Leadership Skills Assessment

According to a 2021 Global Leader Forecast, 77% of organizations said that they’re currently experiencing a leadership gap, and 58% of managers said they received no managerial training. This is a big problem when, as we’ll look at below, poor leadership is one of the most common causes of employee dissatisfaction and high turnover rates. 

If you’re looking to fill a leadership or management role, you’ll need to identify candidates who can enable your team members, nurture growth, improve morale, and lead with confidence. 

One way to ensure quality leaders is with leadership skills assessments. Below we’ll take a close look into leadership skills assessments and how you can utilize them in your hiring process. 

What Is a Leadership Skills Assessment 

A leadership skills assessment is a test that evaluates the myriad of skills (mostly soft) that make up a great leader. While you can use a combination of soft skills and hard skills assessments, leadership skills assessments usually include questions that gauge a candidate’s capability of leading employees through real-life scenario responses and other leadership questions. 

How to use leadership skills assessments

Most candidates will expect several assessments and interviews for leadership positions, so you can leverage multiple leadership assessments, interviews, and skills tests. Leadership skills assessments should help you fill a leadership or management need you currently lack, so be strategic about what kind of leader you seek and what your assessments offer. 

Why you should use a leadership skills assessment

According to a Gallup report, one in two employees have left a job to avoid poor management and improve their quality of life. It’s the number one reason employees leave their companies and contribute to the following issues at work: 

• Higher Absenteeism
• Lower performance
• Lower morale
• Reduced profits
• Lower quality of work
• Increased stress levels 

Here are a few other findings that demonstrate the efficacy of leadership skills assessments:

• 28% of organizations with high development programs had strong leaders
• Using leadership assessments alongside a development program increases leadership bench strength by 30%
• Almost half of companies that use development initiatives and leadership assessments have a robust set of leaders ready to fill essential roles. 

What to Test for in Your Leadership Skills Assessments

Most leaders, like departmental managers or team leaders, need some level of hard skills (depending on your role). In most cases, though, your leaders need a combination of soft skills, strategic skills, and interpersonal skills.

Here are a few things you can test for in your soft skills assessment:

• Cognitive assessments
• Technical skills
• Soft skills
• Communication skills
• Conflict resolution
• Management experience
• Personality 
• Interpersonal skills
• Strategic thinking
• Multi-tasking
• People management 

Leadership Skills Assessment Example Template Questions

Again, don’t be afraid to use multiple leadership skills assessments when hiring for leadership positions. Leadership roles are dynamic and multifaceted by nature, so it’s expected that you will use a variety of hiring tools to assess the skills of your applicants. 

Leadership skills questions

Short Answer Responses

1. What’s your leadership style and approach? 
2. Describe a moment where you had to resolve a conflict among your team members. What was your thought process in managing and mitigating the conflict?
3. What were some of your biggest accomplishments in your last role?
4. How do you motivate employees and maintain morale?
5. What’s your approach when you have to provide constructive feedback to a team member? Walk us through how you would initiate communication and navigate the process. 
6. Describe a milestone or accomplishment you’re proud of. 
7. What’s your approach to delegating tasks?
8. How do you measure the performance of team members at work?

Final Thoughts: Leadership Skills Assessment

Productivity, morale, workplace culture, and work ethic are typically instilled in team members from their leaders, which is why it’s so important to hire the right people for leadership roles.

Crosschq’s skills and competency analytics will help you continuously improve your assessment process, so you can make intelligent, data-driven correlations between skill set and quality of hire. With Crosschq’s performance data and skills competencies, you can hire for quality of hire, leadership skills, soft skills, and more. 

Sign up for a demo to take the guesswork out of hiring and find your leaders today.