Leadership Development Tracking

𝗠𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 I've been asked this at least 3 times in the last two months. "How do I know that my leaders are improving?" This is where we distinguish knowing from application. 10% of capability comes from learning from formal sources. 20% comes from networks and interactions. 70% comes from application to portfolios and projects. One thing that sets this all apart are data points. Even if I apply skills to my projects, how do I know I did it well? Most large companies have a 360-degree or leadership assessment process in place. So, I'll share my thought process for this in case you are attempting to develop this for your own organization. Step 1: Determine organizational strategy and business outcomes. This is necessary to align expectations of desired behaviors. This is where a Balanced Scorecard can come in handy. Step 2: Assess expectations of leaders. You'll then assess them across leadership behaviors for new, mid and even senior managers. Granularity of differences supports focus and clarity. Often, a list of pre-existing behaviors/competencies are used to make the exercise easier. Validated psychometric tools such as the 16PF help to anchor it to scientific rigor. Organizational psychologists like me conduct surveys to gather insights. Then, focus groups are used to drill down to details information. After that, we'll create categories basedon the information and produce working behavior-based definitions. Step 3: Prioritize the list Now, the leadership team decides which behaviors are more important by way of ratings. Step 4: Build the 360 We then build a 360-degree feedback survey questions. These questions are reviewed for validity. Step 5: Allocate the survey A system specializing in the 360 (there are many) can be used. Feedback Recipient selects 6 to 12 people to rate them. In organizations, to avoid selection bias, leaders of the feedback recipient can review and veto the people doing the rating. Then, the participant does the survey too (self-rating) Step 6: Debrief of survey Usually, participants need guidance from a trained coach who understands feedback requirements. This is to provide grounding and objective input. Often, 360 surveys tend to be met with resistance unless the coach is skilled in facilitating the reflection conversation. Step 7: Action Planning The participant then produces a set of actions for improvement. This plan and the priority of focus should be made known to the feedback givers. Step 8: Pulse Surveys After a designated time (within 6 to 12 month period) a validated pulse survey is set up for the observers to rate improvement in specific behaviors. Step 9: Continued Leadership Coaching, Mentoring and Peer Support A combination of these can be used to enhance development. Step 10: Final Comparison Survey Toward the end of the year, a comparison survey is done to see how the key areas have improved or not. ---

The hardest lesson I learned while running two online platforms and juggling teams in Accra and Lagos? “I don’t have time” is leadership’s costliest lie. I used to tell myself that regular check-ins could wait until “things calmed down.” They never did. Projects piled up, assumptions multiplied, and motivation wobbled, until I finally built an approach that helped me see (and serve) each person, not just the to-do list. ⫸ 80 % of employees who receive meaningful feedback each week are fully engaged, regardless of where they work. Only 16 % say their last manager conversation hit that mark. ⫸ Engagement isn’t an ad-hoc pep talk. It’s a rhythm. The leaders who select and honor that rhythm drive higher productivity and lower turnover. What I built (and turned into a toolkit) Employee Engagement Toolkit → https://vist.ly/3n5xvjy A plug-and-play Google Sheet Database (fully editable or transferable into your own tools) with: ⇒ One-on-one tracker – prompts, action items, space for follow-up dates. ⇒ Strengths & motivators tracker – so assumptions don’t run the show. ⇒ Recognition & feedback log – because praise that lands is specific and timely. ⇒ Pulse-check dashboard – quick color-coded view of energy, workload, and blockers. ⇒ Conversation starters & coaching cues – to turn “How’s it going?” into dialogue that matters. Think of it as a starter kit you customize to fit your context, nothing complicated or expensive, just a repeatable framework that keeps people (and their work) visible. If you’ve ever caught yourself thinking, “I’m sure they’ll want X, Y, Z,” without actually confirming it, this toolkit is for you. I built it for a client who wanted to move from reactive firefighting to intentional engagement, and I added it to the Leadership Shop because I wish I had it years ago. Question for you: What’s one small habit you use to keep engagement from slipping through the cracks? - - - - - - - - 👋🏿 Hi, I’m Akua! ⭐ Leadership, Culture & Transformation Advisor and creator of the Leadership Shop. 🗓️ This week, join me as I share a bit more of the behind-the-scenes of my business. Don’t miss my Ask Me Anything LinkedIn Live on Friday, June 6th. See you there!

