Leaders ADAPT teaching package
Teaching leadership styles: a free session plan for leadership courses and manager cohorts
Who this is for
Instructors of introductory leadership and organisational behaviour courses, undergraduate and MBA, learning and development leads running leadership development cohorts, and team leaders who want their team to understand how each of them leads. It works for students with no management experience: they plot themselves from group projects, sports teams and part time jobs, and the case gives everyone a shared team to practise on. If your course already teaches situational leadership, use this session as the self assessment layer on top of it.
What participants leave with
- A dominant and a secondary leadership type from the free type test, and a dominant style from the free style test, plotted as one cell on the type by style grid.
- A shared vocabulary for the difference between who you are as a leader (type, fairly fixed) and how you behave (style, a choice), and a way to tell the style they default to from the one the situation needs.
- A written flex plan: one real situation where their default style is not working, what the four situational factors say about it, the style it needs, and the trigger that tells them to switch.
Pre-work (optional, 10 minutes)
Ask participants to take the free leadership type test (20 questions, about 5 minutes) before the session and write down their top two types. For the 20 minute version, also ask them to take the free leadership style test (24 questions, about 12 minutes) in advance. Ask everyone to think of one situation in the last month, at work or in a group project, where the way they led did not land.
The Elite Leader Matrix: type against style
Andreas Pettersson's model pulls apart two things most style quizzes mix up. Your type is how you are built: the kind of work that gives you energy and where you add value without trying. It hardly changes, much like being left or right handed. Your style is what you do: the approach you choose in a given moment, and it should change with the situation. Four types crossed with four styles gives a sixteen cell grid. The label is not the point. The point is catching the moment you reach for the style that feels natural when the situation is asking for a different one. The short version to put on a slide: keep your type, flex your style.
- The four types (who you are)
- Visionary: energised by ideas, possibilities and the long view. Weak spot: turning ideas into finished work. Coach: energised by watching people grow. Weak spot: tough people decisions, holding the line on standards, refusing requests. Strategist: energised by hard problems and well built systems. Weak spot: warmth, team mood and pace. Executor: energised by visible progress and things getting finished. Weak spot: the long horizon and letting other people own results.
- Dominant plus secondary
- Almost nobody is a single type. Most people show one clear lead type and a strong second, and the combination is what others recognise in them. The lead type tells you where your value and energy come from. The second shows up when you are under pressure and need to adapt. Your two weakest types are gaps to fill with other people, not projects for the next five years. A Visionary who is weak on execution should not try to turn into an Executor; they should find one, give them real ownership and stay out of their way.
- The four styles (how you behave)
- Transformational, leading through a picture of what could be: strong in change and growth, weak in routine operations and in a crisis. Servant, leading by removing obstacles for others: strong when building capability in calm periods, weak when a tough call cannot wait. Democratic, leading by deciding together: strong on complex problems where the team holds the expertise, weak in an emergency. Autocratic, leading by direct instruction with the reasoning attached: strong in a crisis and with inexperienced teams, weak with experienced people who need room. No style wins everywhere. Each one fits some situations and fails in others.
- The overuse red flags
- Every style has a warning sign that it has become a habit rather than a choice. Transformational: people can quote the vision but cannot name what matters this month. Servant: a weak performer stays for years while you keep developing them, and your strongest people resent carrying the load. Democratic: easy calls drag on for weeks and meetings mostly produce further meetings. Autocratic: nothing gets decided when you are out of the room, and ideas have stopped arriving. The underlying failure is one style used for everything, such as a Coach who stays in Servant mode through a crisis.
- The five weekly questions
- 1. Is the way I usually lead getting results this week? Energy, engagement and results say yes; withdrawal, slipping numbers or exhaustion say this situation needs something else. 2. What does this moment call for? A crisis usually calls for Autocratic, a change for Transformational, building skills for Servant, a complex decision for Democratic. 3. Am I choosing my style, or defaulting to it? The default will always feel easier; that feeling is not evidence it is right. 4. Who covers the ground I do not? 5. What will I change in my 1:1s, meetings and handoffs this week?
- Bridge to situational leadership
- Hersey and Blanchard's situational leadership makes the same move from the other side: match the leader's behaviour to the person's development level on this task. Directing (high direction, low support) for the enthusiastic beginner. Coaching (high direction, high support) for the disillusioned learner. Supporting (low direction, high support) for the capable but cautious performer. Delegating (low on both) for the self reliant achiever. A rough bridge to the Matrix: Directing sits closest to Autocratic, Coaching to Transformational, Supporting to Democratic, Delegating to Servant. Treat that bridge as a discussion prompt, not a rule. Question 5 asks the room to test it.
- The four situational factors
- Before you pick a style, read four things, the checklist Andreas uses in his course on adapting your style. Team dynamics: a team that is struggling to produce needs clearer direction, a team that is performing well needs more room. Task complexity: what the work actually demands, and how much guidance that takes. Readiness of the person: their ability and their willingness on this specific task, not in general. The situation itself: a conflict between two people, a reorganization, a change of strategy or a crisis can decide the style on its own. If you cannot say what you read on all four, you are probably using your default.
