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Research · 2025

Leaders aren't found. They're built.

The gap between average and great businesses comes down to how well they develop their supervisors, managers and leaders. Here are the eight essentials.

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Published 2025 by HR Coach Australasia, the team behind STAR Workplace.

Employers across Australasia are navigating a tough post-COVID environment. HR Coach's data from the last two years highlights exactly what employers are struggling with and, more importantly, where the real opportunities for growth lie.

The research, reinforced by direct feedback from business owners and HR managers, is clear: the gap between average and great businesses comes down to how well they develop and support their supervisors, managers and leaders.

What the research shows

Over the past three years the research has consistently shown a common theme: businesses must prioritise retaining talent and developing internal capability.

That isn't surprising. Many businesses lost experienced leaders during the COVID years (2020–2022) and the immediate aftermath. Management teams are now carrying far less experience, at a time when employee expectations have never been higher.

The good news is that businesses that act now on these leadership and capability gaps position themselves for sustainable growth.

What employees (and managers) are looking for now:

  • Personal development opportunities
  • Recognition and appreciation
  • Clear responsibility and autonomy
  • Understanding the future direction of the business
  • Fair and transparent pay and bonuses
  • Resilience and support when under pressure

Why business owners can't do it all

Business owners could try to meet all these expectations themselves. But that would pull them away from their core focus: building the business. Most can't reinvent themselves, take on every challenge or deliver everything employees need.

That's why developing your managers and supervisors has never been more critical. Building internal capability spreads the load, meets rising employee expectations and keeps the business aligned and sustainable.

The eight essentials of modern leadership

After three decades working in and with businesses across Australasia, HR Coach believes there are eight capabilities managers and supervisors must master:

  1. Understand yourself Including their natural strengths and blind spots.
  2. Understand others and adapt your approach Improving delegation, motivation and cross-functional collaboration.
  3. Demonstrate the behaviours of great managers Consistently, and in line with company culture.
  4. Performance coach each team member To unlock discretionary effort and drive improvement.
  5. Develop emotional intelligence (EQ) To manage their own emotions and respond effectively to others.
  6. Craft a clear vision, build alignment and drive execution Across their teams or departments.
  7. Get the right people on (and the wrong people off) the bus Building high-performing teams.
  8. Align daily activity with strategy To gain a competitive advantage.

Essential 1 of 8

Understand yourself

Success often comes from hard work. But what happens when working harder stops yielding results? For many managers, that's the signal to shift from effort-based to insight-based leadership. It starts with self-awareness.

The Johari Window explains how we each have known and unknown characteristics. Some are obvious to us, some are only apparent to others, and some remain hidden to everyone. Uncovering blind spots lets managers use their natural strengths and develop where needed.

Improving self-awareness is the foundation of leadership growth.

Essential 2 of 8

Understand others and adapt your approach

Once you understand yourself, the next challenge is understanding others. You could try to do it all on your own, but that quickly leads to burnout.

Effective managers adapt their approach to connect with different personality styles. Miscommunication and disengagement often stem not from employee shortcomings but from a mismatch in communication styles. And some things are far easier to change than others: job skills and time management are relatively easy; knowledge and attitude are harder; habits and personality are hardest of all.

Managers must shift from one-size-fits-all to personalised leadership.

Essential 3 of 8

Demonstrate the behaviours of great managers

Since 2004, HR Coach has researched the behaviours of Australasian managers and found a direct link to company performance. Great managers consistently demonstrate self-motivation, quality communication, team leadership, business acumen, and planning and organisation.

It isn't enough for managers to think they do these well. Employees must experience them. Culture is what your people see and feel every day, and inconsistent management behaviour erodes trust fast.

  • Self-motivation
  • Quality communication
  • Team leadership
  • Business acumen
  • Planning and organisation

Essential 4 of 8

Performance coach each team member

Every employee plays a role in the success of the business. When managers coach effectively, they unlock discretionary effort and boost results.

Today's employees want to contribute to improvement and be heard, and they disengage quickly when their ideas are dismissed without explanation. With growing pressures outside work, legislation including the psychosocial risk framework and right-to-disconnect laws now formalises what high-performing businesses already do: maximise individual performance for business gain.