Most VP-level dashboards tell you how your team is performing. Very few tell you how your managers are performing. That is a ginormous miss. Frontline managers are your leverage layer. They’re not just delivering the number. They’re shaping how it gets delivered AND whether next quarter’s number gets easier or harder. So if all you’re tracking is team quota, you’re measuring a lagging outcome, not the manager’s actual impact. Here’s how to build a manager scorecard that drives compounding: 1. Rep progression velocity. If their best rep is their top rep every quarter, something’s wrong. Track: - Ramp speed compared to org average - % of reps showing improvement in stage conversions - % of reps promoted out of their team (upward mobility = strong bench) Great managers don’t just hit plan. They level up talent. 2. Coaching system consistency. Every manager “does coaching," but few do it consistently AND with structure. Track: - % of reps receiving 2+ structured coaching sessions per month - % of coaching sessions tied to live deal inspection, not just performance reviews - % of feedback items closed out (did rep apply it, and did outcomes improve?) Your goal isn’t vibes. It’s visible change. 3. Deal quality lift. Pipeline health is a team stat. Pipeline discipline, on the other hand, is a manager stat. Look for: - Cleaner exit criteria adherence by stage - Lower “Hail Mary” forecast swings - Higher % of deals multithreaded before stage 3 If reps are cutting corners, it’s not just a rep issue. It’s a management issue. 4. Strategic contribution You don’t want managers who just update. You want ones who escalate insight. Track: - Frequency of upward feedback: What are they seeing across deals, verticals, objections? - Net-new process suggestions or enablement needs - Involvement in peer training, mentoring, or playbook refinement This is how you separate tactical managers from strategic operators. 5. Team health & retention Attrition without replacement is a performance drag. Attrition without progression is a leadership red flag. Track: - Voluntary attrition rates by team - Internal transfers/promotions from their org - Culture signal: training participation, call reviews submitted, 1:1 feedback pulled (not just pushed) A strong team isn’t quiet. It’s engaged - and improving. tl;dr = if you want to scale as a VP, your #1 job isn’t hitting the number. It’s building managers who can do it without you in the room. The rep dashboard gets you through this quarter. The manager scorecard gets you through the next five.

Leaders: the 1% Rule can change everything. I stopped chasing big wins. I focused on tiny, daily moves. No drastic plans. No burnout. The results compounded faster than expected. My leadership style evolved from reactive to strategic. Here's the exact system I used, along with 13 measurable behaviors you can apply immediately to lead with more clarity, consistency, and impact. The 1% Formula: 1. Choose ONE behavior 2. Make it measurable 3. Track for 30 days 4. Build on small wins   13 High-Impact Leadership Behaviors to Track:   1. Meeting Effectiveness ↳ Measure: % of meetings that end with clear action items ↳ 1% Better: End one more meeting each week with documented next steps   2. Decision Speed ↳ Measure: Hours between issue raised → decision made ↳ 1% Better: Reduce decision time by 15 minutes each week   3. Team Development ↳ Measure: Minutes spent coaching per team member ↳ 1% Better: Add 5 minutes of focused coaching daily   4. Strategic Thinking ↳ Measure: Hours spent on future planning vs. tactical work ↳ 1% Better: Block 15 extra minutes for strategy each day   5. Communication Clarity ↳ Measure: Number of clarifying questions after updates ↳ 1% Better: Reduce follow-up questions by one each message   6. Delegation Quality ↳ Measure: Tasks successfully completed without intervention ↳ 1% Better: Delegate one additional task completely each week   7. Innovation Pipeline ↳ Measure: New ideas captured and evaluated monthly ↳ 1% Better: Log one more team idea each week   8. Stakeholder Engagement ↳ Measure: Meaningful connections made per week ↳ 1% Better: Add one strategic conversation weekly   9. Personal Energy ↳ Measure: Peak performance hours per day ↳ 1% Better: Extend focused work by 10 minutes daily   10. Learning Velocity ↳ Measure: New concepts applied to work weekly ↳ 1% Better: Implement one new learning every week   11. Feedback Frequency ↳ Measure: Actionable feedback instances given daily ↳ 1% Better: Give one more specific praise or suggestion daily   12. Process Optimization ↳ Measure: Minutes saved through improvements ↳ 1% Better: Find one task to streamline each week   13. Risk Management ↳ Measure: Potential issues identified before problems ↳ 1% Better: Add one preventive measure weekly   The Math of 1%: → 1% better each day = 37x better in one year → 1% worse each day = Nearly zero in one year   Sustainable leadership isn't about dramatic reinvention. It's about disciplined consistency. The 1% Formula transforms momentum into measurable progress, one decision at a time. Choose your starting point, commit for 30 days, and let compounding improvement reshape your results. Which behavior will you improve by 1% this week? Share your commitment below ⬇️   ♻️ Repost if your network needs this framework Follow Carolyn Healey for more leadership systems that work.

