Supercharge
Leadership Development
A measurement-first approach that ensures development targets the right capabilities and delivers results.
Leadership development often targets the right themes, but fails to isolate the capabilities that drive performance.
Most organizations invest in development that addresses familiar areas such as collaboration, team building, and transformational leadership. These are valid priorities and reflect real challenges within leadership teams.
However, these themes are often too broad to act on effectively. What appears to be a shared issue can stem from very different underlying capability gaps.
For example, communication challenges may reflect limitations in listening, information sharing, or openness to ideas. Team-building issues may be driven by gaps in communication, trust, and mutual respect. Transformational leadership may be constrained by strategic planning, vision, or prioritization.
As a result, development efforts that target the same theme frequently produce inconsistent outcomes. The topic is correct but the diagnosis is incomplete.
Where Leadership Development Programs Lose Effectiveness
Leadership development programs fail to deliver expected results for three distinct reasons:
Misdiagnosed focus: In many cases, development begins with a broad theme rather than a clearly defined capability gap. This leads to misalignment between the issue being addressed and the behavior that needs to change.
Generic delivery: Even when the focus is appropriate, development is often delivered uniformly, without accounting for differences in individual strengths, gaps, and starting points.
Lack of follow-through: Limited reinforcement and measurement make it difficult to sustain change or demonstrate meaningful impact over time.
Organizations are often correct about what requires attention. The gap lies in understanding why those issues exist and how to address them with precision.
The SIGMA Approach to Leadership Development
Effective leadership development begins with measurement. Using the Leadership Skills Profile – Revised® (LSP-R®), leadership competencies that are critical for success in organizations are measured before development begins. This establishes a clear baseline and identifies the specific capabilities driving performance.
Results can be examined at both the individual and group level. At the individual level, assessment data provides targeted insight into specific strengths and development needs. At the group level, results can be aggregated to identify shared competency gaps across teams, helping to define focused, high-priority areas for development.
From this foundation, development is directed toward the areas that will have the greatest impact, ensuring that time and resources are applied where they will be most effective. The result is a more precise, more relevant development experience.
This approach can be applied as a standalone development solution or integrated into broader leadership initiatives.
What this changes in practice:
| Without Measurement | With SIGMA |
|---|---|
| One-size-fits-all training | Development aligned to actual capability gaps |
| Assumed development needs | Measured competencies |
| Limited participant engagement | Greater relevance and self-awareness |
| No visibility into outcomes | Measurable progress over time |
This shift enables organizations to move from broad, topic-based development to targeted, capability-based improvement — and to evaluate progress in a structured and credible way.
How SIGMA’s Leadership Development Process Works
The development process begins with assessment.
Participants complete the LSP-R, which measures 50 leadership competencies and establishes a baseline for development. Results are analyzed to identify strengths and gaps and to prioritize the capabilities that will have the greatest impact.
Development is subsequently aligned to those priorities, ensuring that time and resources are applied with focus and intent.
What a Typical Leadership Development Engagement Includes
A typical engagement includes assessment of a leadership group, identification of key competency gaps, and development aligned to those priorities.
Assessment results are reviewed at both the individual and group level, allowing shared patterns across teams to be identified. These insights are then considered alongside organizational priorities, including company-wide development goals and strategic objectives, to determine where development efforts will be most relevant and impactful.
In many cases, this is followed by reinforcement activities designed to support sustained behavior change and ensure that development translates into measurable outcomes.
The Outcome: Targeted Leadership Development with Measurable Insight
SIGMA’s approach produces development that is targeted to measured capability gaps and delivers more consistent outcomes across participants.
Through the LSP-R debrief process, development outcomes become clearer at multiple levels:
Leaders & high-potential employees build self-awareness, interpret assessment results, identify priority development areas, and establish structured development plans.
Organizations gain visibility into shared competency gaps across teams, allowing development efforts to be focused and aligned with broader priorities.
Leadership & talent decision-makers gain a clearer view of capability across the organization and a more consistent basis for evaluating progress over time.
Leadership Development Engagement Options
All engagement options begin with needs discovery, competency benchmarking, and LSP-R assessment.
Sample pricing based on a group of 15 participants. Pricing reflects a typical engagement structure and can be adjusted based on group size and scope.
Option 1: Assessment Only
This option provides a clear, data-backed baseline. Each participant completes the LSP-R and receives an individual leadership report, supported by competency benchmarking aligned to organizational priorities.
Option 2: Assessment and Development Alignment
In addition to assessment, this option includes a facilitated virtual group debrief that connects results to development priorities.
The debrief supports participants in interpreting their LSP-R Focus Report, building self-awareness, and identifying key development priorities. It also provides a clear foundation for the creation of individual development plans, ensuring that subsequent development is aligned to measured capability gaps and immediately relevant to participants.
Option 3: Assessment, Development, & Reinforcement
This option extends the approach over time through a series of targeted development sessions focused on priority competencies. Delivered in sequence, these virtual sessions are interactive and evidence-based, reinforcing behavior change and supporting sustained improvement. Sessions are recorded and include supporting resources to enable continued development.
Additionally, an optional follow-up measurement can be conducted 90 days post-development to assess progress against the initial baseline, providing a clear view of capability improvement and enabling evaluation of development impact over time.
Next Step: Schedule a Leadership Development Discovery Call
A 30-minute discovery discussion can be scheduled to provide:
- A review of a sample LSP-R report
- Identification of priority competency areas
- A tailored recommendation based on organizational goals
Glen Harrison
VP, SIGMA Assessment Systems
gharrison@SIGMALeader.com
