What’s your level of leadership? If you’re like me, it’s hard to say unless you have a model to reference. The Ladder of Leadership model comes from the book Turn the Ship Around: A True Story of Turning Followers Into Leaders, by L. David Marquet. There are many ways we can find value with this model, so let’s explore!
You’ll see that there is a column for ”Boss” and one for “Worker”. These are generic terms. Maybe in your situation it’s manager and engineer, or VP and director. There are 7 levels. A leader at Level 1 will use language like, “Here’s what you need to do, step by step”. If they are a Level 1 worker, they may say, “Tell me what to do.” Similarly, a boss at Level 3 may ask, “What do you think we should do?” and a worker at Level 3 may state, “Here’s what I think we should do.”
Discover Your Level
We can use the Ladder of Leadership to gauge our own level of leadership. If we reflect on any given day, what phrases on the ladder correspond best with the language we use and mindset we have? Note, it’s OK to be at Level 1, and it’s inevitable in certain situations. If you are new to an organization, for the amount of time you are onboarding and ramping up, you are likely spending a lot of time at Level 1. Our goal, no matter what level we’re at, can be to move ourselves up the ladder.
Identify Your Boss’ Level
As we assess our own level of leadership, we can identify our boss’ level of leadership as well. This awareness helps us understand the situation. If our boss is consistently at a higher level of leadership than we are, this is a good thing! We can grow as leaders under a boss like this. If our boss’ level of leadership is consistently lower than ours, then growing our level of leadership will be more difficult.
Different Levels for Different Situations
Likely we are at different levels of leadership in different situations. At work we may be one level most of the time, or we may flow through levels. For example, we may be at level 4 or 5 for the majority of our day. However, say we’re also on a committee to help improve best practices around a particular system. There are lots of subject matter experts on the team, and you are learning a lot. You may be at a Level 2 or 3 in this group until you get a really good understanding of the context and vision. You may also have to do research to be able to contribute at a higher level.
Sweet Spot
Level 5, the “I intend” level, is the sweet spot for both boss and worker. Say we assess a situation and have a course of action in mind. We go to our boss and say, “I intend to follow this course of action.” By using the “I intend” language, we are taking psychological ownership of the solution we’re proposing.
A Level 5 boss can reply with questions that are important to the success of the solution. They may ask if you’ve considered all the safety standards, budget, or schedule. If you haven’t, then you can go back and get the answers to these questions. The bonus: you’ll know what to address for the next solution or course of action you propose.
This Level 5 Interaction has several benefits. The boss doesn’t have to micromanage. The boss can rely on their team to think and propose solutions instead of just coming to them with a problem. The worker is learning what’s important to the boss from the feedback given. In essence, the worker is training for the boss’ job and responsibilities.
“People support what they create.”
Brendon Burchard
By owning the solution, it’s going to be done with more care than if the boss had dictated the solution. Sometimes the boss’ solution might be a better solution, but unless the worker’s solution is not appropriate, trading “fully supporting” for “better solution but without full support”, might be worth it.
Moving Up the Ladder
We can use the language in the ladder to up level our leadership. For example, you’re the boss and you have a team member stuck at Level 1. When Level 1 comes to you and says some variation of, “Tell me what to do,” you can reply with, “What do you observe about the situation?” You are moving that person up the ladder. Similarly, if they tell you what they’d like to do, ask them what they intend to do. Using the language of the Ladder of Leadership gives us a way to increase the level of leadership of those on our team.
Individually we can also use the language of the Ladder of Leadership to increase our own level of leadership. If we find ourselves going to our manager and asking them to tell us what to do, we can instead start formulating options and go to them with the options. We’ll shift from Level 1, “Tell me what to do” to Level 2, or 3, “I observe this about the problem. Can we brainstorm on solutions?” or “I think we might be able to solve the problem this way…”
What about Levels 6 & 7?
Levels 6 and 7, in my opinion, are found in small teams of high performers who have worked together a long time and understand the subject matter and context inside and out. These levels represent the highest levels of trust. In most organizations there is enough uncertainty and change to make achieving those levels challenging. If you get to Level 5 consistently, you’ll have an extremely efficient team AND you’ll be prepared to take on the next level of responsibility.
tl;dr
The Ladder of Leadership, from L. David Marquet’s book, Turn the Ship Around: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders, can be used in many ways. We can identify our own level of leadership as well as our boss’ level of leadership. We can use the language in the ladder to increase the level of leadership in our team members as well as ourselves. Settling in at Level 5 and using “I intend..” language reflects our ownership of the proposed solution or course of action.
engineer your life
- Identify your level of leadership by reflecting on your language and comparing to the Ladder of Leadership.
- Identify your boss’ level of leadership in the same way.
- Can you increase your level of leadership by taking on ownership of solutions or courses of action? If yes, adjust your language using the Ladder to reflect this.
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash