Measure and Evaluate Your Leadership Development Strategies

Data for measurement of leadership skills, effectiveness, or development progress is not easily quantifiable and tends to be qualitative in nature. However, it is possible to collate and translate qualitative information into quantitative measures. Using employee surveys, questioning techniques during appraisal meetings, and techniques such as "360 degree" feedback, can be of assistance in establishing how aligned individual leadership skills are to those required by the organisation.

As with all measurement systems and sub-systems, one focusing upon leadership development should be designed to manage and measure staff leadership development and be aligned with the culture, mission, and strategy of the organisation. Apart from staff satisfaction and perception surveys and feedback/appraisals the following represent a few ideas on how leadership development and or its indicators can be measured:

• Leadership Stability: No. of company re-organisations over the last five years. 

Explanation:
The measure of leadership stability can be tailored to suit the organisation's needs. It can be used to measure the number of changes in personnel at senior management level or the number of role changes at senior management level or the number of changes to organisational structure.

• Employee Recruitment - Internal Promotion: % employees promoted from within the company. 

Explanation:
A measure that provides an indication of the focus on employee development and the effectiveness of succession planning.

• Leadership Training: % of managers or employees who have been on leadership related training courses in the last year. 

Explanation:
An assessment of whether or not managers and employees are continuing to refresh and improve their skills.

• Employee skill set - Assessment: % of staff whose leadership skill level is assessed through a systematic method. 

Explanation:
This measure provides an indication of the level of deployment of the method used for assessing leadership potential among staff. Regular and systematic assessment of skills can provide an accurate and consistent assessment of the leadership capabilities that exist within the workforce, and provides a vital input to any systematic leadership development strategy.

• Leadership Effectiveness: Decision cycle time or time lost waiting for decisions. 

Explanation:
A measure of how effective leaders are at assimilating information and making decisions. This measure would need to be linked to a specific activity e.g. the time from when a formal improvement request is submitted or from when a performance target is not reached and action needs to be taken.

• Management Ability: Skill level of managers. 

Explanation:
A framework for assessing the general skill levels of individual managers would need to be designed. This is likely to be based on qualifications, training received, work experience, and 360-degree feedback.