Leadership Versatility Index

The Leadership Versatility Index ® (LVI) is the thinking manager's feedback survey. It is based on a leadership model that offers a simple, compact framework to account for the complexities of the manager's job-the tensions and trade-offs, the balances to be struck. It covers both the interpersonal aspects of leading with the forceful-enabling duality as well as the business side with the strategic-operational duality.

While based on research, the LVI came out of years of consulting to senior managers about their leadership. This research and up-close work with leaders formed the basis of the book, The Versatile Leader. The book and the 360 are a matched set-the book explains the conceptual model of leadership and development and the 360 is the vehicle for applying it.

Because of its validity, brevity, and focus, the LVI is effective as a stand-alone assessment as well as part of a larger assessment battery. Some organisations use it to supplement their own in-house 360s.

Distinct Advantages

An innovative, more realistic rating scale

We all know that one way managers get themselves into trouble is by overdoing it - doing too much of a good thing, whether that be talking too much, pushing too hard, delegating too much authority, getting too caught up in the details, and so on. That's how strengths become weaknesses.

Most 360 instruments do not directly measure overdoing. Their rating scales are only designed to pick up deficiencies. Our new rating scale captures both "underdoing it" and "overdoing it", as well as effective performance.

The traditional 1-to-5 scale assumes that more is better. But managers-intense and driven as they are-often get in trouble by going to counterproductive extremes. The Leadership Versatility Index picks up overkill as well as deficiencies and strengths.

View product tour
View example report
View A5 brochure

 

 Download the article "Stop Overdoing Your Strengths" by Robert E. Kaplan and Robert B. Kaiser. February 2009

The tension and tradeoffs in leadership

Everyone talks about balance, which is a two-sided idea. However, standard assessment tools are built on linear models; lists of skills and dimensions in isolation from one another. The Leadership Versatility Index pairs up the key opposing but complementary skills and behaviours that make leadership a balancing act.

Both the interpersonal and the business side of leadership. Leadership is not just about the interpersonal side-the how of leading. It is also about the business side-the what of leading. The Leadership Versatility Index assesses the interpersonal part of leadership with the opposing forceful and enabling dimensions. It also assesses the business side with the opposing strategic and operational dimensions.