It’s extremely important for an organization to be aligned around what the term “leadership” means and what good leadership looks like within the organization.
Korn Ferry/Hay Group’s long-standing theory and research around the styles of leadership and the resulting climate each creates not only provides a common vernacular but can be a powerful tool in helping leaders understand their own effectiveness and the impact they have on the results they are (or are not) getting through their teams.
Check out this compelling article by Daniel Goleman (Emotional Intelligence and leadership expert) written for HBR several years ago.
Foundations of the Theory
In the late 1950’s, research on human behavior in the workplace began as Harvard psychologists got curious about what truly makes a difference in a team’s results. More specifically, how can you have one team within the same organization performing differently than another? What was discovered was the role and impact a leader has on the results of their team and a flow (pictured left) through which leadership drives performance.
What really makes a difference in the results a team is (or is not) achieving is actually the climate, or environment, they are experiencing. According to the theory, 70-80% of the climate being experienced by ANY team can be attributed directly to the leader of that team.
How the Assessments Work
The assessment process consists of two reports; Leadership Styles and Organizational Climate. The leader will have a self-assessment to complete for both reports AND the members of the leader’s team will also participate in the assessment process.
The Leadership Styles Report
The leader will receive feedback (including verbatim comments) on their use of the 6 leadership styles defined in the theory. They will also see a comparison as a result of the self-assessment between the leadership styles they believe they are exhibiting versus the styles the team is experiencing.
The Organizational Climate Report
The leader will receive feedback on the climate being experienced by their team as a result of their leadership. This is reported out across 6 dimensions of climate defined by the theory and offers comparison to norms from the Korn Ferry/Hay Group’s leadership assessment database. Comparison is also offered against the climate the leader is experiencing themselves as pulled from the self-assessment.
Contact us now to discuss how to bring this powerful theory and set of tools to you! A typical engagement will include:
- A live or virtual session with leaders on the theory
- Another live or virtual session on interpreting and processing the assessment tools
- 1 on 1 coaching for each leader to deepen insights and application