1.
The Leadership Key
Reinvigorating the Disengaged Workforce

2.
Leadership HQ White Paper
The Leadership Key 2
Contents
Executive Summary 3
Part 1: Is Your Workforce Destined to Remain Disengaged? 4
Part 2: Current Statistics on Disengagement. 5
Part 3: The Impact of Workforce Disengagement on Business
Performance. 6
Part 4: Disengagement and Morale 8
Part 5: Is Disengagement Contagious? 9
Part 6: Is Disengagement Systemic? 10
Part 7: What you can do about Disengagement? 10
About Sonia McDonald and LeadershipHQ 12

3.
3
Executive Summary
Research by AON Hewitt tells us that nearly half of the world’s employees are not
engaged, and that each disengaged employee costs your organisation an average of
$10,000 in profit annually.
Why is employee disengagement so high? Is it something all organisations just have
to “live with” or is there a way of managing it and perhaps converting disengaged
employees into team members who are happy and enthusiastic about their work?
There are many benefits to having a workforce that is engaged in their work.
Employees who are actively engaged in their work:
• are happier and less likely to move on to another competitor
• tend to feel less stressed and call in sick less
• feel that their actions matter so are more likely to work diligently which increases
quality and productivity
• have positive attitudes about their company, management,
co-workers and customers making them more likely to share their time and talents
and bring their best ideas and creativity to their workplace
Unfortunately, the recent climate of economic uncertainty has thrown many
organisations into turmoil as they struggle to make changes so they can maintain a
competitive foothold in the marketplace. It is the employees who are feeling the strain
as their employment or promotional prospects look shaky and internal communications
dry up while senior executives work out how to deal with the situation. That’s where
employee disengagement enters.
In this paper we pose the following questions:
• Is your workforce destined to remain disengaged?
• What does that do to your business performance?
• More importantly what does it do to morale?
• Is disengagement contagious?
• Is it systemic?
• What can you do to overcome disengagement?
We found that in many cases, employee disengagement is a systemic organisational
issue. It is caused or aggravated by out-dated systems which ignore the basic needs
of the employee and exist primarily for the benefit of the business. It’s an old strategy
which is well past its use-by date.
Successful organisations have identified the main factors behind disengagement and
have begun to address them. They have realised that their leaders hold the key to
employee engagement because they are the meeting point between employee and
organisational needs.
Leaders are significant members of
your team who have a high level of
influence on the thoughts, emotions
and behaviours of employees.
AON Hewitt research shows that
organisations who actively seek out
and invest in the development of
talent, particularly in their leaders, and
who align leadership programs with
business strategy, are much more
likely to maintain a high engagement
of people across the organisation.
They describe these organisations as
recognising that “leadership is a way
of life – it is embedded into the values
and expected behaviours and culture
of the organisation”.
Conclusions
Two areas every organisation needs to
focus on are:
1. Development and implementation
of leadership and people
development.
2. Development of an organisational
strategy to align talent recruitment
and development with
organisational objectives – matching
people with processes to achieve
unmatched business performance.
Having an engaging and well trained
leader is critical to your organisational
success. It is evident that any
investment in your leaders will have
a flow-on effect on their teams,
employee engagement and eventually
on the profits of your organisation.

4.
Leadership HQ White Paper
The Leadership Key 4
Part 1: Is Your Workforce Destined to Remain
Disengaged?
Worldwide Statistics Regarding Engaged, Disengaged and
Actively Disengaged Employees
Since most companies would derive great benefits from
having an engaged workforce, it is somewhat surprising that
many businesses don’t do more to engage their employees.
Gallup’s 2013 State of the Global Workplace study indicates
that worldwide, only 13% of workers are actively engaged in
their work. This same study also indicates that 63% of workers
worldwide are not engaged, meaning they go through their day
almost like proverbial zombies or robots, being physically present
but doing only a minimal amount of work in order to collect a
salary. Even more distressing to business leaders is the fact that
the study also shows that 24% of workers worldwide are actively
disengaged.
