What strategies can you use to evaluate leadership development programs?

Nothing frustrates professionals more than excellently doing a thing that should not have been done in the first place. This is why it is important to understand all the stakeholders. Sometimes, the problem is not a lack of knowledge or skills but the willingness to commit. Once, we have confirmed that there is a leadership skill/knowledge gap, we need to define the problem, and what the definition of 'done' is. How would we know we have accomplished our goals? We can employ outcome, process, and balancing measures. These provide a holistic approach to measurement and not an unbalanced fixation on outcome/lag measures. Agreeing on the goal and selecting meaningful indicators are not always simple tasks but are critical to success.

Participants' skills, knowledge, and attitudes are often assessed before and after programs. It can be self-assessments, peer evaluations, or supervisor feedback. A second way to gauge the impact of the leadership program is to track participants' career progression and performance. Qualitative feedback can also provide valuable insight into the program's strengths and weaknesses.

In my experience collecting survey responses prior to creating and delivering the curriculum produces optimal outcomes. Pre course survey questions are focused on what respondents hope to get out of the program, specific topics, areas of interest, pain points, etc. Doing so helps us understand participants needs and create a course they want/need. After delivering the course collect survey responses to show if we met their expectations. Then another follow up survey 30/60/90 days after asking what they implemented since the training. This helps to keep them accountable and measures how our training stuck with them.

There are many evaluation schemes, methods, and tools. Patricia Pulliam Phillips and Jack J. Phillips in their ROI Fieldbook (2007), list 12 evaluation schemes starting with Benefit Cost Analysis (BCA) and ending with the Balanced Scorecard (1996) by Kaplan and Norton. Early on in their list, the Phillips cover Kirkpatrick’s famous 4-level framework and their own well known Return On Investment (ROI) scheme. My advice is as follows: 1. Select a scheme that’s appropriate for your evaluation goals and your organization. 2. Don’t jump to conclusions. For example, when evaluating whether behavior on the job has changed, you need to study if the learners were given a chance to implement the change or if their supervisors simply prevented them.

If possible, use metrics that already have organizational credibility, such as employee engagement or turnover or already-existing internal leadership assessments.

Impact analysis for leadership development programs is critical in understanding the effectiveness and ROI of these initiatives. You can use some of these: 1. Pre and post assessments 2. Benchmarking 3. Business Impact Analysis 4. Using Customized Evaluation Metrics 5. Cost Benefit Analysis 6. External Evaluation or External Auditing A comprehensive analysis should include a blend of quantitative and qualitative methods to provide a well-rounded understanding of the program's impact.

Pre and post metrics. Design your course with baseline metrics that are indisputable for the attendees. Measure prior to the course, then measure six months and a year later.

Remember that an evaluation method or tool is only relevant or important if you are CLEAR about the outcomes you are looking for AND have identified the best method to measure those outcomes. Not enough time or thought is spent on this area and as a result, you're left with interesting data that don't necessarily tell you what you really want to know.

Evaluating leadership development programs involves a few key strategies. First, align the program with business strategic goals to ensure that the skills developed in leaders directly support business objectives. Second, assess capability gaps by comparing current leadership skills with the competency model to identify areas of improvement. Third, use Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that focus on three factors: program alignment with business priorities, changes in leaders' behaviour and performance, and the efficient use of investments and resources. Tools such as 360-degree feedback, performance evaluations, and skill assessments are also effective in identifying gaps and development needs during the programs.

One tip is to provide broader context when presenting the report such as what were the previous feedbacks collected and actions taken, and how these new results connect fit into this context. Be balanced ensuring to callout wins/progress, and vocally self-critical in areas that need improvement (or have regressed). For the wins callout how you will double down on these moving forward, and for the areas needing improvement what are the corrective actions being taken.

I agree that “evaluating leadership development programs is not an easy task”. The evaluation approach depends on several conditions. Have these programs been in use for a period of time OR are they in the planning, design, and development stage? The latter require a different methodology which I won’t address here. I suggest that evaluating ongoing programs require two major tracks, one is internal to the organization and the other is external. Both tracks should focus on: 1) delivering high quality business results, 2) well-being of the total workforce and the organization’s stakeholders, 3) organizational culture, 4) benchmarks of leading programs in similar industries, and 5) Corporate Social Responsibility including the environment.

Evaluating the impact of the leadership programs we design and facilitate with our clients is a core component of our w work @skyeteam In addition to internal business and HR metrics we adopt a stakeholder centered approach to program impact analysis. We ask participants to self assess their confidence in key areas before/after the program, and their confidence in their peers in these areas. We ask the same questions of the leaders' direct reports & internal customers. Following a recent program the net promoter score (nps) of direct reports - would you recommend your manager to others - moved from 54% to 75% ?? We've found that this stakeholder approach has also helped maintain momentum long after program graduation

A powerful way to do it is combining the learning transfer to the workplace with the increased level of confidence of the trained leaders as well as a kind of 180-360 stakeholder leadership development. In our case, we use more ENPS instead of NPS which will help us to measure the level of engagement on the leadership impact of their leaders

Metrics, assessments, and evaluations of the training aside, the proof is in the pudding. At the end of the day, is your leadershop development program yielding effective leaders? Is your organization becoming more effective, agile, productive, stable, etc. It is important to assess results. How is the developed leader impacting employee engagement, retention, and recruitment? In the case of the seasoned leader, did the development program lead to adaptation or evolution on the part of the leader? These are questions that can lead to continued investment or divestment where a leadership development program is concerned.

I will add that it is necessary to assess the impact of the program at the individual and organizational level. All the above taking into consideration the leadership capabilities the intervention / program wanted to develop.