Free tool · Strategy
Answer 18 questions about real team leadership situations and discover your dominant and secondary leadership style based on Daniel Goleman's 6 styles model (coercive, authoritative, affiliative, democratic, pacesetting and coaching). Visual radar and when to use each style. Free, no sign-up, and your data never leaves your browser.
How it works
Real team leadership situations: day-to-day pressure, managing people, and vision and development. You choose the reaction closest to yours among 6 options.
Each answer adds a point to the Goleman style it represents. We turn it into a percentage per style out of the 18 questions total.
A visual radar shows you at a glance which styles you use most and which you almost never use.
We identify your dominant style and your secondary style, with concrete recommendations and links to go deeper.
Goleman's 6 styles
“Do what I tell you”
Use it: in real crises, when you need to act now and there's no room for debate.
Avoid it: as a default style — it's one of the styles that most damages team climate over the long run.
“Come with me”
Use it: when the team needs clear direction, especially in times of change. It's the style with the most positive impact on climate, according to Goleman's research.
Avoid it: if you lack the credibility or technical knowledge of the team: it can sound hollow.
“People come first”
Use it: to rebuild trust after a conflict or to motivate during stressful times.
Avoid it: used alone, it avoids the tough feedback that's sometimes needed, and can leave underperformance uncorrected.
“What do you think?”
Use it: when you need genuine commitment from the team or you don't have all the information to decide alone.
Avoid it: in a crisis or when the team doesn't have enough expertise to contribute.
“Do as I do, now”
Use it: with highly competent, motivated teams that just need fast results in short timeframes.
Avoid it: as a habitual style — Goleman flags it as one of the styles that most damages climate when overused.
“Try this”
Use it: when you want to develop your team's long-term potential and there's time to invest in it.
Avoid it: in an immediate crisis, where there's no room for unhurried learning.
The model, explained
The six leadership styles model was published by psychologist Daniel Goleman in Harvard Business Review in March 2000, in the article “Leadership That Gets Results”. It's based on a study of more than 3,000 executives and describes six distinct ways of leading a team, each with a measurable effect on results and on working climate: coercive (“do what I tell you”), authoritative (“come with me”), affiliative (“people come first”), democratic (“what do you think?”), pacesetting (“do as I do, now”) and coaching (“try this”).
The most important conclusion from Goleman's study isn't which style is “the best”, but that the leaders with the best results combine several styles depending on the situation, rather than always relying on the same one. The research found that the authoritative style has the most positive impact on team climate, followed by affiliative, democratic and coaching. Coercive and pacesetting, on the other hand, damage it the most when they become the habitual way of leading — although both are very useful in the right context and for a limited time: a specific crisis, or a highly competent team that just needs fast results.
Knowing your dominant style isn't a closed diagnosis, it's a starting point. If your result points to a style you use almost exclusively — especially if it's coercive or pacesetting — the next step is usually to consciously work on your leadership flexibility, something we cover in detail in our executive coaching sessions. If your profile is more spread out across several styles, the challenge is learning to choose the right style for each situation instead of always repeating the same one out of habit.
This test is one more piece of the strategy and leadership content on this site. If, beyond your leadership style, you also want to check how mature your team's sales process is, you can also take the B2B sales maturity test.
Frequently asked questions
It's a framework published by Daniel Goleman in Harvard Business Review in March 2000 (“Leadership That Gets Results”), based on a study of more than 3,000 executives. It describes six ways of leading — coercive, authoritative, affiliative, democratic, pacesetting and coaching — each with a different effect on results and team climate.
None on its own: Goleman's research shows that the leaders with the best results combine several styles depending on the situation. If one has to be highlighted, the authoritative style showed the most positive impact on team climate, while the coercive and pacesetting styles are the ones that damage it most when used as a default style.
Yes. This test shows you your dominant style and your secondary style, plus the full radar with the weight of all six. Most leaders combine at least two or three styles depending on the context.
Between 4 and 6 minutes. It's 18 single-answer questions, grouped into 3 blocks of 6 questions each.
No. All the calculation runs in your browser with JavaScript; no answer is sent to any server and you are not asked to sign up or give your email.
So, what now?
Book a free 30-minute session and we'll go through your result, your dominant and secondary style, and which styles are worth strengthening given where your team is right now.