KF have an exciting assessment designed to uncover your preferred leadership styles and the working climate you create for your team. We’d like to share with you more information about why you would find the Styles and Climate (S&C) useful, what it is and how your styles and climate profile is determined.
What is the S & C Assessment?
As the name suggests, the “Styles” and “Climate” make up two different parts of the assessment but are strongly connected. They can be run separately and are usually used together. Styles refers to your leadership style. Climate refers to the working climate you create, which is strongly influenced by your leadership style.
Why is S&C Important?
Leadership Styles and the climate created are fundamental to your performance as a leader and the success as a team. By identifying your leadership style and working climate, you can determine which areas are the strongest and weakest, which is the first step to improving team performance.
Employees who provide low ratings of their climate at work are 4.9x more likely to be planning to leave within two years, compared to those who provide high ratings. Employees who provide high ratings of their managers’ leadership styles are 3.4x less likely to be planning to leave within two years, compared to those who provide low ratings.
Leaders who focus on using their leadership styles effectively to create the climate at work which empowers and engages their employees will see the results through the team performance.
How does Korn Ferry determine your leadership style and working climate?
Korn Ferry has an unrivalled database on high-performing individuals and teams which they utilise to identify the most common behaviours that successful leaders use to motivate, develop, and communicate with their team.
The participant’s data is compared to the database, and this determines which percentile the participant is in for each of the 6 leadership styles and 6 working climates.
The assessment uses surveys from both yourself and your team. It’s important to get both types of data as the leadership style you think you exhibit may be different from the style your team experiences.
What different leadership styles are there?
There are 6 leadership styles: directive, visionary, affiliative, participative, pacesetting and coaching. Each individual has elements of these styles and a preference for a few. The best leaders will adapt their leadership style based on the other variables that contribute to a working climate rather than just defaulting to one style. The feedback determines which styles are dominant, which are back-up, and which are rarely used.
What are the differing working climates?
There are 6 working climates: flexibility, responsibility, standards, rewards, clarity, and team commitment. Unlike with leadership styles, a working climate can demonstrate all 6 categories simultaneously, or none simultaneously. The feedback determines whether your climate either supports or hinders performance.
Why should I take the Styles and Climate Assessment?
If you’re a leader from anywhere between a project manager to a CEO, the Styles and Climate Assessment can inform you as to how you can improve and develop your leadership style and give you valuable insight into the climate you create from an unbiased and research-backed viewpoint.
We are running this assessment currently at Management Dynamics, led by Korn Ferry Master Associate Alison Grieve. If you have any further questions about the assessment or want to discuss booking yourself or your colleagues in to take part in one of our certifications, please book a meeting or get in contact – we would be happy to help.
By Alison Grieve & Rowan Page
