Measuring Self-Leadership: The Situational Judgment Test Explained

Last updated: August 22, 2026

Self-leadership is measured with a Situational Judgment Test (SJT), not a personality questionnaire. A Situational Judgment Test presents realistic work scenarios and asks how you would respond, then scores those responses against what predicts performance. Andrew Bryant, founder of Self Leadership International, developed the world's first Self-Leadership SJT with the OPRA Psychology Group, built directly on the three-competency model: self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-learning.

What Is a Situational Judgment Test?

A Situational Judgment Test (SJT) presents test-takers with realistic scenarios, usually on video, followed by a set of possible responses. Instead of asking what you believe about yourself, it asks what you would actually do, then ranks your choices against what predicts real performance. That's why SJTs work for measuring something as contextual as self-leadership: self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-learning aren't traits you have in the abstract, they're choices you make in specific moments.

Why This Matters for the Future of Work

The McKinsey Global Institute identified 56 skill deltas across 13 groups that will matter most as automation and AI reshape work. Self-leadership competencies, self-awareness, self-management, entrepreneurship, and goal achievement, sit alongside cognitive, interpersonal, and digital skills as one of the four core categories. See the full breakdown of all four skill categories.

Defining Self-leadership

With the importance of self-leadership, we need to define and measure it.

Self-leadership is the practice of intentionally influencing your thinking, feeling, and actions toward your objective/s (Bryant and Kazan 2012).

From this definition, we find that self-leadership is dependent on context and 3-core competencies, self-awareness, self-learning, and self-regulation. 

Self-awareness is the tendency for an individual to focus on and reflect on their own psychological processes and inner experiences as well as their relationships to others. 

Self-learning is the process by which individuals take the initiative,  in diagnosing their learning needs, goals, resources, and outcomes.

Self-regulation is the process of modulating attention, emotion, and behavior to a given situation/stimulus, for the purpose of pursuing a goal.

Measuring Self-leadership with Situational Judgment

As self-leadership behaviors are contextual, the best way to measure them is with a Situational Judgment Test (SJT). Andrew Bryant, founder of Self Leadership International, with the support of the OPRA Psychology Group, has developed the World's first Self-leadership SJT.

SJTs capture a test taker’s contextualized responses to samples of job situations. Participants are provided with video scenarios that portray situations that individuals might face at work. Each scenario is followed by a series of items that represent ways in which you could respond to the situation. Participants are then asked to evaluate these potential responses and arrange each response based on what they would most prefer and least prefer to do. Their responses are then used to make predictions about their future performance.

The report (section sample shown above)is insightful; however, the Self-leadership SJT is best debriefed with a qualified coach.

Ready to see where you stand? Take the Self-Leadership Diagnostic, or contact us to bring the full SJT to your team.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is self-leadership measured?
With a Situational Judgment Test rather than a self-report questionnaire, since self-leadership behaviors are contextual and show up differently depending on the situation.

What is a situational judgment test?
A test format that presents realistic work scenarios and scores how you say you'd respond against what predicts actual performance, rather than asking what you believe about yourself.

Is there a self-leadership assessment I can take?
Yes. Andrew Bryant developed the world's first Self-Leadership SJT with the OPRA Psychology Group, built on the three-competency model of self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-learning.