Employees who are disengaged with their work are more likely
to leave their current employer for a higher salary or more
engaging work. They are also more likely to feel stressed and use
sick time, and are more likely to be inattentive and unfocussed
while performing essential tasks and functions of their position
within a company, which can lead to issues with quality control
and production. They are also more susceptible to being
influenced by fellow co-workers who are actively disengaged.
When a worker is actively disengaged, they have a very negative
attitude about their work, supervisors, company and even
customers. Actively disengaged employees often spend part
of their time actively looking for ways to spread their negative
opinions to others. Sometimes actively disengaged employees
may resort to both overt and covert means of sabotage in order
to reinforce their beliefs and opinions. The fact that actively
disengaged employees outnumber actively engaged workers
should be chilling to every business owner and manager.
Traditionally, organisations have sought to overcome the
disengagement issue by offering more money or bonuses but
this has not worked. It is a knee-jerk response to a situation
that many don’t understand. Without analysing the causes
of employee disengagement, there will be no real, long term
solution.
Recommendation:
If you have implemented solutions but gained no
improvements, it’s time to work on a strategy rather than
jumping straight to a solution.

5.
5
Part 2: Current Statistics on Disengagement.
Your disengaged workers are costing you more than $2,000 per employee per year,
plus affecting productivity and overall office morale.
Engagement in the Australian Workforce
While it’s true that global statistics on engagement are quite sobering, the number
of employees who are actively engaged at their work varies greatly by country. Just
as Gallup’s 2013 State of the Global Workplace study indicates only 13% of global
workers are actively engaged in their work, the same study shows that 26% of
employees of Australian businesses are actively engaged, and only 16% are actively
disengaged.
With just over 1 in 4 Australian employees actively participating in their work and giving
the companies that they work for the best of their talents, ideas and energy, Australian
companies have tremendous potential for growth if they put forth the effort to actively
convert disengaged employees and motivate them to be more active participants.
A key first step to converting disengaged employees is taking the time to identify
leaders from within the existing employee pool that are already actively engaged in
their work and enlist their help and positive energy to influence the attitudes and
behaviours of their less engaged co-workers. Engaged employees are often easy to
spot, as they tend to exhibit traits such as confidence and enthusiasm. They seem to
be genuinely inspired by the senior leadership of their company and often show great
initiative and independence and seek to resolve conflicts or challenges without prior
direction.
Global Ramifications of Increased Engagement in Australian Businesses
Employees that are actively engaged in their work tend to be happier, more productive,
creative and loyal. They also do their part to build a culturally strong business that gains
a competitive advantage over businesses that continue to ignore the needs of their
workforce.
Actively pursuing efforts to re-engage
their workforce gives individual
Australian businesses a distinct business
advantage over their local competitors.
There are also increasing international
ramifications as well, as Australia
increasingly becomes a dominant world
trading partner. According to the
Australian Government’s Department
of Foreign Affairs and Trade, over
45,000 Australian businesses trade
internationally each year, and their
exports add up to over $318.5 billion
dollars in annual sales.
Recommendation:
Develop a strategy to seek out and
identify emerging leaders in your
organisation. It is a cost-effective
choice to work with people who are
already actively committed to your
business goals and who are familiar
with the issues affecting their team
mates.

6.
Leadership HQ White Paper
The Leadership Key 6
Part 3: The Impact of Workforce Disengagement
on Business Performance.
What Does Disengagement do to Your Business Performance?
“Gallup estimates that these actively disengaged employees cost
the U.S. between $450 billion to $550 billion each year in lost
productivity. They are more likely to steal from their companies,
negatively influence their co-workers, miss workdays, and drive
customers away.”
The picture is similar in Australia.
We know that engaged employees increase the profitability and
productivity of their employers in several ways. The following are
just a few of the many benefits of having an engaged workforce:
• Reduced turnover, that leads to reduced costs for hiring and
training staff.
