Leader Readiness Sort
Leadership Transition Tool

Leader Readiness Sort

Identify the leadership competencies that matter most in the role you are stepping into, assess where you stand today, and focus development where the gap costs you the most.

How This Works

This sort connects the demands of your role to the competencies that will determine your effectiveness in it. Complete the sections in order. Your responses generate a development summary and support a coaching debrief.

1. Set the context

Identify who you are and the role you are stepping into.

2. Name the demands

List what the role requires and score stakes, urgency, and unfamiliarity.

3. Sort what matters

Place all 32 competencies into Essential Now, Important Next, or Lower Priority.

4. Rate yourself

Assess current strength on the 16 competencies that matter most.

5. Review the gaps

See where requirement and current strength diverge, then debrief.

1. Who You Are and Where You Are Going

Start by identifying your transition type. This shapes how the report is written and what the debrief focuses on.

2. Demands of the Role

Enter what the role actually requires of you. Score each demand for stakes, urgency, and unfamiliarity. The highest-demand items should guide how you sort the competencies.

Stakes

How much rides on getting this right, in terms of results, credibility, relationships, or risk.

Urgency

How soon you need to be effective at this for the role to stay on track.

Unfamiliarity

How much this asks of you that you have not done before, or have not done at this scope.

Role Demand = Stakes + Urgency + Unfamiliarity, using Low = 1, Medium = 2, High = 3.
0Demands entered
0High demand items
-Top demand score

3. Sort: What This Role Requires

This pass is about the role, not about you. Sort every competency by how much the role demands it, setting aside how good you currently are at it. The limits are deliberate. They force real tradeoffs.

Easiest way: use the buttons

Every card has three buttons at the bottom. Click Essential Now, Important Next, or Lower Priority to place it. Your choice is marked with a check. Click a different button any time to move it.

Or drag, if you prefer

You can also drag a card into a stack, drag it between stacks, or drag it back to the library to reconsider.

Essential Now: 6 cards

Without these, you will struggle in this role in the current horizon. These are non-negotiable.

Important Next: 10 cards

These matter to the role and will need attention, but they are not the first constraint.

Lower Priority: 16 cards

Valuable in leadership generally, but not what this role is asking of you right now.

0 of 32 sorted

Essential Now

0 / 6

Required for effectiveness in this role.

Important Next

0 / 10

Matters, but not the first constraint.

Lower Priority

0 / 16

Not what this role is asking now.

Competency Library

32

Unsorted cards live here. Use Details to see the definition, what strong performance looks like, and what it means in a transition.

4. Rate: Where You Stand Today

Complete the sort in section 3 first. The 16 competencies you place in Essential Now and Important Next will appear here.

Now assess yourself honestly on the 16 competencies the role requires most. Rate your current strength, not your potential. The gap between what the role requires and where you are today is what the development plan is built on.

Limited / Developing

You have little experience here, or you know this is where you get tripped up under pressure.

Solid

You handle this reliably in familiar conditions but have not tested it at the new scope.

Strong

Others would name this as a strength. You can rely on it and help others with it.

0 of 16Competencies rated
0Primary focus areas
0Strengths to leverage

5. Review and Submit

This is your sort. The interpretation happens in the debrief, so what you see here is deliberately a starting point rather than a conclusion.

Role Demand Snapshot

Add role demands to see the demand snapshot.

Development Priorities

Complete the sort and the self-rating to see your development priorities.

Where Your Attention Concentrates

Complete the sort to see which competency groups this role leans on.
Complete the sort and self-rating, then submit. Your coach receives the full report and will debrief it with you.