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I’ve been working with leadership teams for years, and one question comes up regularly: “Which tool should we use – a Leadership Style assessment or a Communication Style one?”

It’s a fair question, because they sound similar, and frankly, they are related. But they solve different problems, and picking the wrong one can waste time and miss the real issue your team is facing.

Let me walk you through how I think about it, because getting this right makes all the difference.

The Problem I Was Trying to Solve

A few years back, I was working with a manufacturing company – decent operation, solid people, but the leadership team was stuck. Decisions were slow. Accountability was fuzzy. People would agree in meetings, then do something different afterwards. There was frustration all around, but nobody could quite put their finger on why.

My first instinct was to run them through a Whats my Communication Style assessment. After all, if they’re not communicating well, that’s the problem, right? But something made me pause. I sat down with the MD and asked some proper diagnostic questions. What I heard wasn’t “we don’t understand each other’s communication preferences.” What I heard was “we’re not aligned on how we lead, what we prioritise, and who’s accountable for what.”

That’s when I realised: this team didn’t need to understand how each other communicated. They needed to understand how each other led.

The Difference That Matters

Here’s the thing – and this is crucial – Whats my Communication Style tells you how people prefer to interact and exchange information. It’s about whether someone’s direct or indirect, expressive or reserved. It’s about style and preference.

Whats my Leadership Style, on the other hand, tells you how people approach decisions, accountability, and driving results. It’s about whether someone leads through control or delegation, whether they’re task-focused or people-focused, whether they’re decisive or consultative. It’s about approach and impact.

In that manufacturing company, the issue wasn’t that the Direct communicator was steamrolling the Considerate one. The issue was that some leaders were making decisions unilaterally while others expected consensus. Some were delegating accountability; others were hoarding it. Some were moving fast; others wanted more data. That’s a leadership style problem, not a communication style problem.

When to Choose 'Whats my Leadership Style'

I use the Leadership Style assessment when:

The team is struggling with accountability and decision-making. If people aren’t clear on who decides what, or if decisions keep getting revisited, you’ve got a leadership alignment issue. Communication Style won’t fix that.

There’s tension between different approaches to driving results. Maybe one leader is all about rapid experimentation and the other wants rigorous planning. That’s a leadership style difference. They might communicate perfectly well – they just lead differently.

You’re trying to build a high-performing team that trusts each other’s judgment. Leaders need to understand not just how their peers communicate, but how they think about leading people, managing risk, and getting things done. That’s what builds real trust.

The organisation is scaling and accountability is breaking down. As you grow, unclear leadership styles create chaos. People don’t know who’s responsible for what, or they’re working at cross-purposes because the leadership team hasn’t aligned on how they lead.

You’re coaching a leader who’s struggling with their impact. A leader might be perfectly articulate (great communication style), but if they’re micromanaging or abdicating responsibility, their leadership style is the problem.

When 'Whats my Communication Style' Is the Right Call

That said, Communication Style is brilliant for:

Building empathy across different personality types. If your team needs to understand why the quiet person in the room isn’t engaging, or why the enthusiastic one keeps interrupting, Communication Style is your tool.

Improving how teams work together day-to-day. If meetings are tense, conversations feel misunderstood, or people are talking past each other, Communication Style gives you a shared language for that.

Developing individuals who want to flex their style. If someone wants to be more influential or build better relationships, Communication Style helps them see their default and practice something different.

Creating psychological safety in teams that are new to self-awareness work. Communication Style feels less threatening than Leadership Style. It’s about preference, not judgment. That can be a good starting point.

The Real Test

Here’s how I decide: I ask myself, “If this team understood each other’s communication preferences perfectly, would the real problem go away?”

If the answer is no – if the issue is about how they lead, decide, delegate, and drive accountability – then Communication Style is a distraction. You need Leadership Style.

If the answer is yes – if better communication would genuinely solve the problem – then Communication Style is your tool.

In that manufacturing company, I ran the Leadership Style assessment. Suddenly, everything made sense. The team could see why they were misaligned. One leader was all about control and rapid decision-making; another was collaborative and wanted buy-in. Neither was wrong – they just needed to understand each other’s approach and build processes that worked for both.

Within three months, decision-making was faster, accountability was clear, and people actually trusted each other’s judgment.

The Bottom Line

Both tools are excellent. But they’re not interchangeable. Pick the wrong one, and you’ll spend a day in a workshop that feels interesting but doesn’t shift anything.

Pick the right one, and you’ll unlock real change.

Ask yourself: Is this a how we communicate problem, or a how we lead problem? Your answer will tell you which tool to reach for.

That’s the difference between a nice workshop and one that actually moves the needle.