• Reduced costs for absenteeism, sick time and worker’s
compensation.
Reduced costs are not the only benefit of having employees
that are more engaged. Disengaged employees are more likely
to only put forth a minimal amount of effort in their work,
which can have a disastrous effect on your company’s business
performance.
To your customers and your employees, the products and
services that you provide are the public face and identity of your
company. To the public, your employees are you. When your
employees are disengaged, they are more likely to show up for
work on “auto-pilot,” and are less likely to proactively interact
with your customers.
This not only puts your customers off, it robs you of vital
information and feedback that your customer could share about
their needs, but now will not do so because of a bad experience
with one of your employees or one of your products. Having
direct access to your customer’s wants and needs is the
cornerstone of being able to adapt to changing tastes and
preferences, and the ability to innovate and create new products
and services that adapt to a changing market.
Disengaged employees not only have a greater chance of having
a negative customer service experience with a customer, they
are also more likely to produce inferior products and services
since they are not fully focussed at work, which reduces the
overall quality of your product. If enough negative experiences
with employees, products and services accumulate, you won’t
remain in business long.
Left to their own devices, disengaged employees are more
vulnerable to the attitudes and energy of those who may be
actively disengaged with your company. If their ranks swell, you
could be faced with slowdowns, work stoppages, or even active
sabotage at your workplace.
The facts then are quite clear; it is absolutely necessary to the
long term survival and growth of your business to work to
identify your workers that are disengaged and find ways to guide
them into becoming actively engaged.

7.
Some figures to think about.
These statistics come from a 2007 report by DDI. While the dollar amounts might be
different in today’s economy, the overall impact is the same. These figures just scratch
the surface of the costs of employee disengagement.
• Staff replacement is a huge cost to your organisation. The average cost to replace
an employee is around 50% of his/her salary, or perhaps even more, depending on
the level or the industry you operate in.
• For larger organisations (over 10,000 staff), moving a workforce from low to high
engagement can have an impact of over $42 million.
• Quality errors in the same sized organisation were at 5,658 for the low-engagement
group and only 52 for the high-engagement group.
• In companies where engagement sits at 60%, shareholder’s return stood at 24.2%.
Where engagement is between 49% and 60%, total shareholder’s return fell to
9.1%. Companies with a lower than 25% engagement rate brought a negative
return.
How to Identify Disengaged Employees
Use these tips to gain insight into which of your staff might be a disengaged employee.
Take proactive steps to turn things around, because employee attitudes, both positive
and negative, are contagious!
• The Complainer. Do you have an employee that is always seeking ways to point out
everyone’s faults and shortcomings?
• The Lone Wolf. Do you have an employee that keeps to themselves and refuses to
collaborate, bringing down the rest of your team?
• The Gossip, Rabble-rouser and/or the Liar. Do you have one or two “bad apples”
that seem to be the source of exaggerations, half-truths, innuendos and outright lies
that keep things “stirred-up”?
• The Know it All. Do you have someone on your team that seems to be such an
expert at everything that they won’t listen to the ideas of others?
• No Fault Molly. Do you have
employees that refuse to accept
responsibility for their actions?
• Mostly Dead. Do you have an
employee or two that has no
enthusiasm, for anything? They are
there in body, but little else?
• Dead Wood. This type of
disengaged employee somewhat
resembles dead wood, they’ve
often been in their position for
far too long and have no interest
in growing themselves or the
company.
• The Distracted Daydreamer. Do
you have members on your staff
that are unfocussed on their work,
or who have no initiative to learn
anything new or try to improve
things?
If you find that your workers resemble
some of these types of disengaged
employees, you need to shake things
up before their attitudes and behaviour
begin to affect other employees,
customers, and your profitability and
performance as a company.
