It’s easy to get caught up in leadership skills and development. Plus, when things are going well, it’s even easier to ignore any measures that tell you how effective leadership really is in your organization. There are numerous ways to measure effectiveness, but all of these analyzes fall into four broad categories. Let’s examine each category of leadership measurement.
The first category of leadership measurement is in the subjective realm. When subjective measures are mentioned, people tend to dismiss them. But can subjective measurements of your organization tell you how effective leadership is? Absolutely. First and foremost, you need to take an honest look at the overall morale of the organization. Is it deflating or does it not exist? Or is morale high, even in the face of new challenges and obstacles? Low morale is a good indicator that leadership is not effective. What about participation and attendance? For example, if you start offering “town hall” style meetings or “brown bag” lunch sessions, are you hard-pressed to find someone who is interested? If you have to beg people to communicate or improve, that’s another subjective measure of leadership. Is innovation part of everyday life in your organization? What about continuous process improvement? Are people comfortable speaking up when they see inefficiency as better ways of doing things? If not, this is a definite sign that leadership needs to step up.
From the subjective, you can move on to number-based metrics. Often the numbers in the organization can tell you if the leadership is effective. For example, how does productivity look now compared to last year? Is a temporary “drop” taking place or is the trend heading down? Other measurement areas for leaders can be efficiency and mistakes. Are employees making fewer or more mistakes now? Are bugs being fixed in a timely manner or are they being left to languish? How are the sales? Are the numbers high or constant, even when times are bad? Take a close look at their customer service, both internally and externally. Are there numerous complaints reaching your level or being resolved at lower levels? You can see the metrics that are used to determine the health of the organization and make a link to leadership, especially those metrics that are not tied to salaries or bonuses. Remember that poor organizational performance can be related to many issues, such as market forces, poor positioning, or simply a bad economy. But also keep in mind that by taking a hard look at these metrics, you can adjust your lead accordingly.
Another method of measuring leadership effectiveness is the implementation of a leadership index. An index is a targeted measurement tool that associates complete against their managers or leaders. Essentially, it is an evaluation of the leader using the skills, behaviors, and attitudes that are considered appropriate for the organization. In simple terms, you can see questions like, does the person “treat me with respect” and “help me work on continuous improvement.” The evaluator is asked to give anonymous and confidential answers about the leader. The leader can see the results of it and can work on a development plan from those results. There are numerous systems that can create the leadership index for the organization, or you can do it yourself. The most important thing to remember is that using generic leadership behaviors, skills, and attitudes will not give you the best picture of effectiveness. The organization must determine what skills and behaviors are most appropriate for its leaders.
One of the latest methods for measuring leadership effectiveness is related to the leadership index. It can also measure leadership potential. Using a similar index, the organization can measure how leaders at lower levels are groomed and encouraged. A large number of potential leaders tells you that leadership is effective in the organization and is taking hold at all levels. The fact that a leadership group is developing on its own tells you that its leaders are leading effectively.
These are broad-based areas for measuring leadership effectiveness. Take the time to look at your organization, its size, and its leadership requirements to determine what actions are appropriate.