ILM72

Integrated Leadership Measure

Technical Manual

© AQR Ltd 2008 ILM72

© AQR LtdTechnical Manual
2008 ILM72 Technical Manual
LEADERSHIP - THE ILM72

Introduction

Definition of the Product

The ILM72 is a questionnaire designed to assess the leadership profile of an individual or organisation in terms of 6 specific scales
and three global factors.

It provides a quick and reliable means of assessing adopted leadership style and the extent to which the individual focuses on three
key areas – the global factors.

Purpose

The initial project was provoked by a discussion with the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM). They observed that there
appeared to be a plethora of leadership models and theories available to trainers, managers and business leaders. Although many
could be used to some good effect, it was not always clear how these models related to one another. Moreover this variety and
range could lead to a muddle in thinking rather than clarity*.

Similarly they observed that there did not appear to exist a reliable and universally accepted measure of leadership (at that point
there was no definition of what could or should be measured).

The ILM were interested to discover a measure of leadership which would not only appeal to their commercial membership but also
to their academic objectives in terms of the courses and qualifications which they provide.

AQR Ltd agreed to examine this to see whether solutions could be offered to either of these points.

Leadership is a topic which is rising to the “top of the pile” of both the people development and the organisational development
agenda around the world. It is widely accepted that effective leadership is the key to improving performance across a whole range
of important factors.

AQR Ltd formed a small team to carry out this work under the expert guidance of Dr Peter Clough, Head of Psychology at the
University of Hull. The other team members were Doug Strycharczyk, MD, AQR Ltd and Nollaig Heffernan MSc (nee Brown).
© AQR Ltd 2008 ILM72 Technical Manual
The Institute of Leadership & Management agreed to support any validation work which was needed by asking their membership to
participate in relevant studies.

A programme of work was initiated and a product, the ILM72, was achieved in late 2007.

© AQR Ltd 2008 ILM72 Technical Manual

Leadership and Leadership Theory

The term leadership is widely used and it is possible for people from a variety of backgrounds to meet to have a sensible discussion
about leadership without necessarily having exactly the same idea in mind. There is a great deal of commonality of understanding.

Nevertheless there is no uniquely or even widely agreed definition of leadership. A Google search for a definition in late 2007
yielded 14.1 million hits. The first page alone provided 20 different definitions.

This was mirrored by an exercise carried out at the beginning of the project.

An exploration of both occupational and commercial leadership approaches revealed several commonalities suggesting an
integrated and inclusive model of leadership had potential.

A more in-depth look at the literature revealed that two such models appeared to already exist.

To investigate which of these models was more inclusive, two groups of participants (n = 212 rowers; n = 98 university sports
participants) were asked to describe the characteristics of their ideal leader. Neither model accounted for all of the leadership
characteristics preferred by the sample. The development of a more inclusive and integrated model of leadership was consequently
decided upon as the next logical step.

Defining Leadership

Widely used definitions included:

Leadership is the exercise of authority and the making of decisions

The leader is one who succeeds in getting others to follow him
Leadership is the process of influencing group activities toward goal setting and goal achievement
“Leadership occurs when one person induces others to work toward some predetermined objectives”
“Leadership is the art of influencing and directing people in such a way that will win their obedience, confidence, respect and
loyal cooperation in achieving common objectives”

© AQR Ltd 2008 ILM72 Technical Manual

 “Managers have subordinates…leaders have followers”
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then you are a leader”.
“Leadership is a two-way street, loyalty up and loyalty down. Respect for one's superiors; care for one's crew”

Examining each more closely revealed that they all shared common ground around two themes. One was that leadership was to do
with Performance or Achievement. The other was that leadership was to do with a special relationship with a Follower.

For the purpose of this exercise a definition was created which sought to capture the essence of what had emerged.

This is:

“Leadership is …… influencing, inspiring and directing the performance of people towards the achievement of key
(organisational) goals – and creating the sense of success in the short and the long term.”

© AQR Ltd 2008 ILM72 Technical Manual

ILM72 – what does it measure and how are outputs provided

Technical Administration Information

The ILM72 is a 72 item questionnaire which can be completed on paper or online. Completion time is approximately 15 minutes.

The measure profiles leadership style of an individual or of an organisation. By using these profiles in conjunction with ratings of
leadership effectiveness the most effective leadership profile for that role can be determined.

