Profilia lets you run the six leadership styles test with a whole class for free and with no sign-up, for you or for your students. You open a session in one click, you project the QR code on the board, and each student answers from the device your school allows: phone, tablet or a computer-room machine. You watch the spread of six styles build up live, inspired by those described by Daniel Goleman: Directive, Visionary, Collaborative, Participative, Coach and Pacesetter. First names are optional, the grid only appears once 3 participants have taken part, and first names and answers are deleted after 30 days by default.
How it works
1. You open the session before the lesson. One click from the test page, no form at all. You land straight on the session screen, with the link and the QR code. No account to create, neither for you nor for the students, and no email address to ask anyone for.
2. Students answer together. Project the QR code or write the link on the board, or post it in the class's online space. To have everyone start at the same time, tick "Live workshop" when you create the session: students wait in a lobby and you start the test once the class is ready. Without this option, the session is open straight away and each student can answer at their own pace, in class or at home.
3. You project the grid. It refreshes by itself as answers come in, and can be projected as it is. Nothing to restart or reload. Each student keeps their own full result, with their six scores.
What each student gets
Each student takes the full test exactly as if they were doing it alone: 24 situations, from the group project that is running late to the conflict between two people. Most of them take place in a team at work, and the student answers as they would go about it if it were up to them to lead. They land on the same complete result page, with no account to create and no email address to leave: their six scores, which combine, and the description of their dominant style. They can download a PDF version, built in their own browser (nothing is sent or stored), or save the image of their result.
They then see the class's collective breakdown, with no names at all, with pointers for each style present and questions to start the discussion. Their first name, if they entered one, is visible only to you.
What you have for the debrief
- The class grid, which updates by itself and can be projected on the board as it is.
- For each style present in the class, pointers to discuss, as hypotheses.
- Up to four questions to start the discussion, chosen from the group's actual makeup: one majority style, two tied, one style that is rare in the split, one style absent from the room.
- The "first name and profile" list, visible only to you, for the students who entered a first name (the others appear as "Anonymous").
- A PDF printout of the grid from the browser, without first names, with the date.
- A printable report, for the session host only, meaning you: the breakdown, a few sentences reading the group's makeup as hypotheses to discuss, one card per style present drawn from the test's own content, the same discussion questions and, as an option, the "first name and profile" list (unticked by default, so absent from the printout).
- A button to rerun the same test with another class, without starting from scratch.
You can also take the test yourself, and your result counts in the grid.
What Profilia does not do: there is no spreadsheet export, no result sent to families and no grade. You prepare the debrief on the projected grid or on the printed report, with you as the interpreter.
Reading the class grid
The collective grid places each student on their dominant style, the one that stands out most in their own answers. It does not say who would make a good leader or a good class representative: it shows how each student says they prefer to go about it when leading a group, today, given the chances to lead a group they have had so far. Each reading below is a hypothesis to put to the class, not a finding.
With six styles, the grid of a whole class is readable; a small group quickly ends up with one or two people per box, and tells you less.
A class spread across several styles is a good starting point: it shows that there are several ways to lead a project, and that nobody goes about it like the classmate next to them.
A class where one style dominates can also say what students have already seen done, at school, in a club or on an internship. The wording of the questions and the wish to look good can also play a part. A useful question: where have you seen someone lead a group in this way, and how did it go?
A style missing from the grid does not mean nobody uses it. The dominant style hides each person's other five scores, which appear in their individual result. Asking those who wish to say which style comes second can bring part of the room back into view.
A very uniform class is a signal to read with caution: the way group work is organized in the class can be enough to make one style more familiar than the others. The conclusion is about the group's habits, not about the students' abilities.
For every style present, the grid also offers pointers drawn from the test, as hypotheses. They are pointers to discuss with the students who recognize themselves in them, not a way to guess a classmate's style or to put anyone in a box.
Plan for a one-hour lesson (55 min)
A class result without a debrief is just one more picture. Here is a plan that fits in 55 minutes.
Minutes 0 to 5, the framing. State the aim: discover several ways to lead a group, not pick out the leaders. Say that the result is a starting point, that no style suits every situation, that first names are optional and that a nickname works. Project the QR code.
Minutes 5 to 20, taking the test and reading alone. Each student answers on their own, then reads their own result page in silence. Ask each one to note one sentence that sounds like them and one that does not: disagreeing with the result is allowed, and useful to say out loud.
