge. We’ve covered a lot by now and we’re nearing the end of this challenge, but stay with me because today we’re getting right to the heart of a core question: How inclined are you to step into a leadership role?

Want to just know your leadership inclination level instead of guessing? Take our Leadership Styles II Test to find out. It takes about 20 minutes to complete and can be accessed as part of your Premium Personality Profile.

When it comes down to it, one’s desire to lead isn’t really about their leadership skills or whether they’d be effective in charge. (After all, someone can be a good leader and an unwilling one.) It’s more of an innate inclination and what feels most natural to you.

Before we jump into today’s topic, here’s a recap of all that we’ve covered together in this challenge so far:

• Day 1: Are You a Transformational or Transactional Leader?

• Day 2: How Adaptable Are You?

• Day 3: Do You Focus on Tasks or People?

• Day 4: How Inclined Are You to Lead? (You Are Here)

• Day 5: What’s Your Leadership Style?

What’s Your Leadership Inclination?

If you found yourself in a group with no designated leader, would you step forward to guide things along? Or would you feel relieved when someone else took charge?

Truly pause and think about this for a few seconds, because your honest answer can help determine where you fall on the leadership inclination spectrum.

Got your answer?

Okay, good. Now let’s explore what a high, medium, and low inclination for leadership looks like, so you can see how your answer aligns with these patterns.

High Inclination for Leadership

If you have a high inclination for leadership, then you’re not afraid to be in the spotlight. When a group is losing focus or struggling to make decisions, you enthusiastically take the initiative. You’re more than willing to suggest solutions, push your peers toward decisions, and take action to turn plans into reality.

You care deeply about group performance and genuinely want to see teams achieve their goals. And you’re probably good at drawing out quieter team members and raising everyone’s energy and enthusiasm.

Here are some signs that you have a high inclination for leadership:

• You step forward when groups are stuck or unfocused

• You’re comfortable making decisions and owning the consequences

• You can energize others and draw out less vocal team members

• You gravitate toward situations where your leadership skills are needed

The strength here is obvious – you create momentum when others might hesitate. Your willingness to take charge can be exactly what stalled teams need. The challenge? You might clash with other high-inclination leaders, and sometimes your tendency to lead can make it difficult to step back when the situation calls for it.

Would you be interested in a post about how to prepare for a leadership role when you have little inclination to lead? Let me know in the comments or by liking this post. If there’s enough interest, I’ll write one!

Medium Inclination for Leadership