Inclusive Leadership Development and DEI-Aligned Assessment Solutions
Who gets identified as a future leader and what determines that decision?
For many human resource (HR) and talent leaders, the answer is not as objective as it should be. Leadership opportunities may depend on who gets noticed by senior management, who is recommended by a manager, who has been with the organization longest, or who most closely resembles previous successful leaders. When subjective perceptions play too large a role in high-potential identification, organizations can overlook capable employees and create unequal access to development and advancement.
Research illustrates the potential consequences. A 2026 study of nearly 30,000 management-track employees found that women received lower ratings of their future potential despite receiving higher performance ratings. Those differences in subjective potential ratings accounted for approximately half of the gender promotion gap observed in the study.i
Organizations need a more consistent way to identify leadership potential to ensure development and advancement opportunities are based on demonstrated capabilities rather than subjective perceptions. SIGMA’s validated leadership assessments provide standardized, objective data that can support fairer talent decisions. Rather than relying solely on perceptions of who has leadership potential, organizations can evaluate employees against clearly defined leadership competencies and use the results to guide development.
Why Unconscious Bias Undermines Leadership Development
Bias does not have to be deliberate to affect a talent decision. Unconscious bias occurs when past experiences and learned associations influence judgment without conscious awareness.ii In leadership development, these biases can shape perceptions of who has leadership potential, sometimes giving greater weight to factors such as visibility, familiarity, or resemblance to established leaders than to demonstrated capabilities. The problem arises when those perceptions become the primary basis for deciding who receives leadership development opportunities.
Visibility, tenure, communication style, relationships with senior leaders, and previous opportunities can all influence perceptions of potential. Research also suggests that people hold implicit assumptions about what leaders look like. In a series of studies involving nearly 4,000 participants, researchers found that participants were more likely to associate leadership with faces perceived as male and white.iii For organizations committed to equitable talent management, this reinforces the value of using multiple sources of evidence.
Early judgments about leadership potential can have lasting effects on development and advancement. Employees perceived as having leadership potential receive more opportunities to demonstrate it. Employees who are overlooked receive fewer opportunities to build the experience that would make their potential more visible Using standardized assessment data can reduce reliance on subjective perceptions when identifying leadership potential.
How Objective Assessment Supports Equitable Leadership Decisions
SIGMA’s Leadership Skills Profile – Revised® (LSP-R®) is a scientifically validated, competency-based assessment designed to measure leadership potential. Instead of asking different questions of different employees or relying on an individual manager’s definition of leadership, the LSP-R evaluates participants against the same set of established leadership competencies. That distinction matters when using leadership assessment to support diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals.
Fairness does not require different standards for different demographic groups. It requires relevant, consistently applied standards and reliable information about how individuals compare with those standards. A structured assessment can help organizations establish a common language for discussing leadership strengths and development needs.
Standardization also creates a clearer foundation for talent discussions. Managers can still contribute their observations and experience, but assessment data gives decision-makers another source of information against which those judgments can be considered.
The assessment itself does not need to be customized for a particular demographic group or industry. Personalization occurs at the development stage. Each participant receives results based on their own strengths and development needs, allowing the organization n to provide individualized support while maintaining consistent evaluation criteria.
Identifying and Developing Inclusive Leadership Competencies
Building an inclusive leadership pipeline requires attention to both who advances into leadership and how those individuals lead.
Research on inclusive leadership has identified characteristics such as openness, accessibility, and availability as important elements of an inclusive leadership style. These behaviors have also been associated with greater psychological safety and employee involvement in creative work.iv
SIGMA’s Leadership Competency Framework provides a comprehensive model for defining and measuring effective leadership. Developed by experienced consultants and industrial-organizational psychologists, the framework includes 50 evidence-based competencies across four areas: cognitive skills, interpersonal skills, personal qualities, and senior leadership skills. The LSP-R measures personality-based potential across all 50 competencies.
