{"id":4834,"date":"2022-04-07T12:50:56","date_gmt":"2022-04-07T12:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/pl-en\/uncategorized\/how-to-measure-the-success-of-a-leadership-development-programme\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T18:17:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T17:17:12","slug":"how-to-measure-the-success-of-a-leadership-development-programme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/pl-en\/developing-leaders\/how-to-measure-the-success-of-a-leadership-development-programme\/","title":{"rendered":"How to measure the value and success of a leadership development programme"},"content":{"rendered":"

How to measure the value and success of a leadership development programme<\/span><\/h2>\n

Businesses that view success from a broader perspective beyond short term financial profitability may implicitly understand the benefits of leadership development programmes \u2013 and be prepared to invest in them.<\/span><\/p>\n

In reality though, for many businesses almost everything is ultimately driven by bottom line results and concrete figures. And when it comes to something like a leadership development programme, it\u2019s difficult to know how to translate its value into numbers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If profits increase or employee turnover decreases or the company is better perceived by public opinion, how can you be sure that\u2019s the result of more effective leadership and not some other variable?<\/span><\/p>\n

To gain some insights, we\u2019re speaking to Marcus de Vasconcelos<\/a>, Managing Partner at TPC Leadership Switzerland, and Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Lhospied<\/a>, Managing Partner at TPC Leadership France.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They recently shared their insight on <\/span>the foundations you need to ensure a leadership programme is successful<\/span>. Today, they\u2019re discussing where organisations can look to assess that success.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why measuring leadership matters<\/b><\/h2>\n

Discussions about values and culture can often feel pretty hazy to those who aren\u2019t familiar with leadership development. We can all agree that successful organisations need \u2018good\u2019 leaders, but when businesses invest in development programmes they often seek some concrete proof that the investment has helped the bottom line.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we work with organisations on self- and team-awareness, it\u2019s not easy because it\u2019s not tangible,\u201d Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric says. That lack of definition can sometimes be a barrier to people who need the reassurance of figures \u2013 especially in large corporations, where rational data reigns supreme.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before starting any leadership development programme, it\u2019s crucial to know how you\u2019re going to measure its impact. The value of a leader might not sound like something that can be quantified. But in order for an organisation and its leaders to grow, there needs to be some kind of benchmark for how things were before the programme and what changed as a result.<\/span><\/p>\n

5 levels of success \u2013 from simple to complex<\/b><\/h2>\n

Marcus identifies five levels to look at the impact of a programme, each with a different degree of complexity and depth of insight.<\/span><\/p>\n

1) Participant reaction<\/span><\/h3>\n

As a first step, you can look at how participants react to the programme. This information can be gathered and codified fairly easily, for example through a satisfaction questionnaire.<\/span><\/p>\n

It can also be useful to track how reactions change, comparing the post-programme thoughts to what participants perceived that the programme would deliver before they started.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI can remember one guy who was fully against participating in a leadership development programme,\u201d Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric remembers. \u201cAnd by the end he was so happy with what he\u2019d learned and achieved. He could see why it had been important for him to participate.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

2) Benefits gained<\/span><\/h3>\n

Next, think about what was gained from completing the programme. How many people completed the course? What modules did they complete? How many people did they interact with?<\/span><\/p>\n

Although this information doesn\u2019t necessarily tell you what <\/span>actual<\/span><\/i> impact the programme has had, it indicates the <\/span>potential<\/span><\/i> impact based on participation.<\/span><\/p>\n

3) Behavioural change<\/span><\/h3>\n

This is where you can start to see the lasting impact that a leadership development programme is having on the behaviours of the individuals taking part.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To track behavioural change, it\u2019s important to create a benchmark at the beginning, which can then be compared to similar information post-programme completion. At TPC Leadership, we usually do this by conducting 360\u00ba assessments. These assessments can be used to measure perception of leadership behaviours, such as empathy, for example, or self-awareness.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTake each competence and give a score between zero and five,\u201d Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric says. \u201cDo it again at the end of the journey and you get a concrete figure for how each individual and the whole team has changed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric shared an example of a programme delivered for a team of senior middle managers. Comparing the first and second set of results showed that positive scoring increased by 9.7% while negative scores were reduced by 4.9%.<\/span><\/p>\n

4) Tangible team measures<\/span><\/h3>\n

Impacted individual leaders should go on to impact their teams, which is the next level to measure. It may be possible to see clear results in terms of increased retention levels, for example, or a reduction in absences.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although it is likely that factors other than a leadership programme will have contributed to these changes, it\u2019s useful to understand if there is a general positive trend. These trends will typically only be observed in the mid-term, hence the importance of seeing leadership development as a continuous investment.<\/span><\/p>\n

5) Bottom line impact<\/span><\/h3>\n

The final level of measurement, which Marcus calls \u201cthe holy grail\u201d, is the bottom line impact \u2013 how the leadership programme affects the company\u2019s success, whether that\u2019s in terms of profit margin or other metrics that present a more holistic view of an organisation\u2019s contribution to its stakeholders. Often, measuring impact at this level is a mixture of quantifiable data and qualitative insight.<\/span><\/p>\n

With each level the evaluations get more subjective. The key to ensuring the figures stay meaningful is to always have a clear idea of why you\u2019re measuring them. Don\u2019t set out to measure arbitrary criteria \u2013 set clear aims from the start about what valuable change looks like to your organisation and what each of your direct reports is looking to achieve.<\/span><\/p>\n

As important as measuring is, sometimes you have to let go<\/b><\/h2>\n

Even with these ways of measuring, there will always be an element of uncertainty around assessing the impact of a leadership development programme.<\/span><\/p>\n

The simpler an outcome is to measure, the less meaningful it generally is. And as you move through the degrees of complexity, the issue becomes proving causality. With so many variables at play, can you empirically say that a change in staff retention or customer satisfaction is predominantly caused by leadership development?<\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately what makes leadership development so difficult to measure is that some aspects are just unmeasurable. Leadership is by nature an intangible skill, and some of its impacts will remain outside the reach of meaningful concrete figures. Assessing the outcome of a development programme is about finding the balance between evaluating rational data and trusting your gut.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is one automotive company we began working with at the beginning of the pandemic, and their financial future was not looking promising,\u201d says Fred. \u201cThey were looking at minus 50% forecasts \u2013 and as you can imagine this affected the atmosphere within the company.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But even though this organisation was under tremendous pressure to protect themselves financially, they decided to keep our leadership development programme in their budget. They understood they needed this kind of support more than ever.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn some cases, leadership development is a leap of faith,\u201d says Marcus. \u201cYou have to believe that better leaders will produce better working environments, which in turn will produce the results the company wants to see.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking for leadership development or consultancy? <\/span>Get in touch<\/a> with us <\/span>to find out how we can help.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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