Leadership assessments

Celeste Watkins-Hayes and two Ford School students in conversation, outdoors in Weill Hall Courtyard, during the Ford School Fall Launch in 2021

Are you looking for a starting place in your leadership journey? Ford School students can take a variety of leadership assessments as part of courses or co-curricular activities at no cost to them. Assessments provide snapshots of skills, talents, styles, and competencies to help students set developmental goals and increase self-awareness.

Read on about how different assessments we offer give students multiple vantage points to better understand how they might approach leading themselves and others. Current students, please contact us if you have questions about accessing leadership assessments or reviewing results.

Six Domains of Leadership survey

The Six Domains of Leadership model serves as the framework for exploring effective leadership in the MPP Leading Organizations course and MPA Management and Leadership course. The model defines leadership using six domains: personal leadership, relational leadership, contextual leadership, inspirational leadership, supporting leadership, and responsible leadership. Students in the aforementioned courses complete a 360-degree assessment survey to gain insight into how others perceive their leadership behaviors and competencies. Leadership coaching is available to students to further review and reflect on their results.

CliftonStrengths

Rooted in strengths-based psychology, the CliftonStrengths assessment measures and categorizes naturally recurring patterns of thoughts and behaviors into 34 themes. Students can use their results to explore how they leverage their talents to build relationships, execute tasks, think strategically, and influence others. This assessment has been used as a leadership development tool in Ford School courses, leadership coaching, pre-orientation activities, and other workshops.

DiSC

Primarily focused on communication styles and preferences, the DiSC assessment helps students understand themselves and provides tools to manage conflict and effectively work on teams. The assessment measures where students fit across four personality profiles: (D)ominance, (i)nfluence, (S)teadiness and (C)onscientiousness. DiSC has previously been offered in graduate-level workshops and in the MPA capstone course.

The Leadership Practices Inventory

The Leadership Practices Inventory is leveraged in leadership coaching engagements and in the BA Applied Learning Seminar. The 360-degree assessment measures how frequently students engage in "exemplary leadership behaviors" and provide insights to build positive relationships. 

Positive Intelligence

Positive Intelligence is a resource for developing a “mental fitness program” because all too often, individuals tend to sabotage their effectiveness with limiting beliefs.  Students identify their saboteurs through an online assessment, then learn to intercept those self-sabotaging beliefs and activate five core positive “sage powers” to maximize their positive impact.