Recommendation:
If you are concerned at the cost
of implementing a leadership
development strategy in your
organisation, take a look at what
it costs you to do nothing. Talent
development and performance
management pays for itself.
7

8.
Leadership HQ White Paper
The Leadership Key 8
Part 4: Disengagement and Morale
Often the terms “disengagement” and “low morale” are used
interchangeably, yet I don’t believe they are the same thing,
although they are tightly linked.
The Oxford Dictionary defines morale as “the confidence,
enthusiasm, and discipline of a person or group at a particular
time”. It’s a state of mind which is influenced or affected by
emotions. A person with low morale may not show enthusiasm
or joy at coming to work, but often they will continue the
attempt to work simply because they know that someone is
relying on them to do it.
Disengagement is the next step beyond low morale. People
may or may not turn up for work, but even if they do, they are
unlikely to perform. The connection between what they do and
why they do it (or who they do it for) has been damaged to the
point where they can’t make themselves care anymore.
When morale starts to drop you will see it and feel it in your
workplace. The negative energy oozes through entire teams. The
smiles start to disappear, hushed conversations are held by water
coolers, and your productivity starts to drop.
Morale affects everything you do in your organisation and
ultimately impacts on your competitive advantage. Low morale
shows even in your customer service. Your team no longer goes
to the same effort they once did to help your clients. Sales drop
and complaints rise.
At this point your people start to think, “What the hell. It’s not
working anyway so I might as well give up”. That’s the point
where employee disengagement begins.
In an article in Forbes, Liz Ryan says “Somehow the time-
honoured concept of employee morale — the answer to the
question ‘How’s the team doing?’ got twisted into the notion of
Employee Engagement, where the penalty for being insufficiently
engaged with the mission is to be responsible for one’s own
layoff”.
She argues that people act in their own self-interest, so it’s
unreasonable to expect them to be engaged at work if there
is the possibility that they might lose their job. I would add that
it’s very difficult to be engaged at work if they are emotionally
focussed elsewhere, perhaps on their private lives.
There are two reasons for drawing the distinction between
morale and engagement.
1. It is impossible to accurately assess employee engagement
or disengagement without considering the impact of their
non-work worlds. Traditional engagement surveys and
interviews which happen according to a set routine (or a
KPI which must be met) won’t give you the true picture of
your organisational health and employee engagement. It’s a
numbers game.
2. If leaders can learn to recognise the signs of low morale, they
can take decisive action to deal with it and prevent it leading
to total disengagement.
The solution often offered is to encourage leaders to have
a meaningful and “proactive conversation” with each team
member on a regular basis (read this as “once a year”). Surely
that misses the point. Your people don’t want scheduled
interaction; they want consistent and open communication
across the board.
Recommendation:
Choose open and honest communication as one of your
corporate values and model the behaviour from the top down.

9.
Part 5: Is Disengagement Contagious?
I’m sure you can remember a time when you went to work (or some other place) in a
bright and happy mood only to run into friends who were having a rough day. It’s hard
to maintain your high spirits after being exposed to negative emotions.
Neuroscience shows us that our limbic system (the emotional centre of our brain) can
recognise emotion in another person within milliseconds even without any obvious
display. We are wired to be receptive to each other’s emotions. It’s part of our inbuilt
survival mechanism.
The more we are exposed to a particular mood or emotion, the more we begin to
experience it and show it in our own thoughts and behaviour. When you consider
that bad emotions and bad feedback have more impact than good ones, and bad
information is processed more thoroughly than good, you can see how easily an
attitude of disengagement might spread.
When your teams appear to be disengaging from their work, the most logical place to
look for answers is with their leaders.
“Because employees pay great attention to their leaders’ emotions, leaders can strongly
influence the mood, and thus attitudes and performance, of their teams through emotional
contagion.” - Wharton@Work
That means leaders are able to influence their teams to become bored or disillusioned
with their work simply by showing their own lack of engagement. Leaders who are
not committed to their work and their teams will only help spread the disengagement
disease.
