The Five Paths to Leadership® is a proven model that helps individuals and teams understand their leadership strengths, and how to apply them more effectively. This assessment is free with your Academic Impressions membership.
Unlike other leadership models that assign you a single style, Five Paths measures your ease of access to five intuitive leadership styles: Critical Thinker, Relator, Visionary, Warrior, and Sage, and shows how your style shifts under stress.
You may be familiar with the Five Paths to Leadership® on an individual level. However, the tool becomes much more powerful when used with teams. When an entire team gains an understanding of their results, you can strengthen collaboration, lead with greater confidence, and help your teams thrive in a changing world.
The Five Paths to Leadership® Self-Assessment is included free with your Academic Impressions membership, or available at $50 per license. To begin using the model with your team, you and all members of your team should complete the assessment.
We have upcoming sessions where a certified Five Paths to Leadership® facilitator will help you understand and interpret your results. Have your team attend the session together to gain an understanding of your results.
Attend a live sessionAfter attending an Understanding Your Results session, it is helpful to have a discussion as a team about your highest paths under normal circumstances and under stress, and how these show up for you. This conversation can help build understanding among team members and help you move from tension to understanding, and finally to building on your strengths in a collaborative manner. Try using some of the prompts below to start the conversation.
Choose one or two focus areas. You do not need to cover all four in a single session.
- Which paths tend to dominate our meetings? Which are underrepresented?
- How do different paths prefer meetings to be structured?
- What one adjustment would make our meetings more effective for everyone?
- How do different paths prefer to receive information?
- Which path does our current communication style most resemble, and how is that serving us?
- Where do misunderstandings tend to arise?
- When do we collaborate well? When does it feel strained?
- Do certain tasks favor certain styles? Are we accounting for that?
- How do we handle disagreement across styles, honestly?
- Who wants data? Who wants dialogue? Who wants speed?
- When do we over-deliberate? When do we move too fast?
- How clear are we about who owns the final decision, and how we communicate it?
Normalize differences. Variation in leadership style is an asset, not a problem. Say this out loud at the start, and reinforce it throughout.
Watch for defensiveness. If someone reacts strongly, recenter on development: “Every path has real strengths. The question is how do we tap everyone’s collective strengths.”
Balance participation. Normalize participation for quieter members. “We need all of the paths to be successful, and just because two people have relator as their highest path, it does not mean it shows up the same way. So we want to hear from everyone.”
Avoid stereotyping. A path describes tendencies, not a person. Push for specificity: “How does this actually show up for you, not just in theory?”
Move from abstract to real. If the conversation stays surface-level, try: “Where have we actually seen this happen on our team?” instead of “What do you think?”
End with commitments. Insight without behavior change is just interesting. Conclude with one specific commitment per person, and put a date on revisiting it.
The Five Paths to Leadership® is not a one-time conversation. It becomes most powerful when it becomes part of your team’s ongoing language. Small, consistent adjustments in how you meet, communicate, collaborate, and decide compound over time.
Sophia
If you are an Academic Impressions member, you have access to My Path, your personalized leadership development hub, where you can revisit your scores any time. You can also use Sophia, our confidential AI coach, to reflect on your leadership style. Share these prompts with your team to try after your discussion:
- Explain my Five Paths scores.
- How do my Five Paths scores explain how I handle uncertainty?
- How can I use my Five Paths style to give better feedback to a colleague?
- My highest Five Paths score is ______. My supervisor’s highest score is ______. How can I better communicate with them?
- My highest Five Paths score is ______. How can I better communicate with a colleague with ______ as their highest path?
Five Paths to Leadership® is free with an Academic Impressions membership. Not a member? Explore membership and learn more.
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