CLI: The Connective Leadership Institute : Sample Individual Inventory (ASI) results

The following styles are the ones you tend to use most frequently:

Personal (5.0)

You tend to rely on yourself, using your personality, intelligence, wit, humor, charm, personal appearance, family background, and previous achievements as instruments for further success. You enjoy public speaking and usually can convince others to help in your task. You have a flair for dramatic gestures and symbolism, selecting just the right symbol to convey the core meaning and importance of your task. Your knack for taking counter-intuitive, or unexpected, action takes both your supporters and opponents by surprise and captivates their imaginations. You have a highly-developed sense of timing. You know how to use ritual and costume to communicate your message. You are very persuasive and use well-honed negotiating skills to resolve conflicts.

Collaborative (4.8)

You enjoy accomplishing a task by doing it with others, from a single collaborator to a team. Faced with a task, your first response is to call on one or several others to participate in the project. You feel an added surge of enthusiasm and creativity when you do things with others. Working in isolation rarely turns you on, and you usually try to avoid it. You like the camaraderie of working with others and feel devoted to the group and its goals. You are willing to do your portion of the work, but you also expect to receive your fair share of the prize. If the team does not succeed, you accept your proper measure of responsibility.

Entrusting (4.6)

You know how to make other people feel that you are counting on them. Your confidence in others makes them feel they can do the task, even if they have no specifically relevant experience. You entrust your goals and tasks to others and believe they can accomplish the task as well as, or even better than, you can on your own. When you give a task to an associate, you generally expect that person to come through with minimal supervision. Your entrusting style usually has the effect of empowering those on whom you rely, although, at the outset, they may quietly wish you would give them more explicit directions and advice. Nonetheless, you are very good at bringing out the best in others. In most cases, you simply expect everyone around you to help with your tasks. You use leadership through expectation. You are less concerned than the social achiever/leader about selecting just the right person for a specific task, because you simply believe that people will reach within themselves to live up to your flattering expectations.

Vicarious (4.6)

You get a real sense of accomplishment from the success of others with whom you identify. You know how to be a good mentor, offering encouragement and guidance to others. You are happy to support other individuals and groups with reassurance, direction and praise, but you do not get into the act yourself. You feel very comfortable as a spectator or supporter of someone who is the main achiever, rather than as a direct participant in the task. Your sense of pride in the success of others is sufficient reward; you do not need to take credit for their accomplishments.

Although the styles that you use most frequently are very useful and important, you should be aware that they have potential limitations. This is particularly the case when individuals rely upon them to the exclusion of other styles:

Personal (5.0)

People who prefer this style use aspects of the self, such as their accomplishments and personal attributes. They tend to evaluate their achievements in terms of recognition, relationships or other accomplishments such achievements bring. They often rely too heavily on personal charisma, wit or intellect to persuade or influence others to become involved in their tasks. Their use of dramatic action or symbolic gestures to attract the attention and commitment of others may not always be appropriate or effective. Their charisma may be mistaken for "con artistry." Others may misinterpret their actions and consider them to be egotistical or overly self-assured.

Collaborative (4.8)

People who prefer this style may be reluctant either to work alone or to take the initiative when solitary work is necessary. Their desire for camaraderie may make it difficult for them to work competitively when required. Because they like the egalitarian spirit of a team, they may be reluctant to take charge of the task and delegate responsibilities to others. On the other hand, they may want to participate as much as others when it may be more appropriate to be simply a secondary contributor to someone else's tasks. People who prefer this style can get caught up in the intricacies of group process and group dynamics, spending more time and effort on analysis of the group's interaction than on the task itself.

Entrusting (4.6)

People who prefer this style may rely too much upon others to assume responsibility for tasks. They may depend too much on others when it would be better, faster, safer and more appropriate to do it themselves or to delegate it with more detailed guidelines. Others may misinterpret their behavior as not sufficiently assertive or directive, or even as dependent. Since people who prefer this style do not select helpers on the basis of task-specific experience, they may have unwarranted confidence in other people's abilities. They may need to consider when it would be better to depend upon someone with more task-relevant skills. They may overestimate others' interest and commitment, as well. Entrusting achievers/leaders may seek excessive encouragement and affirmation from others before moving forward as they may underestimate their own judgment or abilities to accomplish a task. This may take too much time and slow the progress of a task.

Vicarious (4.6)

People who prefer this style may remain behind the scenes or on the sidelines, not actively involved in tasks. They may put others' goals ahead of their own. They may be overly self-sacrificing and feel uncomfortable about putting their own goals or tasks ahead of others. They may be unwilling to devote the psychic and physical energy or other resources that are necessary to get directly involved in their own, a group's, or another's task. Others may perceive them as lacking the self confidence or initiative to do it alone. In extreme cases, when they seem overly supportive, others may see them as groupies.

The following styles are the ones you tend to use less frequently. Individuals who use these styles gain certain benefits that you may be foregoing unnecessarily:

Competitive (4.0)

People who use this style derive satisfaction from performing a task better than anyone else. They get an enormous thrill from winning. When they don't come in ahead of the pack, they are disappointed, but not discouraged. Competition motivates them to persist at a task until they succeed. People who use this style are less driven by internal standards of exquisite perfection than by comparisons with the performance of others. They judge themselves by more external and less personal standards.

Power (3.8)

People who prefer this style like to be in charge of everything: the agenda, the task, events, people and resources. They like to be in leadership positions and have little interest in being followers. They feel very comfortable taking control. They coordinate and organize people and events. Most of the time, they understand and act upon the need for delegating tasks to others. When they do delegate, however, they tend to continue to monitor the activity very closely. People who use this style are good at commandeering the resources.

Social (3.8)

People who prefer this style accomplish things by seeking the help of other people whose special skills or background are relevant to the task at hand. They like to do things through other people, and they quickly recognize the connections between people and tasks. They keep good mental notes about the specific talents, knowledge and contacts of their associates and easily link them to appropriate tasks. People who use this style have strong political and networking skills, which they call upon comfortably. They keep in touch with a large network of people, who feel remembered, liked and ready to help. They put associates who need assistance in touch with just the right helper. They are more likely to pick up the telephone and call someone for information than to go to the library or database to dig it out for themselves. Their network is their database.

Intrinsic (3.4)

People who use this style tend to be self-motivated. They do not wait for others to help them. They look within themselves both for motivation and for standards of excellence. Even when others assure them that their performance is good enough, they often are dissatisfied, particularly if they do not feel they have given it their best shot. They enjoy the sense of autonomy that comes from not having to rely on others. Being in control of themselves and how they do the task affords them a sense of intellectual and creative freedom. They look within themselves for the resources to perform any given task. Tasks that represent a real challenge interest them regardless of whether or not they will receive any external reward. Doing a task, particularly a challenging one, well is reward enough for them. They feel they know what needs to be done, and they usually can articulate this vision for others.

Contributory (3.2)

People who favor this style prefer to work behind the scenes to help others accomplish their tasks. They take satisfaction from doing their part well so that the other person or group is successful. They know that their contribution has made a difference to the other party's success, and this gives them a satisfying sense of accomplishment. They see themselves as partners in the other person's task, but they also understand that the major accomplishment belongs to the other person. They are pleased to participate in important undertakings and often volunteer to help others whose goals they respect.