This week, I’ve had the privilege of attending the Insights Live conference, an experience that has reinvigorated my passion for leadership development and self-awareness. As part of this journey, I’ve received a refreshed Insights Discovery Transformational Leadership (IDTL) profile, and I’m reminded once again of the profound impact this tool can have on leaders at every level.
Why the IDTL Profile Matters
In my years working with universities, NHS trusts, and organisations across the UK, I’ve witnessed countless leaders struggle with a fundamental challenge: they don’t truly understand themselves. How can we expect to lead others effectively when we haven’t done the inner work to understand our own preferences, blind spots, and natural leadership style?
The IDTL profile addresses this challenge head-on. It’s not simply another personality test that boxes you into a category and leaves you there. Instead, it provides a nuanced, colour-energy-based framework that helps leaders appreciate their natural strengths whilst recognising where they need to flex and adapt.
Beyond Self-Awareness: The Four Manifestations of Leadership
What sets the IDTL profile apart is its sophisticated approach to leadership development. The framework introduces us to the Four Manifestations of Leadership, each underpinned by different combinations of colour energies:
Centred Leadership (Earth Green and Cool Blue) represents that crucial foundation of self-awareness. Leadership begins here, with understanding ourselves and maintaining authenticity in our approach.
Visionary Leadership (Fiery Red and Sunshine Yellow) captures our ability to see possibilities, create compelling futures, and inspire others to join us on that journey.
Relationship Leadership (Earth Green and Sunshine Yellow) focuses on our capacity to build trust, foster collaboration, and create psychologically safe environments where people can flourish.
Results Leadership (Cool Blue and Fiery Red) brings it all together with execution, planning, and the drive to deliver meaningful outcomes.
The brilliance lies in recognising that effective leadership requires all four manifestations. We each have a ‘home base’—a manifestation where we naturally excel—but growth happens when we develop the agility to move between all four as circumstances demand.
The Eight Dimensions: A Roadmap for Development
The IDTL profile goes deeper still, breaking leadership down into eight distinct dimensions:
- Leading from Within
- Agile Thinking
- Facilitating Development
- Fostering Teamwork
- Communicating with Impact
- Creating a Compelling Vision
- Leading Change
- Delivering Results
Each dimension is explored through the lens of your unique colour energy preferences, providing personalised insights into your strengths, potential challenges, and specific areas to probe further. This isn’t generic advice—it’s a tailored development roadmap that acknowledges your individual starting point.
Practical Application: Making It Real
What I appreciate most about the IDTL profile is its practical application. During our Self-Aware Leader workshops, we don’t simply hand participants their profiles and wish them well. We create space for deep reflection and meaningful dialogue.
Leaders explore tensions between opposing manifestations—perhaps they’re brilliant at delivering results but struggle with building relationships, or they excel at creating vision but find themselves overwhelmed by the details of execution. These tensions aren’t weaknesses to be ashamed of; they’re opportunities for growth and development.
The Timing Couldn’t Be Better
In today’s climate—particularly for our university clients facing redundancies and restructuring—leadership has never been more crucial. Leaders need to navigate uncertainty whilst maintaining psychological safety. They must communicate difficult messages with compassion whilst still driving necessary change. They’re expected to build resilience in their teams whilst managing their own wellbeing.
The IDTL profile equips leaders for precisely these challenges. It helps them understand not just their preferences, but how those preferences impact others during times of stress and change.
My Refreshed Profile: A Commitment to Growth
Receiving my updated IDTL profile this week at Insights Live has been a powerful reminder that leadership development never stops. Even those of us who facilitate these workshops for others need to continually revisit our own self-awareness and commit to ongoing growth.
As Brené Brown reminds us, vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation and change. Being willing to look honestly at our IDTL profile—celebrating our strengths whilst acknowledging our development areas—requires courage. But it’s precisely this courage that distinguishes truly effective leaders from those who merely occupy leadership positions.
Creating Cultures Where People Flourish
At Agar Management Consultancy, our name reflects our commitment to helping people flourish in the workplace. The IDTL profile is one of the most powerful tools we have for making this vision a reality. When leaders understand themselves deeply, they create space for others to do the same. When leaders can flex their style to meet different situations and different people, they build more inclusive, psychologically safe environments.
The ripple effect is remarkable. One leader’s commitment to self-awareness and development can transform an entire team, department, or organisation.
Looking Forward
If you’re a leader who wants to deepen your self-awareness, or if you’re responsible for leadership development in your organisation, I’d encourage you to explore the IDTL profile. It’s not a quick fix or a simple answer, but rather an invitation to a ongoing journey of discovery and growth.
The insights I’ve gained this week at Insights Live have reinforced my belief that the best investment any organisation can make is in developing self-aware, adaptable leaders who understand both themselves and the people they lead.
After all, leadership isn’t about having all the answers—it’s about having the self-awareness to ask the right questions, the humility to seek different perspectives, and the courage to lead authentically from within.
Are you ready to discover your leadership profile? Get in touch with Agar Management Consultancy to explore how the Insights Discovery Transformational Leadership profile could transform your leadership approach.
Joint CEO