The 6th Australian Conference on Culture and Leadership

The Leadership Challenge

By Matthew Croxford and Quentin Jones, Human Synergistics International

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According to a 2003 Human Synergistics survey of 51 Australian and New Zealand companies, avoidance, dependence and approval-seeking are common leadership traits.

"Most managers have a flawed belief about motivation. They are caught up in a passive/aggressive paradigm," says Quentin Jones, Director of Human Synergistics Australia. "They have old-fashioned views about human motivation."

The leadership styles of 12 retail store managers were recently assessed for a Queensland client and the results compared with the company's earnings before interest and tax and staff turnover. The stores with the most-negative leaders were also having the lowest profits and highest staff turnover. "Now there is an argument to change a leadership style," Jones says.

The following 12-question test is an abridged version of the Leadership/Impact diagnostic tool we use to assess the impact that a manager's leadership style has on the workplace. Leadership/Impact is used by many Australian companies including Lion Nathan, Coca-Cola South Pacific, BHP Billiton, AMP and Westpac. The test identifies three main styles of management and aims to make managers more aware of their leadership style, with a view to identifying the traits that help them professionally and personally, and the habits that sabotage their effectiveness.

Next page: Take the test and review your results

The test and display of results requires Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later on either Windows or Macintosh OS X.