The Circumplex – Our Measurement Model

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

A ground-breaking innovation when it was developed 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' measurement tools such as the Organisational Culture Inventory®, Life Styles Inventory™, Group Styles Inventory™ and Customer ServiceStyles™ Survey.

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

These behaviours or styles are further grouped according to three general style clusters:

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

Blue, green, and red extensions to the Circumplex graphically depict statistical results and the styles' strength in terms of percentile scores – so you can see how your individual, group, or organisational results compare with those of thousands of other organisations that we've already researched.

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