Bespoke training and coaching packages can be developed in accordance with this effective profile as the ILM72 recognises the
need to tailor make solutions to the specific leadership situation. The ILM72 can be used with almost every popular leadership
model in use around the world.

Scoring

All data entered through the screen (on-line method) is automatically scored using web based software as soon as the data entry
has been completed. Paper based questionnaires are scored in the same way – the data being re-entered via the screen onto the
web based software.

Raw scores are converted to Stens. Each sten represents a decile. The norm group is a large representative group of managers
occupying leadership positions at all levels – from first line supervisor to main board director.

© AQR Ltd 2008 ILM72 Technical Manual

Reports

ILM72 will generate up to 5 different reports from the candidate data using an expert report system. Users and candidates should
read the introduction to each report carefully to ensure that they use the report properly.

Individual Development Report

Provides feedback on the results to the individual together with suggestions for development activity

Coaching Report

This report provides an interpretation of the individual’s scores and identifies some of the potential implications for the workplace.

This report provides the manager/coach with a narrative about the person’s leadership style and offers coaching suggestions.

Assessor Report

This report provides an interpretation of the individual’s scores and identifies some potential implications for the workplace. The
narrative is provided for the overall measure and for each of the 9 component scales.

With each narrative a list of suggested questions is provided to enable a manager to probe the area. The questions are designed to
be open and to be behaviourally orientated to generate the fullest responses. They may need amendment by the manger to ensure
that they are appropriate to their specific situation.

© AQR Ltd 2008 ILM72 Technical Manual

Distance Travelled Report

This is a comparison report based on a current and previous assessment for an individual. This will identify areas in which an
individuals sten scores have changed or remained the same after a period of time and/or a period of training and development.

Organisational Report

This report is created from data gathered from individuals who form a particular group. For example, that group can be a specific
team or it could be the entire management cohort of an organisation. It shows the pattern of results for each scale as a histogram of
the total number of people who achieve a particular sten score within that group.
This report is useful in identifying a group’s prevailing style and other trends and patterns.

© AQR Ltd 2008 ILM72 Technical Manual

1. Task v. Person

Defined: This measures the extent which the individual is orientated towards meeting the needs of the task or is concerned with the
needs of individuals. A well understood scale in examining leadership and features directly in many models.

Applied: For example, individuals at the Task Focused end of the scale will be pre – occupied with the completion of the task. This
will be a significant driver and motivator for this person.
At the other end the Person Focused style is one where the person is much more concerned about the well being of the team and
with developing meaningful relationships.

2. Flexible v. Dogmatic

Defined: This measures the extent to which the leader prefers to involve others in analysis and decision making in the organisation.

Applied: Someone at the Dogmatic end of the scale would have a strong belief that they know how things should be done around
here. At the extreme one might see “there is only one way to achieve something …. and it’s my way!”

© AQR Ltd 2008 ILM72 Technical Manual

At the other end the Flexible style is one where the individual is open to ideas and suggestions, understanding “there is more than
one way to skin a cat”.

3. De-Centralised v. Centralised
Defined: Describes the extent to which the leader feels they are central to the operation and to what extent they will empower
others to exercise authority.

Applied: Someone who adopts a Centralised style is someone who prefers that everything goes through them. They may have a
strong need to control or they may have a less mature group to work with and there is greater need for strong guidance.
Someone with a De-centralised style is happy to delegate to others and to work through others. Their ethos is one of
empowerment.

4. Reward v. Punishment
Defined: This measures the extent to which the leader believes that people are motivated by reward or by punishment.

Applied: Reward indicates that the leader is prepared to reward and recognise acceptable and high performance. This can be
monetary or in the form of a tangible benefit or it could be “warm strokes”. It equates to Covey’s “win-win” concept.
Punishment means that the prevailing style is to accept good or high performance as the norm (“that’s what I pay the person for
already”) and to punish in some way any shortcoming in performance.

© AQR Ltd 2008 ILM72 Technical Manual

5. The Means v. The End
Defined: Measures how important hitting goals and targets are to the person – and what they will sacrifice to get there.

Applied: A Leader whose style is focused on the End is someone for whom the result matters and little else does. Everything can
be sacrificed for that goal. This does not necessarily mean that they are immoral or amoral – they are likely to be very focused.
Someone who is focused on the Means is someone who is concerned about how the goal is achieved and will adopt standards &
values to ensure that it is done properly. They will also take into account the implications of what they do – and will typically tend to
be visionary, concerned about environment and development capability in people and process.

