The Transition Diagnostic
Every leader hits a point where the next move is not obvious.
This is a diagnostic for that point. It reads how well placed you are for the transition you are in, then tests four routes onward against two questions that matter: do you actually want it, and are you ready for it. Around twelve minutes, and you get your report on screen straight away.
40 statements. No payment, no email required. Your answers stay in your browser.
What it reads
Two questions, answered properly
Most people at a turning point are carrying two problems at once, and treating them as one. How well am I handling the change I am already in, and where am I actually heading next. This separates them.
Transition readiness
Eight capabilities that decide whether a leadership transition holds or comes apart, grouped into three domains. Scored, explained, and turned into two priorities you can start on this week.
- Reading the transition
- 1Situational ClarityWhether you can name what this situation actually demands, rather than what you are used to giving.
- 2Letting Go and IdentityWhether you have genuinely left the last role, or are still half living in it.
- 3Learning PaceWhether you are learning deliberately, or simply intending to listen.
- Building the platform
- 4Stakeholders and SponsorshipWhether the relationships that decide your success are mapped and worked, or assumed.
- 5Trust and Early CredibilityWhether you know what this particular group needs to see before it will follow you.
- 6Communication and the Case for ChangeWhether your case lands with the people who disagree with it, not only with those who already agree.
- Making it count
- 7Early Priorities and MomentumWhether you have chosen a few things, or quietly taken on everything.
- 8Resilience and CapacityWhether you and the organisation can sustain this over a year, not a quarter.
Direction
Four routes onward, each scored twice. Appetite asks whether you genuinely want it. Readiness asks whether you are positioned for it. The gap between the two is usually the most useful thing on the page.
- 1The bigger seatA larger executive role, with the scale and accountability that comes with it.
- 2The boardroomInfluence through oversight, scrutiny and stewardship rather than through running things.
- 3CoachingWork where the outcome belongs to someone else, and your value is in the questions.
- 4Leading changeA mandate to rebuild something rather than to run it smoothly.
Why appetite and readiness
Wanting it and being ready for it are not the same thing
Scoring both is what makes this useful. A leader who is ready for the boardroom but has no appetite for it will be talked into it by flattery and regret it. A leader with real appetite and thin evidence needs a build plan, not encouragement. Only one of the four combinations means move now.
Move now
You want it and you can evidence it. The work is sequencing and positioning, not preparation.
Wanted, not yet earned
Real appetite, thin evidence. Nameable gaps, and usually eighteen months of deliberate work to close them.
Could, but don't want to
You are well positioned for a route that does not interest you. Worth knowing before someone offers it to you.
Not this one
Neither the pull nor the platform. Useful to rule out, so attention goes where it counts.
How it works
Twelve minutes, then a plan
Set the context
Five quick questions about where you are and what kind of situation you are in.
Rate honestly
Twenty four statements on the transition itself. The value is in being candid, not generous.
Test the routes
Sixteen statements across four possible directions, split between appetite and readiness.
Read your report
Scores, two priorities, a ranked view of your routes, and a first ninety days.
Ready to see where you actually stand?
Nothing to pay, nothing to sign up for. Twelve minutes and an honest read.