The Human Synergistics Circumplex

A visual model for developing Constructive styles in individuals, managers, leaders, teams, and organizations

If you agree with the adage that “a picture’s worth a thousand words,” you’ll understand the beauty of the Human Synergistics Circumplex.

With this practical visual device, you:

• can ‘see’ the thinking and behavioral styles that are driving the performance of people and groups in your organization, as well as the organization itself.
• have access to a common language that you can use to quantify and discuss individuals’, teams’, managers’, and leaders’ behavioral styles and approaches, as well as the culture of your organization.
• have a foundation for developing your people, improving performance, and enriching your culture.

A ground-breaking innovation when it was developed more than 40 years ago, and regularly reviewed and refined since then, the Circumplex has been applied and endorsed by millions of clients around the world — a true testament to its validity, relevance, and value.

How does the Circumplex work?

The Circumplex is typically incorporated into Human Synergistics’ assessments, such as the Organizational Culture Inventory^®, Life Styles Inventory™, Group Styles Inventory™, and Customer ServiceStyles™.

As you can see in the image, the Circumplex breaks down the factors underlying performance effectiveness (at individual, group, and organizational levels) according to 12 behaviors or styles.

These styles are further grouped according to three general clusters:

• Constructive styles encourage the attainment of organizational goals through people development; promote teamwork and synergy; and enhance individual, group, and organizational adaptability and effectiveness.
• Aggressive/Defensive styles lead people to focus on their own needs at the expense of those of their group and organization and lead to stress, turnover, and inconsistent performance.
• Passive/Defensive styles lead people to subordinate themselves to the organization, stifle creativity and initiative, and allow the organization to stagnate.

Blue, green, and red extensions on the Circumplex graphically depict statistical results and the styles’ strength in terms of percentile scores — so you can see how your individual, group, or organizational results compare with those of thousands of other organizations that we’ve already researched.

The Circumplex is simple, elegant, and extraordinarily insightful — a great tool for organizations pursuing performance excellence at every level. Contact us to find out more.