Leadership & Management

Leadership is not only about vision, and management is not only about control. Both are about helping people do their best work in a coordinated way.

This domain covers frameworks for team leadership, performance management, change, accountability, trust, and role clarity. Use these models when the challenge is guiding people, developing capability, improving team dynamics, or helping an organization perform through change.

How thinking frameworks help with Leadership & Management

Improve team management by clarifying roles, responsibilities, and collaboration expectations
Develop stronger leadership approaches by understanding situations, people, and priorities
Manage performance by setting goals, evaluating progress, and identifying improvement areas
Lead organizational change by analyzing challenges and planning effective transitions
Resolve team challenges through structured problem analysis and decision-making
Create better management strategies for developing people and improving outcomes

Frameworks in this domain

Framework

What it does

Thomas-Kilmann Conflict ModeThe Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI) helps you place a conflict on two dimensions, assertiveness and cooperativeness, then choose Competing, Collaborating, Compromising, Avoiding, or Accommodating for this situation. No mode is universally best. It is a situational choice, not a person…Tuckman ModelThe Tuckman Model helps you match a team’s observable behavior to Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, or Adjourning, then use a leadership focus that fits that pattern. Storming is information. Tenure is not a stage.Stakeholder Saliency ModelThe Stakeholder Saliency Model helps you classify parties by power, legitimacy, and urgency so limited attention is not spent only on whoever is loudest. Mitchell, Agle, and Wood described the three attributes and the classes that follow from them. The model is a diagnosis of salience, not a RACI c…SCARF ModelThe SCARF Model helps you scan an interaction or change for status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness threats so the next message or policy can reduce unnecessary social threat.Radical CandorRadical Candor helps you place a feedback stance on two axes, Care Personally and Challenge Directly, then move the next conversation toward specific challenge plus visible care. The other three quadrants (Ruinous Empathy, Obnoxious Aggression, Manipulative Insincerity) name how that stance fails.…ISD ModelThe ISD Model, on this page, is the ADDIE cycle: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. It helps you design training from a named performance gap rather than from a slide deck. It does not promise training ROI.GREAT Coaching ModelThe GREAT Coaching Model helps you run a coaching conversation as Goal, Reality, Explore, Action, and Timing, so the meeting ends in a dated next step rather than in insight alone. It is a GROW-family structure. It is not a promise that coaching will produce results.Fiedler's Contingency ModelFiedler's Contingency Model helps you match a relatively stable leadership style (task-oriented or relationship-oriented) to how favorable the situation is, then change the assignment or the context when they do not fit. It is not a script for switching styles on demand.Bridges Transition ModelThe Bridges Transition Model separates change (the situational event) from transition (the psychological process). People move through Ending, the Neutral Zone, and New Beginning. A go-live date can complete the event and leave the inner process unfinished.ABCD Trust ModelThe ABCD Trust Model names four leader behaviors people can actually see: Able, Believable, Connected, and Dependable. It helps you diagnose which cluster is leaking trust in a specific relationship, instead of treating "trust" as a personality trait.7% Rule for Organizational ChangeThe 7% Rule helps you find a small set of informal internal influencers (people peers already ask), engage them in shaping a change, equip them to explain it, and let them influence others. Seven percent is a teaching figure for a small critical mass, not a census you must hit.5Ps of Effective LeadershipThe 5Ps of Effective Leadership assesses five dimensions in one situation: Purpose, Passion, People, Performance, and Persistence. It helps you see where attention is over-invested or neglected. Other lists also called “5Ps of leadership” are different methods, not extra steps of this one.4 Patterns of Team ConflictThe 4 Patterns of Team Conflict helps you name repeating friction as one of four geometries (Sole Dissenter, Boxing Match, Warring Factions, Blame Game), then match the next move to that shape. It is a diagnosis, not a personality verdict and not a full mediation method.RACI ModelThe RACI Model helps you assign four letters on named activities: Responsible (does the work), Accountable (owns the outcome), Consulted (gives input before), and Informed (is updated after). Every activity needs exactly one Accountable. It is a responsibility grid, not a promise that conflict will…

Frequently asked questions

Communication focuses on how messages are structured and delivered. Leadership & Management focuses on how people are directed, supported, evaluated, and developed over time. Communication is one tool of leadership, but leadership requires broader systems of accountability and team coordination.

Use Leadership & Management when the challenge involves people, ownership, performance, trust, or behavior across a team. Use Productivity & Execution when the issue is more about planning, prioritization, workflow, or individual execution mechanics.

No. They are useful for team leads, project owners, founders, and anyone responsible for influencing performance through others. You do not need a management title to benefit from leadership structure.

Relying on personality instead of systems. Many leadership problems come from vague expectations, inconsistent feedback, unclear ownership, or unmanaged tension. Frameworks reduce that ambiguity and make good leadership repeatable.

Leadership & Management

How thinking frameworks help with Leadership & Management

Frameworks in this domain

Frequently asked questions

How is Leadership & Management different from Communication?

When should I use a leadership framework instead of a productivity framework?

Are these frameworks only for formal managers?

What is the most common management mistake?