I want to share an elating conversation I had this week with one of my engineers about career growth. We discussed the key to Career Ownership: Tracking Your Work. It reminded me of a crucial point I've emphasized before: you are the best person to write your own story and own your career. This engineer showed me their method of keeping track of their work over the years - a brain dump list of bullet points. While this is a great start, our discussion centered on how to take this further to truly own one's career. I shared with them my viewpoints around what I call "The Artifact Approach". Here is what I told them: 1. Create themes for your work list. 2. Organize them as top-level artifacts. 3. Align these artifacts with blueprint competencies. For instance, if you have several projects related to Operational Improvements, group them under one key artifact. Understanding Blueprint Competencies - I broke down blueprint competencies into three crucial variables: - Role Guidelines: Revisit your job family's role guidelines. Critically analyze whether you're meeting or exceeding expectations in areas like driving operational improvements. - Leadership Principles: Identify which leadership principles each artifact strongly demonstrates. - Technical Competencies: Recognize the technical skills you exercised while delivering each artifact. This approach has worked for me, and it's something I have used for many years now. Here's a simple template to get you started. Artifact: [Name of the project or achievement] Theme: [e.g., Operational Improvements] Role Guideline Analysis: [Meeting/Exceeding expectations] Leadership Principles Demonstrated: [List relevant principles] Technical Competencies Exercised: [List technical skills used] Impact: [Briefly describe the outcome and its significance] Relevant links to artifacts: [Supporting links] Remember, the more artifacts you organize this way, the better you become at owning your career. It's a powerful tool that really works! #career #leadership #mentor #coaching

When Frances Hesselbein was asked about her legacy leading Girl Scouts from 250,000 to 2.3 million members, she never mentioned the growth numbers. Never talked about the 300+ programs she launched. Never cited the diversity initiatives that transformed the organization. She talked about the leaders who emerged under her watch. One of those leaders was Frances Hesselbein herself before becoming CEO. Another went on to lead major nonprofits. Others became executives at Fortune 500 companies. Hesselbein didn't just run an organization. She built a leadership factory. Here's what she did differently. Every week, she asked herself three questions: Who did I develop today? Who is ready for more responsibility? Who needs coaching to step up? She tracked people development as rigorously as others tracked revenue. Most leaders track deliverables. Hesselbein tracked something else: how many of her team members went on to lead other organizations. She measured leadership by multiplication, not addition. When one of your team members gets promoted to lead elsewhere, that's proof your leadership is working. When they credit you for their success, that's your real ROI. Ask yourself: How many of your direct reports could step into your role tomorrow? How many have been promoted since working for you? How many leaders have they developed? Those numbers matter more than your quarterly targets. Because your true results aren't in a spreadsheet. They're walking around, leading others, multiplying your impact long after you've moved on. Most leaders know this matters but don't have a system for it. Lead In 30 gives you the frameworks to become the leader people grow under. Not in years. Want more research-backed insights on leadership? Join 11,000+ leaders who get our weekly newsletter: 👉 https://lnkd.in/en9vxeNk

🎯 The question every L&D leader dreads: "So... what's the actual business impact of our $2M annual training investment?" [Cue the awkward silence] I once watched a $500K leadership program get axed in 5 minutes, because the head of L&D could only talk about participant feedback scores while the CFO wanted retention impact. I've been in that boardroom countless times since. The one where: ✖️ You show completion rates (executives visibly sigh) ✖️ You share satisfaction scores (they check their emails) ✖️ You mention Kirkpatrick models (eyes glaze over) Here's what I learned after working with Fortune 500 companies, leading universities, and mission-driven nonprofits: What you're tracking now: 📊 ❌ Completion rates (vanity metric) ❌ Satisfaction scores (feels good) ❌ NPS ratings (nice, but so what?) What your CEO actually wants: 💼 📈 Revenue per employee (+32% YoY) 🚀 Innovation pipeline (2X faster launches) 😊 Customer satisfaction (NPS lift) ⚡ Time-to-productivity (-40% ramp time) The L&D leaders who'll thrive in 2025 and beyond? They're the ones who speak CFO. They're measuring what drives business growth, not just what's easy to track in the LMS. Your turn: What's the #1 business metric your CEO obsesses over? And how is your L&D strategy directly moving that needle? Share your insights below 👇