Minutes 20 to 35, the grid. Project it and first ask the students what they see in it, before any interpretation. Then ask one or two questions from the previous section, as hypotheses to check together: majority style, missing style, a style with few people behind it.
Minutes 35 to 50, the discussion. Go back to the questions suggested under the grid, or start from a situation the class knows: a presentation in a group, a group project, an outing to organize. Which style would have helped at which moment, and why does the same one not suit every situation?
Minutes 50 to 55, a commitment. One concrete step, chosen by each student for the next group assignment: try a way of working that is not their own, for example asking everyone's view before dividing up the tasks.
To avoid: naming out loud which student has which style if they have not said so themselves, forming groups from the styles, choosing a class representative or a project lead from the result, and using the grid to assess or grade a student. The first names you see on your screen are not meant to be read out loud.
When to use it
In a management or business studies class, in high school, college or at university, to illustrate leadership styles with the class itself rather than with a company case.
Before a group project, so everyone puts words to their own way of working and to the others' before dividing up the work.
With class representatives or students who supervise others (peer tutoring, a club, a student council), as a starting point for a discussion on how to lead a group of peers.
Anonymity, age and data
The grid only appears once 3 participants have taken part. Below that, a distribution would give too much away about each person: in a group of two, the spread names everybody.
The first name is optional. If one is entered, only the session host, meaning you, sees it, next to the student's style. Students only see the collective breakdown, with no names. A nickname works just as well, and without a name the result still counts in the grid. Our privacy policy states that taking part in a group session is open to all ages, and that under 15 the first name should be left blank or replaced by a pseudonym.
No account is needed, for you or for the students, and no email address is asked for. Sessions and any first names given are deleted after 30 days, automatically, unless you sign in and choose to keep the group for 12 months: students are told before they answer. There is no advertising on Profilia, and the data is not sold to anyone.
What the test measures, and its limits
The test describes stated preferences: how each person says they would react in situations where they lead a group, often at work. It draws on the six styles that Daniel Goleman described in 2000 in the Harvard Business Review, about senior executives. Most of the names are our own: Goleman speaks of coercive, authoritative, affiliative and democratic styles where we say Directive, Visionary, Collaborative and Participative; Pacesetter and Coach follow his pacesetting and coaching styles. This is not an official Daniel Goleman instrument, and he is neither associated nor affiliated with Profilia.
Goleman presented them based on a study by the consulting firm Hay/McBer, whose data, to our knowledge, has not been published in any peer-reviewed scientific journal, only in a management magazine article. Our questionnaire has not been scientifically validated, either with adults or with students. It measures neither a competence nor an aptitude for leading.
The practical consequence: the grid is there to start the discussion, never to pick who will lead the group. The detail of the six styles is in our article on the 6 leadership styles, and the guide on situational leadership goes further into the idea of adapting your style to the context.
Frequently asked questions
Is the leadership style test in class really free? Yes, the leadership style test in class on Profilia is entirely free, with no cap on the number of sessions, no paid tier and no advertising. There is no limited trial and no feature held back behind an upgrade.
Do students need to create an account or give an email address? No. Neither the teacher nor the students need an account. You create the session and project a QR code; each student answers directly, with no sign-up and no email address.
Are students' answers anonymous? For the students, yes: they only see the collective breakdown, never who has which style, and it only appears once 3 participants have taken part. The session host, meaning the teacher, sees each person's style next to their first name, if one was entered. The first name is optional and a nickname is enough.
How many students are needed, at minimum and at maximum? You need 3 participants at minimum for the grid to appear, and a session accepts up to 300 people, which covers a seminar group just as well as a whole year group. The host sees the count go up as students answer.
How long is the data kept? A group session and its results are deleted automatically 30 days after it was created, first names included, or 12 months after if you chose to keep it (account required, students told before they answer). If the group is linked to your account and the grid was shown, only an anonymous summary then stays in your account, for 12 months after the group closes: how many people per style, with no names or answers.
Can the test be given to students under 15? Taking part in a group session is open to all ages, since it asks for no email address and no identity. Under 15, the first name should be left blank or replaced by a pseudonym. Our questionnaire has not been validated with students: present it as a set of questions to get people talking, not as a measurement.
Does the test say which student would make a good leader? No. It describes how each person says they prefer to go about it, not what they can do: a preference of today, which can change with experience and situations. It should be used neither to choose a class representative nor to pick a project lead.