Shakti Leadership Styles Assessment & Ready Reckoner

It is very important to understand your dominant energy archetype. Some of us are more masculine in our leadership, others more feminine. It is fine to have a preference; it’s important to recognize which is your dominant pole and which is your complementary pole.

Download the Shakti Leadership Styles Assessment XLS HERE to fill out and understand your leadership style.

Here are some reference notes to go with the worksheet:

What do you focus on to get the job done? How do you exercise influence? How do you get others to do what is important? What energizes or drives you when working with others? How do you resolve disagreements or disputes? For each of these areas, there are multiple polarities, such as hierarchy (considered masculine) versus network (considered feminine), or level and status versus relationships. Fill in the appropriate score on BOTH sides of the vertical line (being ‘0’), as it corresponds to you, to get a sense of what your style is (with 1 being least, and 3 being the most feminine or masculine, respectively).

There’s no right or wrong way; it’s just about becoming aware.

If you have scored a 3 on any front, ask yourself if there are situations where that may not be serving you. The takeaway from this exercise is that it’s fine to have a dominant archetype, to be either masculine or feminine. But you must know this in order to call on the complementary energy when needed.

Former corporate executive Betty Ann Heggie uses a simple metaphor to explain how to balance our masculine and feminine energy in any situation as required. Think of hot and cold water from a tap. She says, “When you feel the water getting too hot, dial down the temperature by turning on the cold water tap. When it cools too much, turn the hot back on and reduce the cold until you find the perfect temperature.”

Pay particular attention to this when you find yourself in a leadership moment or dilemma and feeling stuck. You are stuck because what you’re doing isn’t working. That’s when you need to know what to pull from the other pole. You can always use it, let it go when it’s done, and come back to being in your anchored place.

The whole idea of flexibility is that you should be anchored in yourself, but also know how to flex toward something else. Bend, but don’t break. Bend toward it and then come right back when you no longer need it.

Remember that the ideal to strive for is the ardhanarishwar, the beautiful depiction of half man–half woman in the yogic tradition: to have transcended gender and its surface qualities. Learn to hold both and play to one or the other as needed.

Avivah Wittenberg-Cox is a consultant who helps to build gender-balanced businesses. She advocates that businesses and their employees learn to be “gender-bilingual”—to speak the language of the feminine as well as the language of the masculine.

Speak the language of the country you are in. But you don’t stop being the other.

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