As a balance, however, imagine if you could cause a team to become excited and
involved in a project simply by encouraging your leaders to show their own excitement.
Imagine what would happen if you could do that in your workplace. Imagine what effect
that would have on your teams, and ultimately on your productivity.
Recommendation:
Leaders will need to be sure of their skills and confident in their ability to manage
disengaged team members so they rediscover a true connection with their work.
Encourage leaders to learn more about themselves so they can see their strengths
and weaknesses, and discover how they can better work with their teams.
What your leaders can do to stop the
contagion.
The first thing they need to do is
accept that they have a role to play in
stopping the spread of the disease.
Advocate – Your leaders are on the
spot and can see where trouble begins.
Part of their role is to advocate for
change. They need to represent their
teams to management and bring the
issues forward.
Cultivate a supportive environment
– Where possible, meet the needs of
your employees. For example, adopt
flexible work arrangements for people
returning to work. Offer training to
lift employees from their current
roles. Show that you are interested in
your employees as people, not just as
numbers.
Listen – There is a deeply emotional
element beneath employee
disengagement and until that is
recognised, there will be no healing.
Discourage negative conversations –
Listening to the complaints of others
around them will bring down even
the most positive of team members.
Leaders need to be able to take action
to stop the conversations taking place.
That doesn’t mean dismissing them; it
means taking those conversations from
the “water cooler” and into the leader’s
space where it can be dealt with.
Model positivity – While it’s easier for
a negative attitude to spread, leaders
can slow it down by modelling positive
behaviours and attitudes. Showing
enthusiasm, passion for the work and
joy at being part of the team can spark
a response in their team members.
The attitude of the leader has a direct
impact on the attitude of the team.
Your leaders are the key to change
within the organisation and without
their support and hard work, change
will be a long time coming.
9

10.
Leadership HQ White Paper
The Leadership Key 10
Part 6: Is Disengagement Systemic?
A survey by a US company, Accountemps, found that 33% of
employees believe that poor communication from senior levels
is the primary cause of morale issues in the workplace. That’s a
reflection of a systemic issue in the workplace. Is it possible that
more of your workplace systems are contributing to the gradual
disengagement of your employees? Of course it is. The evidence
is there. Let’s take a look.
What happens when management realise that their staff are
becoming disengaged? Usually they come up with a solution
which involves a wage rise, a bonus or some other incentive
designed to motivate. It works – but only for a short while.
That’s because they haven’t solved the underlying issues.
Your systems have to meet your employees’ basic needs:
• To feel valued.
• To feel as though they are heard.
• To feel that they are doing something worthwhile.
• To feel as though they belong.
• To feel in control of their direction.
• To feel that their life is in balance.
• To feel as though their leaders care about them.
More money can’t compensate for the things that really bother
us at work. If you come in to work every day and can’t work out
why your job is important or you feel that no one is listening
to you, a wage rise is not going to solve the problem. It’s the
organisational systems which have to change and it’s your
leaders which will be pivotal in embedding the changes into your
workplace.
These are areas which can have a serious impact on employee
engagement.
Mission and vision – have you clearly communicated the “why”
of what you do to everyone in the organisation? For people to
feel engaged with their work, they need to know how they fit
into your plans and why what they do is important. Too often,
the mission and vision is just a statement on a strategic plan. It is
never shared with staff.
Communication – are messages being received throughout
the organisation? We’ve seen businesses struggle because
communications stopped at management level. People will do
what is required of them if they know why it’s necessary.
People management – how well does your organisation
manage people? Return to work, internal transfer, and injury
management? The way you care for people during times of
change, upset or injury is a direct reflection of the way you see
your staff. They want to know that you care about their welfare
as individuals. If your systems are process driven, you may be
driving up disengagement without realising.
Poor leaders – as we said earlier, leaders are important to
your organisational success because they are influencers. Poorly
chosen or untrained leaders will only reinforce the systemic
problems behind disengagement.