Trust is the foundation. Coaching needs open, ongoing dialogue and a shared commitment to improvement, built on commitment, openness and trust.

  • Commitment
  • Openness
  • Trust
  • Choice

Essential 5 of 8

Develop emotional intelligence (EQ)

Technical skill and IQ matter, but emotional intelligence defines great leaders. Daniel Goleman's model of EQ covers self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management.

Managers who master these handle conflict more effectively, support team wellbeing and foster a culture of trust. EQ is challenging to teach, difficult to measure and harder still to maintain, but it pays dividends in every leadership interaction.

Self-awarenessSocial awarenessSelf-managementRelationship management

Essential 6 of 8

Craft a clear vision, build alignment and drive execution

Whether you lead 5 people or 500, leadership comes down to three things: crafting a vision, building alignment and championing execution.

Most managers are strong in one or two of these. Truly effective leaders deliver all three, and each requires different skills. The Work of Leaders framework builds capability across vision, alignment and execution in a structured, practical way.

  1. Crafting a vision
  2. Building alignment
  3. Championing execution

Essential 7 of 8

Get the right people on (and the wrong people off) the bus

Jim Collins' research in Good to Great highlights that great businesses work hard to find the right people and, just as importantly, remove those who no longer fit.

Hire for cultural fit, capability and the ability to make a positive impact, and be willing to act quickly on underperformance. Whatever poor behaviour is tolerated becomes the new standard, and the best people notice when managers don't act.

Essential 8 of 8

Align daily activity with strategy

HR Coach's research across Australasian businesses shows only 22% operate in the high-alignment quadrant. These businesses link daily activity to strategic goals, finish what they start, and gain a 10–20% productivity advantage over competitors.

Meanwhile 48% are in the red zone: busy being busy, chaotic, misaligned and at risk of losing key people. Over time, misalignment leads to lower profits, disengagement and eventually market exit.

  • 22%of businesses operate in the high-alignment quadrant
  • 48%are in the red zone, busy being busy
  • 18%difference between high and low performers
  • 10–20%productivity advantage for highly aligned businesses
Alignment isn't a buzzword. It's a bottom-line business decision.

The Strategic Action Model. Select a quadrant to read about it.

Strategy →
Activity →

High strategy · High activity

Growth-ready

Strategy is linked to what everybody does every day. This business is poised for growth.

  • Clear alignment between strategy and daily operations
  • Universal understanding of company goals
  • Strong engagement scores
  • Sustainable growth patterns

Based on research across 5,000 Australian businesses. Your STAR report shows where you sit.

Self-assessment

How does your business compare?

Rate your managers on each of the eight essentials, from Never to Always.

1Self-awareness. Managers understand their strengths and work to improve on their challenges.
2Delegation and motivation. Managers consistently delegate, motivate, and manage up and sideways.
3Management behaviours. Managers consistently demonstrate the five key behaviours of great managers.
4Coaching. Managers coach every team member regularly and effectively.
5Team management. Managers address poor fit and maintain strong team standards.
6Emotional intelligence. Managers continually develop their emotional intelligence.
7Vision and execution. Managers communicate a clear vision, build alignment and execute.
8Strategic alignment. Daily activity is aligned with strategy.

Answer all eight to see your score.

Building capability

Practical solutions for building leadership capability

Your STAR provider can help with each of these.

Development needRecommended solution
Understand selfDiSC Management assessment and development workshop.
Understand othersDiSC Management assessment and development workshop.
Management behavioursSTAR Workplace behaviour assessment and Great Managers workshop.
Coaching frameworkImplement a structured performance coaching program for all managers.
Team assessmentsUse Career Monitor assessments and create tailored development plans.
Emotional intelligenceStart with a Genos EI self-assessment, followed by a 360-degree development program.
Vision, alignment, executionDiSC Work of Leaders assessment and workshop.
Strategic alignmentSTAR Workplace assessment and HR plan implementation.

By focusing on these essentials, you build a leadership team equipped to grow your business sustainably, and take the pressure off yourself. Future leaders aren't found. They're built.

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