Situational leadership is Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard's model. The style labels Directing, Coaching, Supporting and Delegating and the development level names used here follow Blanchard's later SLII version. The Elite Leader Matrix, its types, styles, red flags and weekly questions, and the four situational factors from his course on adapting your style, are Andreas Pettersson's.
Session plans
Pick the length that fits your slot. Every version uses the same test, framework and worksheet.
20 minute version
| Minutes | What happens |
|---|---|
| Before | Both tests as pre-work: the type test (5 minutes) and the style test (12 minutes). Do not try to run the tests inside a 20 minute slot. |
| 0 to 4 | The rule in one line: type is who you are, style is how you behave. Draw the four by four grid. Everyone marks their cell on Part 2 of the handout from their test results. |
| 4 to 9 | Read the four style red flags aloud. Each person ticks the one they recognise in themselves on Part 3. Show of hands per red flag, no comment needed. |
| 9 to 15 | Read the case. Pairs answer discussion question 2: what does each of Elena's three leads need from her, using the situational leadership bridge? |
| 15 to 20 | Everyone writes the flex plan in Part 5. Close on weekly question 3: "Am I choosing my style, or defaulting to it?" |
45 minute version
| Minutes | What happens |
|---|---|
| 0 to 5 | Frame it: "Which habit got you promoted, or got you picked to lead the group project? Is it still working?" Then the rule: type is who you are, style is how you behave. |
| 5 to 17 | Everyone takes the free style test. They should have their type from pre-work; anyone who skipped it takes the 5 minute type test now and the style test after the session. Early finishers read the four red flags. |
| 17 to 24 | Walk the four types and four styles. Each person fills in Parts 1 and 2: dominant and secondary type, dominant style, and the style they reach for under pressure. Quick show of hands per type so the room sees its own spread. |
| 24 to 34 | Read the case. Small groups take discussion questions 1 to 4. One group reports on the outage. |
| 34 to 42 | Part 4, the situational check on three people they lead or work with, then Part 5, the flex plan, starting with the four situational factors. Pairs swap plans and challenge the trigger: would you actually notice it? |
| 42 to 45 | Each person picks one of the five weekly questions to ask themselves on Friday and writes it at the top of the sheet. |
90 minute version
| Minutes | What happens |
|---|---|
| 0 to 5 | Frame and rule. Type is who you are, style is how you behave: keep your type, flex your style. |
| 5 to 22 | Both tests in the room: type (5 minutes) then style (12 minutes). Anyone who did the type test as pre-work starts on the style test straight away. |
| 22 to 35 | Four corners. Label the corners of the room Visionary, Coach, Strategist, Executor. People stand in their dominant type corner and say one thing their type does without being asked. Then relabel the corners with the four styles and ask them to move to the style they actually used the last time things went wrong. Debrief who moved and why. An empty corner is worth a question too. |
| 35 to 45 | Teach the overuse red flags and the dominant plus secondary blend. Parts 1 to 3 of the handout. |
| 45 to 60 | Read the case. Small groups take discussion questions 1 to 5 and report one answer each. |
| 60 to 72 | Situational practice in trios. Three scenarios: a motivated new hire with limited experience; a tight, high stakes deadline with no room for error; a motivated team member who is struggling because they lack the skill or tools. For each: read the four situational factors out loud, choose the style, say what you would actually say in the first two minutes, and how the answer changes if the person were experienced. |
| 72 to 85 | Part 4 and Part 5 on a real situation. Pairs coach each other on the trigger and on what the switch will feel like. |
| 85 to 90 | Each person reads their trigger sentence aloud. Close on weekly question 3. |
The free test participants take
Participants take the free leadership style test on their own phone or laptop. It takes a few minutes. It asks for a name and email to send the full result, so tell participants that in advance. Results go only to the person who took it, so nobody has to share a score unless they choose to.
Link to give participants (paste it into your slides or learning platform):
https://www.leadersadapt.com/assessments/style/?utm_source=teaching-package&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=teach-leadership-styles
The case: the team lead everyone loves
Fictional case, written for teaching. Names, companies and numbers are invented.
Elena Brandt runs customer success at Northfold, a fictional software company of 90 people. Her type is Coach, with Strategist second. Her default style is Servant. Her team adores her, her engagement survey scores are the best in the company, and in two years she has never raised her voice.
She has three leads. Ravi joined four months ago from a retail job, is keen and asks good questions, and has never run a customer escalation. Marta has been there five years, knows every account, and has gone quiet since a new ticketing process was introduced; she does the work but does not volunteer ideas any more. Ben has missed his renewal targets for eight months. Elena has spent those months in weekly development conversations with him. Marta told a colleague she is tired of covering Ben's accounts.
Last Tuesday a fictional outage took down reporting for Northfold's largest customer. Elena gathered her leads, asked how everyone was feeling, and opened a discussion on options. Forty minutes later there was still no plan, and the customer had emailed the CEO twice. The CEO walked over and said, "Just tell people what to do." Elena did, and the incident was handled in an hour.