Recommendation:
Assess the systems within your organisation by investigating
their human impact.
Part 7: What you can do about Disengagement?
Is There Hope for Disengaged Workers?
Since 87% of the workforce, worldwide, is either disengaged
or actively disengaged in their work, it may seem that business
leaders have little reason to hope that they can change attitudes
and behaviour and convert their workforce from disengaged
workers to engaged, active partners that will work with them
to build the company. Research, however, shows that this
belief is false, and there are several success stories where
business leaders have been able to take action to influence their
employee’s beliefs and behaviours and turn things around.
How Can Leaders Work to Encourage Greater Engagement in
Their Workplace?
Since greater employee engagement leads to so many benefits,
business leaders must first discover why their employees are
disengaged before they can begin to take corrective action to
better meet the needs of their employees. While each individual
leader will discover obstacles that are unique to their company,
global statistics on engagement can provide some interesting
insight into where leaders might begin their search.
Currently, many business experts believe that employee
engagement is overwhelmingly driven by three factors: an
employee’s relation with their front line supervisor, the
employee’s trust in the company’s senior leadership, and the
amount of pride that a specific employee has for the work that
they do for their employer. The research tends to support these
conclusions.
According to statistics provided by Dale Carnegie Training,
employees that are unhappy with their direct manager are
disengaged 80% of the time and 70% of employees that distrust
the senior leadership of their company are also disengaged. 54%
of workers that are actively engaged also feel great pride in their
work and workplace.

11.
Of course, some leaders may find more specific root causes of employee dissatisfaction
at their workplace, but leaders can begin to increase employee engagement with the
following general guidelines:
• Leaders should increase opportunities for employees to provide feedback and their
ideas.
• Senior leadership should take the time to communicate the company’s vision
and goals for the future so that employees have a greater understanding of the
company’s purpose and their role in actively achieving that purpose.
• The actions of senior leaders should show that each individual employee’s ideas
matter, that they have the ability to influence the company’s goals, the steps that are
taken to achieve them, and that employees also have the ability to directly influence
their work environment as well.
• Front line managers should take care to build trust and cooperation with employees
so as to have a beneficial, professional working relationship.
• Leaders at all levels should help employees to feel more empowered by giving
them greater control and more authority in their work roles and providing greater
opportunities to publically recognise and reward performance.
As direct and senior leaders develop greater bonds of mutual trust as well as provide
greater responsibility and recognition for their employees, engagement naturally
increases.
Steps that Leaders can take to Re-engage Their Employees
There are, of course, several steps that leaders can take to re-engage their employees
so that they feel more positive about the company, their supervisors, co-workers and
customers. These steps include the following practices:
• Change must begin within the leadership of the company. Managers and others
must change their attitudes towards workers and get rid of any preconceived
notions as to what does and does not motivate their employees. Leaders need to
actively work to see their employees as partners rather than just workers or “cogs
in the wheel”. The more that leaders actively seek out to serve their employee’s
needs and best interests, the more those employees will become engaged with
their leaders and their company.
• Leaders must ensure that their employees have everything that they need to excel
in the performance of their job. Nothing is more frustrating to employees than
being asked to perform a job, but not being given the materials, training and other
resources that they need to do the task well. Help your employees help you by
taking the time to ask your employees what they need from you to perform the
job. Go to bat for your employees and ensure that your company commits the
time and resources to give them training, not only for their current position, but for
future positions as well; it will go a long way to ensuring that your employees value
working at your company.
• Take time to bond and show
interest in employees on a personal
level. Leaders need to have an
“open door” policy with their
employees. Employees are more
likely to share their concerns, as
well as their best ideas and talents,
when they feel that their leaders
are approachable and value them
as individuals. When leaders seek
ways to knock down the social
barriers that often exist between
leaders and co-workers, it can help
increase loyalty and job satisfaction
and ensure that employees feel
as though they are working for
something greater than themselves.
