Lewis Jaques sought to define levels within organizational leadership, so he dug deep into over 40 years of business research to identify important milestones and common hierarchies within organizations. Lewis found that there was a common thread in the research and released his 6 levels of leadership. Each level has unique characteristics and leadership mindsets, but every level is expected to think bigger about themselves, the business and overall impact. No matter where you fall on this ladder, an effective leader-manager needs to see the big picture in three areas: their own contribution, the alignment of their team’s work with that of the business, and the threats of the organization’s competitors.
How To Evaluate What Level You Are At?
You have likely been told that you need to be more strategic in your thinking, but this of little help because what does ‘being more strategic’ really mean? Based on the Requisite science, researchers have found that strategic thinking can be divided and grouped based on your lens of outlook (i.e. how far in the future you are thinking on the majority of tasks you complete.) For example, if you are involved in work that you can leave behind at night and not worry about, you are likely operating at level 1. If, however, the projects you are involved in are multi-year projects you are likely in level 3 or 4 of leadership.
Identifying Your Primary Level
No matter where you are in your organization, you likely perform a variety of tasks and functions that can be grouped into many of these 6 levels. When identifying your primary level of leadership, don’t think of where you spend 100% of your time, but rather at what level you should be spending most of your time thinking about.
Progression Through Leadership
Effective leadership requires competency and capacity at all previous levels.
- Level One/Two
- Self Leadership – the ability to manage time, be effective in individual results and communicate well with others
- Level Two/Three
- People Leadership – the ability to influence others, coach for results and achieve objectives through teams
- Level Three/Four
- Strategic Leadership – (or visionary leadership) the ability to set a vision and convince others to follow. Also the ability to anticipate threats and respond well to outside barriers and opportunities
3 Important Questions to Ask Yourself
Now that you understand where you fall on Jacques’ 6 Levels of Leadership, you can critically prioritize tasks and understand yours and others roles within the organization. Use these three reflection questions to start thinking about what your next steps are as a manager to climb Jacques’ ladder:
- What keeps me at my current level?
- What would need to change in order for me to move higher in levels?
- What might I need to do differently?
