Built around the Stewart Leadership LEAD NOW! Leadership Development Model, each assessment measures leadership effectiveness in the four quadrants of the LEAD NOW! Model: Create Purpose, Deliver Excellence, Develop Self & Others, and Lead Change with detailed information on 21 Leadership Dimensions. 

The LEAD NOW! Model offers a complete, and comprehensive picture of the essential attributes of effective leadership by focusing on the 4 critical relationships all leaders must nurture and manage: their boss, their peers, their direct reports, and their customers. While the model is powerful on its own, the assessments personalize the model, offering individual insight and concrete suggestions for performance improvement. 

One of the first questions clients ask is:  When is the right time to utilize these validated and practical assessments?  In the list below, we identify the 8 situations when a LEAD NOW! Assessment (a Self Assessment, 360 Assessment, or both) is the right solution to elevate and align the leadership performance in your organization.  These situations can apply across leadership group workshops, one-on-one coaching, group coaching, high potential programs that involve both workshops and coaching programs, immersive and experiential leadership experiences, virtual learning solutions, and hybrid efforts with virtual and in-person offerings.   

No matter which of the below experiences describe your needs, each LEAD NOW! Assessment is ideal for setting up the right development conversation, turning those specific insights into personalized action, and providing the follow-up tools to sustain each leader’s action plan.

Here are 8 Times to Use a LEAD NOW! Assessment:

1. WHEN YOU WANT TO EXPAND AN INDIVIDUAL'S UNDERSTANDING OF LEADERSHIP

The LEAD NOW! Model establishes what great leadership looks like through 21 research-based Leadership Dimensions.  These Dimensions, also referred to as competencies or skills, provide clear standards and expectations for what a leader needs to do to achieve success as a leader.  This practical leadership model not only elevates the leaders’ view of what great leadership is, it provides a common language for their manager to discuss, challenge, and follow up on the leader’s leadership performance and development.

The LEAD NOW! Assessments help expand an individual’s understanding of what a complete leader is by measuring their effectiveness and behavior in the context of the four critical relationships all leaders must manage and develop: their boss, their peers, their direct reports, and their customers. Each of these relationships have different needs and value different things.  For example, the boss typically values business and financial results, while one’s team usually is more interested in team dynamics and their own career development.   

Many leaders, like the organizations they work in, often focus on the numbers. They understand that business results are essential to their success. The LEAD NOW! Assessments demonstrate that achieving people results is just as critical, as well as showing that effective people results lead to greater business results.

2. WHEN YOU WANT TO INCREASE PERSONAL AWARENESS

Whether you take the self assessment or the 360, individuals can gain a better sense of how they are performing as a leader. The self assessment measures both leadership effectiveness and leadership preference; showing both how well a leader performs a leadership behavior and what they like about being a leader.  The 360 is a particularly powerful tool for leaders seeking information on how they are perceived in each of the 4 critical relationships. Either assessment will help an individual broaden their perspective as to their personal leadership prowess. 

LEAD NOW! Certified coaches and consultants will often use the assessment as a tool to build awareness, develop an action plan, and measure progress. A popular approach is to have the individuals complete the self-assessment first, and then follow up three to fours months later with the 360 Assessment.

3. WHEN YOU WANT TO IDENTIFY AN INDIVIDUAL'S LEADERSHIP STRENGTHS AND OPPORTUNITIES

Leadership can be a slippery, ambiguous term for many people. LEAD NOW! Assessments make the concept of leadership concrete and personal. It pinpoints areas of strength for busy leaders and offers specific behaviors to further strengthen these skills. The assessment will also help leaders identify the areas where they have the greatest opportunity for growth within the context of their role. 

By focusing on one or two behaviors that make the most impact, or matter the most in their role, leaders can efficiently build the skills they need the most.  This also enables clear conversations to be had between the leader and their manager, providing accountability and concrete follow-up.

4. WHEN YOU WANT TO GUIDE LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT FOR THE GREATEST IMPACT

Because the LEAD NOW! Assessments help leaders understand the bigger picture of everything effective leadership entails, leaders now have the information they need in order to focus on the top one or two behaviors that will make an immediate impact. Too often leaders try to tackle and develop many areas of leadership at one time.  However, the LEAD NOW! action planning process guides a leader to just choose one or two areas at a time.  This is particularly beneficial when partnering with a Stewart Leadership Certified Executive Coach or Consultant as the coaching can then be centered around the leadership behaviors that will most improve leadership efficacy. 