6. Structured v. Organic

Defined: Measures the extent to which structure, planning and personal organisation are important to the person and to what extent
they will rely upon their intuition and instinct.

Applied: The Organic style is one where leadership seems to come naturally in some way – these individual do not seem to force
it and they are often described as natural leaders. In some instances this might be related to “charismatic” or having “style” but not
always.

© AQR Ltd 2008 ILM72 Technical Manual

The Structured style is one where leadership is drawn from a text book, models or training. This is not a natural style, the leader
following detailed plans & processes to achieve things through others.

These six scales contribute further to three global scales.

ILM72 Global Scales

Determination to Deliver

The over-riding requirement of any organisation is to deliver what is promised as this leads to success and the feeling of success.
Assessing a leader’s determination to deliver is therefore of utmost priority and this ILM72 global scale provides this opportunity.

Focus on the Individual

To enable employees to contribute to the organisation and to fulfil themselves, enhancing their capabilities, confidence and
commitment is a major role of any leader.
The Focus on the Individual global scale considers the degree to which an individual leader commits to this role.

Focus on Team Working

The third global scale, Focus on Team Working, deals with the extent to which a leader harnesses the combined potential of
individuals within an organisation so that problem solving and decision making can occur more efficiently and more effectively.

© AQR Ltd 2008 ILM72 Technical Manual

Leadership Theory Development

An exploration of both occupational and commercial leadership approaches revealed several commonalities suggesting an
integrated and inclusive model of leadership had potential.

As indicted earlier, a more in-depth look at the literature revealed that two such models already exist. When examined more
closely, neither model accounted for all of the leadership characteristics preferred by the sample.

The development of a more inclusive and integrated model of leadership was consequently decided upon as a logical step.

The leadership research was returned to and by combining the main factors from both the academic and commercial (or “world of
work”) leadership approaches 6 dual constructs (ILM72 Scales) emerged for inclusion in the model.

The following table shows how the occupational and commercial leadership models’ components contribute to the ILM72
constructs.

It is important to note that the authors to do not claim to have developed a new leadership theory. There is an abundance of theory
out there in the literature and in the consultant’s armoury.

The authors feel that they have tidied up a great deal of current thinking and shown how all or most models share common roots.
The value of doing this lies both in enabling people to see where the different models are connected but also to enable some
genuinely innovative thinking to be brought to bear on this important topic. This field has been characterised by a tendency to “re-
invent the wheel”.

It is equally important to note that the authors feel they have made important progress in clarifying some thinking around leadership.
They do not believe that they have the complete answer. Indeed one of the by-products of the research carried out is an indication
of where development of our understanding of leadership could usefully head.

© AQR Ltd 2008 ILM72 Technical Manual

Table 1: Contribution of Leadership Model Components to ILM72 Constructs

Scale Scale Definition Theories Incorporated by Scale Examples of Relevant Theory Components
Task vs. This scale looks at - Fiedler’s Contingency Theory - Relationship-Oriented (Person); Task-Oriented
Person whether the leader is - Leadership Scale for Sports - Training & Instruction (Task); Social Support(Person)
motivated by the - Task Complexity (Task)
completion of the task - Multi-Level Theory - Planning/Organising; Problem-Solving (Task)
or by the relationships - Multiple Linkage Theory - Consideration (Person); Initiating Structure (Task)
with the people he/she - Ohio State Leadership Studies - Consideration (Person); Initiating Structure (Task)
works with. - Path-Goal Theory - Follower-centred (Person)

- Romance of Leadership - Active/Passive Management-by-Exception (Task)

- Transactional Leadership - Individualised Consideration (Person)

