ACUMEN^® Leadership WorkStyles™

Research and development by The Acumen Development Team on the basis of research by Peter D. Gratzinger, Ph.D. and Robert A. Cooke, Ph.D.

The ACUMEN Leadership WorkStyles (LWS) assessment is a 360 degree feedback and development tool that helps leaders strengthen their thinking and behavioural styles that promote effectiveness while moderating limitations that prevent them from realising their potential.

Building on the Life Styles Inventory™ (LSI), LWS focuses on combinations of the 12 Circumplex styles and the way they interact to provide leadership feedback on strengths and counterproductive tendencies. It provides those in charge with a highly personalised narrative report on the implications of their styles for task accomplishment and teamwork, as well as suggestions for improving communication and project leadership.

The Benefits

LWS helps executives, managers, and leaders who would like to develop and grow to realise their full potential. It’s particularly useful for:

• providing insights into personal leadership styles
• showing how those styles combine to shape their leadership performance
• developing leaders’ capacity to monitor and modify their behaviour
• offering feedback to leaders to help them develop into positions of greater responsibilities
• improve teamwork and leadership abilities to enhance organisational effectiveness

The ACUMEN LWS assessment can be facilitated by individuals accredited in its use, or a Human Synergistics consultant can work with you to build a custom development program for your organisation or the organisations you support. Contact us to talk to an expert.

How it works

LWS gathers feedback on each leader via two components:

• The LWS Self-Description Inventory is completed by each participant and measures his or her own perception of the thinking and behavioural styles that impact a manager’s ability to lead.
• The LWS Description-by-Others Inventory is completed by individuals with whom the leader works to provide insight into how others view the leader’s effectiveness.

Results are presented in a detailed report that draws from a large database of leader behaviour and describes the effectiveness of the leader’s own behavioural patterns. The report includes a visual profile to graphically illustrate the leader’s behaviour along such styles as Self-Actualizing, Approval, and Competitive.

The LWS surveys are available online on almost any digital device as well as in hard copy format.

Complementary tools

LWS can be combined with the Coach — Co-Achieving team exercise to teach leaders how to apply Achievement-oriented thinking to effectively coach others and improve performance.

Make LWS part of your drive for change

LWS is best applied by people who’ve been trained to use it. We offer two options:

• A trained and experienced Human Synergistics consultant can help you use LWS and develop truly effective and influential leaders. Simply contact us to find a consultant who’s right for you.
• You can ‘do it yourself’ by arranging LWS accreditation for one or more of your team members. This will ensure they have the skills to administer LWS and implement meaningful leadership-development strategies. To get started, register for an upcoming accreditation workshop.

If you would like to know more about the ACUMEN LWS assessment, or any of our wide range of offerings, get in touch and we will be happy to assist you.