Most leadership programs end with feedback forms. If your CEO asked for the 💰 money slide, Would you have anything to show? Here’s the reality: attendance isn’t impact. Smiles and surveys don’t prove ROI. Here’s where ROI starts: ☑️ Start with business strategy, not just learning objectives. ↳ Programs should be designed to accelerate organizational priorities, not just learning hours. ☑️ Embed development into the work itself so growth shows up in real time. ↳ Impact should be measured in project delivery, cost savings, quality of execution, and leaders’ ability to grow and guide their teams. ☑️ Prepare leaders for responsibilities beyond their current role. ↳ Growth is proven when leaders step up successfully into bigger challenges, not when they sit in classrooms. ☑️ Measure outcomes with real metrics, not fluff. ↳ Track improvements in retention, promotion readiness, decision speed, or customer satisfaction. ↳ If you can’t measure it, you can’t prove ROI. ☑️ Reinforce learning through coaching and accountability until new habits stick. ↳ Sustained behavior change is the only way leadership investments translate into long-term ROI. This is when the impact becomes clear. You see sharper judgment, stronger execution, ready successors, and market-ready teams. That’s the money slide boards and executives are looking for. As the article pointed out, too many organizations still approach leadership development with yesterday’s playbook. In business, the “money slide” is the single slide in a presentation that proves value, the ROI that executives are really looking for. Too often, instead of proving value, organizations fall back on the old playbook: 📚 more courses, 🕒 more hours, 📊 more frameworks. But impact doesn’t come from volume. It comes from alignment, design, and outcomes. Here’s my take: the future of leadership development won’t be judged by how much training content is delivered. It will be judged by how much capability is created and how quickly that capability moves the business forward. That’s the shift executives are hungry to see. ♻️ Repost if you’re investing in people, not just tech. Follow Janet Perez for Real Talk on AI + Future of Work

We tracked 20 leaders through twelve months of data-driven coaching. The results spoke clearly:  📈 78% improved their Leadership NPS by at least 25 points 🗣️ 64% received stronger team feedback after structured reflection sessions 📊 59% built measurable trust through transparent communication metrics ⚡ 82% saw higher retention within their direct teams The insight was hard to ignore. Data didn’t replace empathy, but it revealed blind spots leaders couldn’t see. Take one example. → A senior leader began the program with a Leadership NPS of +5. → His team described him as decisive but distant, consistent but disconnected. → He assumed it was a performance issue. The data showed it was a 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 issue. Over twelve months, he tracked one simple metric every week, → “How safe does my team feel giving me feedback?” → He started hosting open office hours, shared weekly reflections, and acted visibly on input. The shift was remarkable. → By month twelve, his NPS hit +35. → His 1:1 satisfaction scores rose by 42%. → And his team’s voluntary turnover dropped to nearly zero. That’s what happens when coaching stops being abstract and starts being accountable. When you blend measurable data with human understanding, growth becomes visible. Leadership isn’t intuition alone. It’s insight in motion. And the best leaders don’t just ask, “How am I doing?” They ask, “What does the data say?” Because you can’t improve what you don’t measure. Are you tracking how your leadership actually impacts your team?

Being a leader means 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴, and checking in on your progress is key to staying aligned with your goals. Here are 8 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘆𝗲𝘁 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 ways to keep you on track: 1. Set Clear Milestones – Define specific, measurable goals and create timelines to track your progress. 📝 Action: Break down your big goals into smaller, achievable steps and check in weekly. 2. Evaluate Your Wins & Losses – Reflect on what’s working and where improvement is needed. 📝 Action: Take 10 minutes each week to list your wins and lessons learned. 3. Seek Feedback Regularly – Get input from your team to gain different perspectives. 📝 Action: Schedule monthly check-ins with team members for honest feedback. 4. Monitor Your Time Management – Ensure you’re using your time effectively on high-impact tasks. 📝 Action: Track your daily activities and adjust where needed to focus on priorities. 5. Stay Flexible & Adapt – Be open to adjusting your strategy when new challenges or opportunities arise. 📝 Action: Review your goals quarterly and make necessary tweaks. 6. Celebrate Small Wins – Acknowledge progress along the way to stay motivated. 📝 Action: Celebrate small achievements with your team to build morale. 7. Stay Mindful of Your Well-being – Your personal growth fuels your leadership. 📝 Action: Schedule time for self-care and recharge to maintain peak performance. 8. Use Data to Inform Decisions – Regularly assess metrics to ensure you're moving in the right direction. 📝 Action: Set KPIs and review them monthly to track progress and guide decision-making. Staying on track is about consistent reflection and adjustment. 💡 Which of these tips resonates with you the most? #LeadWithSimmone #Leadership #ProgressCheck #LeadershipTips #GrowthMindset