- Transformational Leadership
Punishment This scale looks at - Individualised Leadership - Support for Self-Worth (Reward)
vs. Reward whether the leader - Leader-Member Exchange Theory - In-group (Reward); Out-group (Punish)
prefers to punish - Leadership Scale for Sports - Positive Feedback (Reward)
his/her subordinates or - Multiple-Linkage Theory Rewarding
at whether he/she - Transactional Leadership
prefers to reward - Contingent Reward
his/her subordinates. - Transformational Leadership
- Intellectual Stimulation (Reward)
Dogmatic vs. This scale looks at - Adaptive-Reactive Theory Adaptive; Reactive (Flexible)
Flexible whether the leader is - Leadership Scale for Sports
unable to change - Path-Goal Theory - Democratic Behaviour (Flexible)
his/her approach or at - Situational Leadership Theory - Directive (Dogmatic)
whether he/she is very - Transactional Leadership - Telling/Directing (Dogmatic)
open and receptive to - Transformational Leadership - Active Management-by-Exception (Dogmatic)
others opinions. - Individualised Consideration (Flexible)
Centralised This scale looks at - Leadership Scale for Sports - Autocratic Behaviour (Centralised)
vs. De- whether the leader - Normative Decision-Making - Autocratic Leadership (Centralised)
Centralised believes him/herself to - Path-Goal Theory - Participative (De-Centralised)
be the pivotal figure in - Employee Self-Efficacy (De-Centralised)
© AQR Ltd 2008 ILM72 Technical Manual
 the team or at whether - Self Leadership
that person steers work
away from him/herself. - Situational Leadership Theory
- Substitutes for Leadership Theory
- Transformational Leadership
- Participating/Delegating (De-Centralised)
Substitutes; Neutralisers (De-Centralised)
Laissez-Faire Leadership (De-Centralised)

The Means This scale looks at - Charismatic Leadership - Moral Overtone (The Means)
vs. The End whether the leader’s - Romance of Leadership - Follower-Centred (The Means)
actions are morally - Transactional Leadership - Active/Passive Management-by-Exception(The Ends)
guided or at whether Individualised Consideration (The Means)
he/she shows no - Transformational Leadership
regard for the way
he/she executes the
job.
Structured This scale looks at - Adaptive-Reactive Theory - Reactive; Adaptive (Organic)
vs. Organic whether the leader is - Charismatic Leadership - Crisis Leadership; risk (Organic)
relaxed and natural or - Fiedler’s Contingency Theory - Octants (Structured)
at whether the leader is - Multiple-Linkage Theory
very forced and - Normative Decision-Making - Monitoring (Structured)
contrived in his/her - Transactional Leadership
approach to work. - Transformational Leadership - Heuristics: Decision Trees (Structured)
- Active Management-by-Exception (Structured)
- Inspirational Motivation (Organic)

The study

Items relating to the 12 components (6 bi-polar scales) were generated and a 124-item questionnaire was distributed to a sample of
leaders/managers/supervisors (n = 1341).

Scale reliability of the Integrated Leadership Measure ILM72

© AQR Ltd 2008 ILM72 Technical Manual
Specific Scale No. of Cronbach’s Alpha
items
Task vs. Person 9 0.786
Punishment vs. Reward 10 0.745
Dogmatic vs. Flexible 12 0.702
Centralised vs. De-Centralised 7 0.764
The Means vs. The End 8 0.740
Structured vs. Organic 7 0.660

Analysis of the data supported the six scales ( α > 0.7) and revealed that these six scales were further accounted for by three global
factors.

Global Scale No. of Cronbach’s Alpha

items
Determination to Deliver 40 0.896
Individual Cohesion 25 0.808
Focus on Team Working 19 0.815

All scales generally achieve acceptable or better than acceptable levels of reliability

The number of items was subsequently reduced to 72 and the ILM72 was created.

The integration of so many leadership approaches makes this model more inclusive than any approach preceding it.

Furthermore the reduction of so many concepts and constructs into a three factor working model simplifies a vast and complex
area.

© AQR Ltd 2008 ILM72 Technical Manual

Whilst gathering the data for the study, the researchers were able to also be able to obtain the following data for some or all of the
participants

Age

Gender

Ethnic origin

First language

Position in the organisation

Assessment of the culture of the organisation

Performance in role

There is a great deal of further analysis in progress which will be added to the technical manual as the data emerges.

Indeed, what has already been published has provoked new studies – particularly organisation studies.

© AQR Ltd 2008 ILM72 Technical Manual

 AQR Ltd

Suite 5

Rossett Business Village

Llyndir Lane

Rossett

United Kingdom

LL12 0AY

Tel: 0044 0 1244 572050

Fax: 0044 0 1244 572051

Email: headoffice@aqr.co.uk

Website: www.aqr.co.uk

© AQR Ltd 2008 ILM72

© AQR LtdTechnical Manual
2008 ILM72 Technical Manual