What You're Sorting
Every card below is a competency: an integrated capacity built from personal traits and learned skill, not a raw skill on its own. This sort ranks competencies against each other. It does not rank or judge the people who have them.
Competence = behavior that meets the standard the situation requires.
Only a limited number of competencies can be Critical here. That constraint is deliberate, it forces real tradeoffs instead of a list where everything matters equally. Competencies are grouped by cluster, the handful of things this leadership level must do well, which you'll see once a level is chosen below.
How This Works
This sort connects a leadership level to the competencies that determine effectiveness at that level, using a forced-ranking method: every card gets placed, but only a limited number can go in each stack. That constraint is deliberate. It produces real differentiation instead of everything looking equally important.
Select the leadership level this sort is about.
Choose the question this sort answers: what will matter most going forward, what's actually true today, or where improvement would matter most.
Place every competency into one of three stacks, in limited numbers.
For a future-importance sort, assess the competencies that landed in the top two stacks. Current-practice and improvement-leverage sorts skip this, the sort placement is the read.
See where requirement and current strength diverge, or review the snapshot, then debrief.
1. Choose the Leadership Level
Each level has its own competency set, built around what that level must do well. Choose the level this sort is about.
2. About You
Just enough to route the results. Who this sort is about comes later, after you've sorted.
If your coach gave you a code so several people can assess the same leader, enter it here, both the leader's own self-assessment and every other rater use the same code. Leave blank for a standalone sort.
3. The Framing Question
Every sort answers a specific question, not a general one. Some questions ask what will matter most going forward, others ask what's actually true today, and others ask where closing a gap would matter most. Choose one, confirm the horizon, and name what makes this consequential right now, then sort against this question, not against leadership in general.
Choose a leadership level to see its framing question options.
Choose a leadership level in step 1 first. The competency set for that level will load here.
4. Sort: What This Level Requires
Sort every competency by how much this level demands it against the framing question above. The limits are deliberate. They force real tradeoffs. Each card shows the cluster it belongs to, the theme that level must do well.
Every card has three buttons at the bottom. Click a stack name to place it there. Your choice is marked with a check. Click a different button any time to move it.
You can also drag a card into a stack, drag it between stacks, or drag it back to the library to reconsider.
Why a limit? If every competency can be Critical, none of them really are. Rating each one on its own scale tends to cluster everyone near the top, since it's easy to justify why any given competency matters somewhat. A fixed number per stack forces you to compare competencies against each other, not just against an abstract standard, which is what turns this into a real priority list instead of one where everything scores a 4 out of 5.
Critical
0 / 0Required for effectiveness at this level.
Necessary
0 / 0Matters, but not the first constraint.
Lesser Importance
0 / 0Valuable in leadership generally, but not what this level and question are asking now.
Competency Library
0Unsorted cards live here. Use Show Details to see the definition, what strong performance looks like, and what it looks like when it's weak.
Complete the sort in section 4 first. The competencies you placed in the top two stacks will appear here.
5. Rate: Current Strength
You've sorted what this level requires. Before rating, one question: whose current strength are you rating against it?
Rate what is actually true today, not potential. The gap between what the level requires and where strength stands today is what the development plan is built on.
Little demonstrated experience here, or a known place this leader gets tripped up under pressure.
Handled reliably in familiar conditions, not yet tested at greater scope or stakes.
Others would name this as a strength. Reliable, and able to help others with it.
6. Review and Submit
This is the sort, deliberately a starting point rather than a conclusion. Interpretation happens in the debrief.
Level and Framing Snapshot
Development Priorities
Where This Sort Concentrates
© Burns Leadership Consulting. All rights reserved. Proprietary instrument, not for redistribution.