A LEAD NOW! Assessment evaluates 21 Leadership Dimensions and provides a clear path of where to focus a future action plan.  Selecting the dimension for your action plan will also be dependent on what is required for your current or future role.  In other words,  not every dimension is weighted equally in each role. A common example is the dimension of Presentation Skills. Some leaders have lower presentation skills, but they are not presenting often in their roles. While they may want to build their presentation skills, doing so may not make the biggest impact on their current role, or prepare them for their next role.  The point is, the LEAD NOW! Assessments enable the right filters, especially in concert with the feedback from one’s boss, to identify the right leadership behaviors for your action plan.

5. WHEN YOU WANT TO IDENTIFY BLINDSPOTS AND HELP LEADERS BETTER UNDERSTAND HOW THEY ARE PERCEIVED BY OTHERS

Many leaders already have an idea of where they excel and where they don’t. Yet sometimes leaders can believe they are skilled in a particular dimension of leadership when they are actually uncomfortable or ineffective at it. The LEAD NOW! Self Assessment can bring this to light.

What is brought to attention through a self-assessment becomes even more profoundly clear in the 360 Assessment. The 360 enables leaders to see themselves from their boss’ perspective and understand how their boss is perceiving their leadership skills and abilities. This understanding is also provided from the perspective of their peers and their direct reports. Through this process, leaders can learn if they are doing as well as they think they are. These critical relationships have differing needs, and the LEAD NOW! 360 provides critical insight into how well those needs are being met.

6. WHEN YOU WANT TO BRING ABOUT A COMMON LANGUAGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF LEADERSHIP WITHIN AN ORGANIZATION

Using the LEAD NOW! Leadership Development Model with many individuals and/ or cohorts within an organization helps create a common understanding of what great leadership is. Pairing the model with the LEAD NOW! Assessment creates greater opportunities for dialogue. In organizations taking this approach, it is common to hear things like:

• “How are you doing in this quadrant?”
• “What dimension are you targeting?”
• “I see that you are really strong in this dimension. Any advice?”
  
  

When your aim is to create a culture of leadership growth within your organization, using the assessment makes the abstract idea of leadership into something concrete. Individuals can connect with the framework on a personal level, and you are then able to build on that by bringing in that common understanding of key ideas in the LEAD NOW! Model like delegation or organizational savvy. This creates a common language that can be used to spur shared growth.

7. WHEN YOU WANT TO HELP BUILD PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKING AND DEVELOPMENT ACROSS AN ORGANIZATION

The shared understanding and experience with the LEAD NOW! Model and Assessments can build relationships and provide opportunities for networking across an organization. When given as part of a cohort program, individuals will be able to use each other and build off the knowledge others bring. Participants can grow leadership skills and relationships with peers they may not get to work with on a day-to-day basis. 

This is ideal within a group coaching approach.  Whether part of a leadership program or to address select development teams, gathering 5-6 leaders together in a monthly facilitated session is a powerful way to promote leadership development.  After using a LEAD NOW! Assessment to craft each person’s action plan, the group coaching sessions become an ideal forum to encourage, advise, support, and execute each person’s leadership focus areas. 

8. WHEN YOU WANT TO DEVELOP LEADERS AS PART OF A FORMAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

The LEAD NOW! Model and Assessments can be incorporated into new or existing formal leadership development programs within an organization. Many organizations use them to kick off a program, or as a pre/post assessment - especially for a six or twelve-month program. The assessment also helps to measure progress and we recommend taking a 360 or a self assessment after 6-12 months of working on an action plan. 

Using the assessments with a larger group can help target the development efforts within your organization. To use the assessments in this way, run a group report. The group report will identify the highs and lows for the entire group. This can help you determine where to focus your efforts as an organization. The assessment will often be used in this way when in High Potential Leadership Development Programs and Executive Team Offsites.

CONCLUSION

By keeping an eye out for these eight situations, you can confidently use the LEAD NOW! Assessments in a variety of ways to spark, fuel, and nurture key leadership development conversations and actions among your clients, teams, and organization.