After decades of leadership development proliferation, we've reached a startling conclusion: most of it doesn't work. Not because the advice is wrong, but because we never measure whether it makes any difference.
Russ Laraway's, work at Qualtrics and other notable organizations (Google, Twitter to name a few..) helped him to identify leadership behaviors that measurably improve a team's performance. He says: "Do not train your managers unless you are going to assess them on the leadership stuff specifically. Don't bother... it is wasted effort if you're not assessing."
We've spent decades establishing learning and development, and leadership programs–spending billions in fact, on training programs all while accepting that they we really have no idea whether if programs even improve leadership effectiveness.
Why this happens:
The result? Training programs may make participants feel good but don't change how they actually lead.
Russ's approach flips traditional performance evaluation on its head. Instead of managers assessing employees, employees assess whether they observe specific leadership behaviors from their managers.
"Employees exclusively get to assess whether they have observed their managers demonstrating the behaviors your organization has determined matter," he explains.
This isn't about popularity contests or personality preferences—it's about observable actions that drive results.
The key principles of effective leadership assessment:
Behavioral Focus: Assess specific, observable actions rather than personality traits or general impressions.
Employee Perspective: Team members see leadership in action every day, while managers often operate in isolation from their own behavior.
Regular Cadence: Quarterly assessment creates accountability without being overwhelming.
Clear Standards: Everyone understands which behaviors matter and why they matter to organizational success.
When Qualtrics implemented behavioral assessment, the results were immediate and dramatic: "The managers who were sneakily skipping one-on-ones for not good reasons—that stopped overnight. Because now their employees have a voice."
This rapid behavior change happens because:
Effective leadership development follows a systematic process that integrates assessment at every stage in the STAC Model:
Look for natural leadership instincts rather than just technical competence. "It's always a coin flip if a person is going to be a good manager—best salesperson, best software engineer–often not the best manager" Russ says.
Key selection criteria:
Don't assume people know how to lead effectively. Make your expectations explicit and provide concrete examples of desired behaviors.
Effective leadership training:
Measure whether training actually changes behavior through employee observation and feedback.
Assessment best practices:
Use assessment results to provide targeted development support rather than generic training.
Data-driven coaching includes:
The most effective organizations integrate leadership assessment into their broader performance management and advancement decisions.
"We would withhold reward—if you were a director trying to get to VP, you weren't getting promoted if your organization's engagement scores were poor, if your manager effectiveness scores were poor," Russ explains.
LThis integration ensures that:
arSome leaders resist employee assessment, worried about "inmates running the asylum." Laraway addresses this concern directly: "The manager's manager is evaluating them across 90% of their job. This is one signal, strictly from the employees on whether the manager is showing the right leadership behaviors."
Employee assessment complements rather than replaces other evaluation methods by:
Organizations that implement systematic leadership assessment often see broader cultural changes:
Increased Transparency: Regular feedback normalizes open communication about performance.
Improved Trust: Employees feel heard and valued when their observations matter.
Better Retention: People stay with managers who consistently demonstrate effective leadership behaviors.
Faster Development: Regular feedback accelerates learning and behavior change.
Higher Performance: Teams with effective leaders consistently outperform others.
Organizations ready to implement leadership assessment should start with these foundational elements, leverage leadership-focused career frameworks is a great place to start:
Organizations that master leadership assessment will have significant advantages:
Learning and development organizations will continue to create content, frameworks, and training programs. But the organizations that win will be those that measure what matters and develop leaders based on data rather than hope.
The assessment revolution isn't about making leadership development more complex—it's about making it more effective. When we measure leadership behavior systematically, we can finally close the gap between training investment and leadership improvement.
The question isn't whether you can afford to implement leadership assessment. It's whether you can afford to keep developing leaders in the dark.
As Laraway puts it: "I promise you, you are wasting every single penny you put into that training if you're not assessing them after you train them."
The measurement revolution starts with one simple decision: will you join the organizations that develop leaders based on evidence, or will you keep hoping that training alone will somehow create the leadership your organization needs?
