Part of the Open Leadership Assessment
This survey assesses the degree to which someone you know is open in their leadership mindsets and behaviors. Based on the Open Leadership Definition, the survey determines how this person's leadership style reflects the open organization characteristics of transparency, inclusivity, adaptability, collaboration, and community.
Note
If you would like to assess your own leadership style, please use the Open Leadership Self Survey.
Read the statements in each section of this survey and indicate the degree to which you agree those statements describe the leader who asked you to complete this survey. Use the following scale to record your answers:
| Response | Numerical value |
|---|---|
| Never | 1 |
| Rarely | 2 |
| Sometimes | 3 |
| Often | 4 |
| Always | 5 |
Completing this survey will require approximately 30 minutes.
Note
If you are using an electronic assessment tool to administer this assessment, you may wish to notify respondents that the tool allows backwards navigation and/or saving the survey before submitting it. Include text like:Note that you can save your progress and return to it later using the "Resume later" link in the top right corner of your screen.]
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My colleague delivers clear, helpful, unbiased feedback.
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My colleague shares notes, records, and other materials with others, often before people specifically ask for them.
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When I want to learn more about something my colleague is working on or see the materials they're using to make decisions, I can access those materials I need without having to ask my colleague.
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When my colleague explains a decision or work activities, they also explain or describe the reasons for these decisions and the stakeholders’ motivations for making them.
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When my colleague is involved in a decision making process, they identify the implicit and explicit stakeholders involved, and invite others to join the decision-making process.
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I believe my colleague makes every reasonable effort to explain their decision-making to others impacted by it.
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When my colleague tells me something, I believe what they say is true.
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I believe my colleague relates to external stakeholders with the same clarity and honesty that they extend to colleagues in our organization.
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My colleague expects and welcomes clear, direct, and constructive feedback from colleagues whenever they offer it.
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When my colleague receives new information, they share it with those it may help.
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My colleague is aware of the ways their experiences limit their perspective.
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When my colleague starts a project or makes a decision, they consult with or include others with different backgrounds, experiences, and views.
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When planning, working, or making decisions, my colleague invites others who have been traditionally excluded or marginalized from those activities.
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When key stakeholders remain quiet on an issue, my colleague finds caring ways to understand their hesitations and elicits their contribution in a thoughtful way.
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My colleague provides collaborators and contributors with the tools and the opportunities they need to make meaningful contributions to our work.
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Our leader expects the team to make decisions that will improve how they work.
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People can easily approach my colleague with questions about the team's work and why we're doing it.
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I feel comfortable making decisions about our work without consulting my colleague.
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My colleague welcomes and responds mindfully to feedback from all stakeholders, including colleagues and community members outside their team.
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My colleague helps my team gather, understand, and respond to feedback from one another and from other teams in caring, constructive ways.
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My colleague encourages our team to change and improve what we're doing and how we're doing it.
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When my colleague conducts conversations about the purpose or outcome of our work, they invite everyone with a stake in those conversations to participate.
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My colleague asks me for feedback about their leadership practices and decision making, even before I offer it myself.
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When something we're doing no longer works as well as it once did, my colleague encourages us to rethink our strategy or approach.
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When I make mistakes, my colleague helps me acknowledge them and see them as opportunities for learning.
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My colleague acts with clear goals and intentions, but is willing to be flexible, listen to others, and rethink plans when conditions change.
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My colleague often asks people invested or interested in the outcome of their work to review it before it's finished.
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When our team doesn't achieve what we intended, my colleague helps us discuss the reasons we didn't succeed without judging anyone.
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My colleague provides a variety of ways for people to comment on their work and decisions (such as email, videoconferences, written evaluations, and more) so they can use a form that helps them feel comfortable giving honest feedback.
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When our team completes something significant, my colleague encourages us to reflect on what we've accomplished and discuss how we can improve.
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My colleague helps people on our team work through issues and disagreements to find the best solution, even if isn't the one they suggested.
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My colleague involves the people affected by this decision throughout the process of making the decision.
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My colleague facilitates collaborative decision-making wherever and whenever possible.
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My colleague considers how the work we do will be used or built on by other groups who are invested in it (stakeholders, communities, networks, teams, partners, etc) to ensure its value and ease-of-use.
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My colleague supports and clarifies the team's norms and expectiations for joint work as much as possible.
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My colleague encourages people to initiate projects and continue their work together, not individually.
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My colleague supports team or community building by taking advantage of successes to bring the group together in a way that reinforces its shared values.
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My colleague empowers groups to arrive at timely and effective conclusions while accommodating members with different preferences or constraints.
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My colleague coaches the team through disagreements by keeping us focused on our shared goals.
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My colleague makes sure our team has the knowledge and resources we need to work together and succeed, with or without them.
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My colleague puts the group's needs first by asking how they can support its collective goals.
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My colleague makes sure everyone on the team feels comfortable and empowered to improve the team's work.
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When our team makes a decision, comes to a conclusion, or defines a process, my colleague ensures we have documented that knowledge somewhere everyone can refer to it.
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When my colleague makes decisions or act in ways that affects their teammates, they do so in a way that reflects the team's collective values and principles.
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When my colleague builds a team, they ensure it's made up of people with all the skills and values we need to achieve our purpose.
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When leading, my colleague models the kinds of behaviors team members expect from one another.
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When new people join our team or working group, my colleague helps them understand the team's norms, processes, and preferences for working together.
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When my colleague leads our team, they engage with group members by giving them advice, encouragement, or feedback, rather than telling them what to do.
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When making a decision or leading a project, my colleague helps the group balance the team's overall goals with everyone's individual interests in order to build consensus wherever possible
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My colleague recognizes the contributions all teammates make to our work, and helps us acknowledge work that could go unnoticed.
Thank you for completing this survey. We hope the data are useful to you as you work to become a more open leader. To learn more about open leadership and open organizations, visit The Open Organization project.