Leadership Development: Objective Measure of Success
By Jeff Pawlow
The Program
A core service offering by The Growth Partnership is our three-year leadership development program – The Partner Institute. Designed for individuals in-line for firm partnership, recently promoted partners, and managing partners who are committed to sustained leadership development, TPI has a proven record of objective success when it comes to developing leaders within the accounting profession. Over the course of the three-year experience, TPI participants focus on increasing their effectiveness in four core areas: 1) how to lead and manage themselves, 2) how to lead and manage their team, 3) how to lead and manage their firm, and 4) how to create sustainable, profitable growth.
The Measuring Stick
During their TPI experience, participants engage in two multi-rater assessments (aka 360 assessments) to benchmark their effectiveness as a leader. Shortly after the beginning of the program, participants take LQ-1 in order to establish a baseline of their leadership acumen. Participants then take LQ-2 prior to graduation to assess the degree to which they have improved their leadership skills.
The LQ assessment measures leadership across five key areas: 1) building trust, 2) creating purpose, 3) creating and aligning systems, 4) unleashing talent and 5) leadership effectiveness. All constructs within this assessment have been identified to drive individual, team and organizational performance. Of particular interest is how the LQ calculates each participant’s individual net promoter score (NPS) which directly measures their effectiveness as a leader by asking:
“All things considered, how likely are you to recommend [participant] as a leader to others?”
The responses are captured on a 0 – 10 scale, where 0 = not at all likely and 10 = extremely likely. Results are calculated into three groups according to their response on the scale.
- 9s and 10s are Promoters, individuals who proactively promote you as a leader and more likely to demonstrate strong followership behaviors.
- 7s and 8s are Passives, individuals who are happy with your leadership but are neither actively promoting your brand nor actively taking away from it.
- 0s – 6s are Detractors, individuals who are not likely to promote you as a leader, and are less likely to demonstrate strong followership behaviors.
The Net Promoter Score is calculated by subtracting the percentage of followers who are Detractors from the percentage of followers who are Promoters.
The Investment Return
As we examine the results from a recently graduated class from TPI, we see the following:
LQ NPS Jump
You can see that in the post-assessment period the participants INCREASED their Promoters, decreased their Detractors and drove an overall 91% increase in their leadership net promoter scores.
Conclusion
Leadership development is a marathon, not a sprint and the best leaders are constantly under construction. That said, with the appropriate content, support mechanisms and individual effort leaders can make great strides in developing their leadership impact through the Partner Institute Development Program.
Ask yourself, what would it be worth if we could DOUBLE the leadership effectiveness of your successor generation? Registration is currently open for TPI 2018. Please visit the program website http://www.thepartnerinstitute.com for more information.