The Association Blog

What level of leadership are you currently operating from?

In Part I of this series featuring top takeaways from The Network Live, Lily Yap shared three archetypes of emerging leaders. In Part II, Shawn K. Woods outlined his adaptive communication model for connecting with staff across generations. Next up: Gene Hammett’s five levels of leadership.

In his session, “Defining the Leader You Want to Become,” executive coach Gene Hammett cut straight to the chase. After introducing his powerful framework known as the Five Levels of Leadership, he challenged each person in the room to pinpoint the level they’re currently operating from—as well as what’s holding them back.

Five Levels of Leadership

Hammett asked each attendee to conduct a self-assessment and determine their level of leadership:

1. Anti-Leader — is reactive, overwhelmed or disconnected; driven by stress rather than intention
2. Transactional Leader — focuses on tasks and “getting things done”
3. Strategic Leader — focuses on direction, clarity, and moving the organization forward
4. People Leader — focuses on developing others, empowering teams, creating capacity
5. Compound Leader — focuses on building other leaders, who then build more leaders; this leaders’ impact multiplies across an organization

As Hammett explained, most leaders spend the majority of their time as Transactional Leaders, where their focus is tasks, emails, spreadsheets, and putting out daily fires. For real change to occur, we must move higher up the ladder.

The Leadership Ravine

The biggest barrier to moving upward is what Hammett calls the Leadership Ravine—the internal tug-of-war between doing the work yourself and trusting others to rise with you. This is the place where growth stalls, leaders retreat to old habits, and potential impact gets capped.

To move beyond this, Hammett recommended an honest self-assessment. “Look in the mirror, and face who you’re being now,” he advised. “Own the patterns keeping you stuck.”

Next comes determining who you want to be, not just what you want to do. “This may seem trivial or unnecessary, but it is foundational,” urged Hammett. “Who are you being that gets in the way of being a better leader? And who do you want to become in the next level of yourself?”

Once these are in place, continued Hammett, “Practice showing up as that version of yourself every day.” Practice, repeat, and reinforce—there is no lasting change without ongoing practice.

What level of leadership are you currently operating at? What patterns are keeping you stuck? Leave a comment and share your experience.

Learn More
What We Learned at The Network Live, Part I
What We Learned at The Network Live, Part II