• Provide regular feedback, as well
as rewards and recognition, as
everyone likes to feel noticed and
appreciated. Many employees
become disengaged because they
truly believe that their actions
do not matter. By providing
regular, constructive feedback
about performance, leaders can
help engage their employees and
help guide them into good work
habits. Seeking opportunities to
praise employees for their efforts
and to publically recognise and
reward employees for outstanding
performance and effort, also helps
to boost satisfaction and employee
effort.
Creating a workplace environment
that engages employees is not always
easy, but the potential for increased
performance, quality, efficiency and
lower costs make it well worth the
effort. By following the above steps,
leaders can take “fate into their own
hands”, and actively take steps to
reverse the number of disengaged
employees in their workforce. By being
proactive, disengagement need not be
the ultimate destiny for any employee.
11

12.
Leadership HQ White Paper
The Leadership Key 12
Conclusion
According to Daily Infographic, businesses that have highly
engaged employees see 2 ½ times the annual revenue than
companies that have a great number of disengaged employees
and 87% of engaged employees plan to continue working for
their current employer, reducing turnover and new hire training
costs while boosting corporate earnings and profits.
These same statistics show that while 90% of senior managers
believe a formal employee engagement strategy is critical to
their growth and survival, less than 25% actually have a strategy
to increase employee engagement. With so many benefits that
are backed by research and statistics, leaders should act now to
increase employee engagement and gain the competitive edge.
It is quite clear from the research that your leaders are the key
to employee engagement, but that puts a huge responsibility
squarely onto their shoulders.
• Your leaders need regular and ongoing support in the form
of training and development.
• Your organisation needs to support its leaders by developing
and implementing strategies to boost internal communication.
• You will require a strategy to help your organisation discover
talent, engage it with your organisational mission, vision and
values, and develop it into the next generation of leaders.
Organisations can’t tackle employee disengagement by making
ad hoc change. Opportunities for engagement needs to be built
into the business from the ground up.
About LeadershipHQ and Sonia McDonald
LeadershipHQ provides solutions, programs and interventions
that will help your organisation to achieve maximum success.
Leadership is our passion; we live it, breathe it and love it!
Our purpose and vision is to partner with organisations and
leaders in building high performance leadership, culture and
strategic interventions – improving staff engagement, motivation,
retention and ultimately, the bottom line.
We deliver tailor-made programs, interventions and workshops
to achieve organisational and cultural change, inspirational and
high-impact leadership and leading-edge business strategies. Our
consulting services are aimed at the success you want to achieve
and unlock the untapped resources of your people.
We are the leaders in leadership and strategy. We understand
the reality of a profitable business today demands strong
leadership and diversity of thought. We bring value to our clients
by facilitating the integration and alignment of the business
strategy with workable talent management, diversity and leader
impact strategies through the latest research, analysis and work in
neuroscience as well as leadership.
Sonia McDonald, as Director of LeadershipHQ, brings an
extensive knowledge of human resources, organisational
development and leadership through a career spanning over
twenty years.
She is a thought leader, coach, consultant, speaker and trainer
in the field of leadership development, gender intelligence and
strategy. She is an expert in building leadership and strategy
confidence and capability in Australia and is renowned for her
innovative approach to leadership, organisational development
and neuroscience as it applies to leadership.
She has held senior roles in organisational development, learning
and development, strategic recruitment and talent management
fields. She has worked in a range of industries including retail,
education, construction and engineering in both the private and
public sectors across Australia and internationally.
Her focus is on delivering customised interventions and
programs to ensure her clients’ unique business and people
requirements are met. She is a talented, innovative, high energy
and passionate leadership and organisational development
consultant dedicated to delivering exceptional outcomes.
“What I love most about my work is knowing that I have had
a positive impact, not only on the viability of the business I am
helping, but also on the wellbeing and engagement of their people.”
www.leadershiphq.com.au