Kienbaum Leadership Compass

The Kienbaum Leadership Compass enables executives and companies to assess and reflect both their own as well as their managers’ individual leadership behaviors. The online tool focuses on behaviors that are crucial for digitalization – from strategic leadership that provides tangible support by mapping out pathways to transformative practices driven by inspiration, motivation and intellectual stimulation. In relation to these two and five further leadership styles, the Compass reveals the user’s individual characteristics alongside findings that span the entire organization. It also helps to identify leadership behaviors that involve risks, such as potentially dangerous pragmatism.

In a fast-moving and continuously changing environment like the digitalized economy, different management styles emphasize different aspects of leadership. These exert a major influence on both employee performance and the effectiveness of the enterprise as a whole. However, countless managers are unaware of their own style of leadership. This is where the Leadership Compass comes in: Via an online check, an analysis of the collected data and subsequent discussion of the results and next steps, the tool enables users to categorize their own behavior in a profound way that facilitates the formulation of specific recommendations for action. The Compass thus provides a solid platform for users to engage in systematic reflection upon their individual management styles and the ability to safeguard efficiency in the core business while at the same time fostering agility and innovation. Its overriding purpose is to identify development potential in both individuals and the entire organization and to define relevant actions.

Not all management styles influence an organization in the same way. Therefore, certain risk factors can be identified that have a negative impact on both employees and the whole company. The main behavioral traits in this category include pragmatism, over-confidence and aloofness – a combination that occurs particularly often within management hierarchies. Managers who exhibit these often destructive behaviors exploit both their employees and their employers for their own ends and can cause significant interpersonal and financial harm. In order to mitigate or, preferably, completely prevent such damaging outcomes, it is essential to identify detrimental behaviors early on and adopt appropriate counter-measures. The Kienbaum Leadership Compass provides support by recording and categorizing the conduct of managers and by delivering specific recommendations to refine their individual management styles. The behaviors described above have a particular impact on an individual’s approach to leadership challenges in the digital age, as revealed by the Kienbaum and StepStone study of 2018. Its findings contributed to the development of the Leadership Compass. In particular, leadership behaviors that focus primarily on the core business can hinder innovation, which is a major factor in the process of digital transformation. By identifying and classifying negative management tendencies, the Kienbaum Leadership Compass helps to establish a balance between these two crucial aspects. It provides the necessary orientation as well as customized responses to contemporary challenges.