Leadership Competencies That Support Inclusion
Several competencies within the framework can be particularly relevant when organizations are developing inclusive leaders and collaborative leadership cultures, including:
- Valuing Diversity: Appreciating and leveraging the capabilities, insights, and ideas of people with different backgrounds and perspectives.
- Open-Mindedness: Demonstrating receptiveness to new ideas and different perspectives.
- Sensitivity: Showing awareness of and consideration for the feelings and needs of others.
- Active Listening: Listening carefully to others’ questions, concerns, and viewpoints and identifying the information that matters.
- Involving Direct Reports: Seeking employees’ input and involving them appropriately in decisions that affect their work.
- Facilitating Teamwork: Supporting cooperation and helping employees work effectively toward shared goals.
Measuring these capabilities can help organizations identify employees who demonstrate important leadership strengths but may not fit traditional assumptions about what a high-potential employee looks or sounds like. It can also reveal development needs among employees who have already been identified as future leaders. The result is not just a more representative leadership bench, but a stronger one.
Turn Leadership Assessment Results Into Individualized Development Plans
A leadership assessment for DEI should provide information that both organizations and employees can use. LSP-R results identify individual strengths and development opportunities, creating an evidence-based starting point for development planning. This allows organizations to maintain a consistent definition of effective leadership without taking a one-size-fits-all approach to development.
Employees can be assessed against the same leadership competencies while having very different development needs. One employee may need to strengthen Open-Mindedness to become more receptive to different perspectives. Another may benefit from developing Facilitating Teamwork or Interpersonal Relations. A third may demonstrate strong inclusive leadership competencies but need development in areas such as Strategic Planning or Productivity before being ready for greater leadership responsibility. The competencies provide a consistent framework for evaluation. Individual assessment results provide the foundation for a personalized development plan.
Practical Tools for DEI-Aligned Leadership Development
Assessment data is most useful when it can be translated into meaningful development. SIGMA helps organizations make that transition by providing practical resources for interpreting results, identifying development priorities, and turning those priorities into action. Development planning templates and benchmarking guidance give leaders and employees a structured way to set goals and track progress, while coaching provides additional support for applying assessment insights and building targeted leadership competencies.
These tools help HR teams establish a repeatable process for inclusive leadership development while allowing development activities to remain responsive to individual needs. Organizations can also use assessment results over time to evaluate progress, revisit development priorities, and make better-informed decisions about readiness for expanded leadership responsibilities.
Build a Broader Leadership Pipeline Without Lowering the Bar
Inclusive leadership development helps organizations define leadership expectations clearly and apply them consistently. When employees are assessed using consistent, job-relevant criteria, organizations have a stronger basis for determining who has leadership potential, where development is needed, and who may be ready for greater responsibility.
Objective assessment does not eliminate every source of bias from a talent management process; human judgment will continue to play an important role. But standardized, validated assessment can reduce reliance on subjective impressions and give decision-makers a consistent source of evidence to consider alongside their other information.
Why Choose SIGMA for Leadership Assessment and Development
For more than 50 years, SIGMA has helped organizations make better talent decisions through scientifically developed assessments and practical development solutions. Over 8,500 organizations across North America have used SIGMA’s tools and services to assess and develop their people.
Build a stronger, more inclusive leadership pipeline with objective assessment and targeted development. Contact SIGMA using the form below to get started.
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i Benson, A., Li, D., & Shue, K. (2026). “Potential” and the gender promotion gap. American Economic Review, 116(2), 375–417
ii Greenwald, A. G., & Banaji, M. R. (1995). Implicit social cognition: Attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes. Psychological Review, 102(1), 4–27.
iii Akinola, M., Slepian, M. L., & Sun, S. (2025). The look of a leader: How bias guides our image of leaders. PLoS ONE 20(4): e0320836.
iv Carmeli, A., Reiter-Palmon, R., & Ziv, E. (2010). Inclusive leadership and employee involvement in creative tasks in the workplace: the mediating role of psychological safety. Creativity Research Journal, 22(3), 250–260
