Better bosses boost performance

TOP CHIEFS: Clockwise from top left Michael Chaney, Janet Holmes a Court, Kerry Sanderson and Fiona Stanley have been recognised as top leaders in a recent AIM survey.

IT is official. Better bosses would bring at least a 10 per cent improvement in staff performance according to a survey conducted by the Australian Institute of Management.

AIM found that 77 per cent of the respondents to its survey said their personal performance could improve by 10 per cent or more if the quality of leadership in their organisation was better.

One quarter of them said the improvement could be more than 40 per cent.

AIM deputy director Shaun Ridley said this was "a staggering result".

"It represents a huge opportunity for organisations to capture the latent capacity of staff performance," he said.

Results from the Leadership Effectiveness and Development Survey of the institute’s WA personal members included:

p one quarter said the leadership in their organisation was poor;

p 46 per cent said their organisation had too much management and too little leadership;

p 21 per cent said they had too little management and too little leadership;

p 43 per cent rated their immediate supervisors’ or managers’ leadership as excellent or very good; and

p 17 per cent said they get little or no involvement in decisions that affected their jobs.

Wesfarmers managing director Michael Chaney was the most frequently mentioned outstanding leader in the private sector followed by Channel 7 chairman Kerry Stokes and Heytesbury chairwoman Janet Holmes a Court.

In the public sector frequently mentioned outstanding leaders included Professor Fiona Stanley, Fremantle Ports CEO Kerry Sanderson and Justice David Malcolm.