Elena now worries that being directive means becoming someone she is not. She also notices that Ravi handled his part of the outage badly because nobody had told him how escalations work, and that Marta handled hers perfectly without being asked.
The handout
Print one per participant. Parts 1 to 3 take ten minutes, Parts 4 and 5 are the ones to keep.
 Teaching packageTeaching leadership styles |
Leaders ADAPT | CC BY 4.0leadersadapt.com/teach-leadership-styles/ |
Type by style: my grid and my flex planPART 1. MY RESULTS
Dominant type: ______________ Secondary type: ______________
Two lowest types (hire or partner here): ______________ ______________
Dominant style: ______________
The style I reach for under pressure: ______________
PART 2. MY CELL ON THE GRID
Mark X for dominant type + dominant style. Mark O for secondary type + dominant style.
Transformational Servant Democratic Autocratic
Visionary [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
Coach [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
Strategist [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
Executor [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
Type = who I am (fairly fixed). Style = how I behave (a choice).
PART 3. WHICH RED FLAG IS MINE? (tick any that are true this month)
[ ] Transformational: people can repeat the vision but not next month's priorities.
[ ] Servant: an underperformer has stayed far too long while I "develop" them.
[ ] Democratic: simple decisions take weeks; meetings end by scheduling another meeting.
[ ] Autocratic: nothing gets decided without me; people have stopped offering ideas.
PART 4. SITUATIONAL CHECK (three people I lead or work with; initials only)
Situational leadership (Hersey and Blanchard): match direction and support to the person, on this task.
Initials | Competence on this task (low/high) | Commitment (low/high) | Style they need (Directing / Coaching / Supporting / Delegating) | Style I actually use
1. ____ | ____ | ____ | ______________ | ______________
2. ____ | ____ | ____ | ______________ | ______________
3. ____ | ____ | ____ | ______________ | ______________
PART 5. MY FLEX PLAN
A situation where my default style is not working right now:
The four situational factors, one line each:
Team dynamics: __________________ Task complexity: __________________
Readiness of the person (ability and willingness): __________________
The situation itself (conflict, reorganization, strategy change, crisis): ______________
What the situation calls for:
The style it needs: TRANSFORMATIONAL / SERVANT / DEMOCRATIC / AUTOCRATIC
My trigger: "When ______________________ happens, I will ______________________."
What the switch will feel like (it should feel uncomfortable):
Who I will ask whether it worked:
Date I will check: ______________
THE FIVE WEEKLY QUESTIONS (ask on Friday)
1. Is the way I usually lead getting results this week?
2. What does this moment call for?
3. Am I choosing my style, or defaulting to it?
4. Who covers the ground I do not?
5. What will I change in my 1:1s, meetings and handoffs this week? Teaching leadership styles: a session plan. Andreas Pettersson, Leaders ADAPT. Free to use under CC BY 4.0. https://www.leadersadapt.com/teach-leadership-styles/ The full system: 5minleader.leadersadapt.com/5ml |
Discussion questions
- What is Elena's type, and what is her default style? What in the case tells you which is which?
- Using situational leadership, what does each of Ravi, Marta and Ben need from Elena right now, and what is each of them getting?
- In the outage, which style did the situation need? Why did Elena not reach for it until the CEO told her to?
- Elena fears that being directive means becoming someone she is not. Answer her using the rule that type is fixed and style is a choice.
- The bridge pairs Directing with Autocratic and Delegating with Servant. Where does that hold, and where does it break? Is a Servant leader really delegating?
- Which of the four red flags would the people in your last team or group project have pinned on you?
- Think of a group project from start to deadline. Which style did the group need in week one, and which in the final week? Who supplied it?
Facilitator notes
- People defend their results. Say it twice: type is not a verdict and style is not a personality. Nobody is purely one type, and every style is right somewhere. If someone argues with their result, ask what they did the last time things went wrong. That is closer to their real style than the answer they wanted.
- The style test takes about 12 minutes and the type test about 5. Put a visible timer up. Both tests ask for a name and email before they show results; tell the room before they start. Anyone who prefers not to can read the four type and four style descriptions on the test pages and pick their own.
- Someone will ask which types complement each other. Do not hand out a pairing chart. Turn it back: "Look at your two lowest types. Who in your team, class or life is strong exactly there?" That answer is more useful than a generic pair.
- The most common trap in the flex plan is a trigger nobody would notice in the moment, such as "when the team needs more direction." Push for an observable event: "when a decision has been discussed in two meetings without being made," or "when a customer has escalated twice."
- For students without reports, use group projects, sports teams, societies and part time jobs throughout. The situational check works on teammates as well as reports: it is about what the person needs on this task, not about hierarchy.
- If the four corners exercise leaves one corner empty, ask the room what work that type usually does and who is doing it now. In most teams the answer is "nobody", and that is the finding.
Use, adapt and cite
This package is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. You may copy, print, adapt and share it in any course, workshop or internal training, including paid ones, as long as you credit the source with a link.
Citation
Link for your course page or syllabus
Using the package does not imply any endorsement of Leaders ADAPT by your institution, and none is claimed. Teaching with it? Tell us at andreas@leadersadapt.com and we will list your course on the teaching packages page.