While investing in efficient leadership is critical, many companies struggle to find good candidates. They may not look for the right qualities and can sometimes promote people who lack efficient skills.

Leadership potential assessment can help your brand measure the likelihood of someone succeeding as a leader. It lets you know how they can handle conflict, communicate with others, and solve problems.

Effective leadership evaluation will help your company scale and improve its reputation. Let’s explore 12 steps for detailed leadership skill assessment.

Before identifying future leaders, determine the qualities you want them to have. Some options to consider include:

• Team building
• Strategic thinking
• Problem-solving
• Innovativeness
• Efficient communication

Desirable leadership qualities may vary depending on roles, so you should also identify the specific skills you need in each position.

These include:

• Dominance
• Influence
• Steadiness
• Conscientiousness

Dominant people are goal-oriented, decisive, and like taking charge. They often focus on results and efficiency, making them great for fast-paced workplaces or high-stakes decision-making roles. However, they might sometimes come off as too direct.

Influencers are enthusiastic and people-oriented, excelling at motivating others and building relationships. Such leaders can create a positive team culture but might need help with technical duties.

Steadiness personality includes reliable and supportive people who can hold teams together. They excel in roles requiring patience and consistency but might avoid confrontation.

Conscientious people are detail-oriented and love structure. They make decisions based on facts and data, which is excellent for analytical roles. However, they often struggle with maintaining flexibility in fast-changing companies.

Conducting a DISC profile test will help you identify how different candidates naturally behave and lead. It allows you to match them to roles aligning with their natural traits to leverage every employee’s strength.

A personality assessment will avoid misjudgment and help you identify candidates who match the demands of a specific role. If someone scores high on openness to new ideas, they might be great at leading during times of change.

On the other hand, someone with high emotional stability might excel in leading a sales team. They will be able to stay positive in challenging situations and motivate others.

Here are some steps to follow when conducting a personality assessment:

• Administer a personality test using a software solution
• Analyze the results
• Discuss the assessment results with employees and potential candidates

Understanding personalities ensures you build teams with complementary strengths. You can also use the results to create growth opportunities for the existing talent.

• Self-regulation
• Empathy
• Self-awareness
• Motivation
• Social skills

Your pre-employment assessment should include detailed emotional intelligence tests. Ask potential hires how they’d handle different situations to gauge their abilities. Some questions you can use include:

• How do you handle conflict with your coworkers?
• Tell me about a time you helped a struggling team member.
• What do you do when you feel stressed at work?
• Which methods do you use to stay calm in high-pressure situations?
• What can you say to a team member who consistently underperforms?
• Can you share an example of a situation where you showed empathy to a coworker?

Such questions test EQ by allowing you to understand each candidate’s ability to control their emotions. You will also assess how well they connect with others, a vital quality for good leadership.

Safety assessment tools check a person’s ability to make smart decisions when safety is a priority. For example, they can show how someone reacts to equipment failures or workplace hazards.

Aptitude tests, on the other hand, will be great for leadership roles where technical thinking is important. They gauge how someone understands the tools and processes used in a specific workplace or role.

• Adaptability
• Resilience
• Optimism
• Accountability
• Initiative
• Confidence
• Gratitude

Including attitude tests in your leadership skills measurement process ensures you find people who bring positivity to the workplace. Such will encourage teamwork and help every employee feel valued and respected.

Other leadership simulation ideas to explore include:

• Planning a project
• Handling a crisis
• Leading change
• Delegating tasks

Simulation clearly shows who’s ready to step into a leadership role. For example, you can test how candidates communicate with a mock meeting. Further, you’ll test their ability to prioritize tasks and lead a team when planning a project.

With such approaches, you’ll be confident and choose leaders who can handle real-world challenges.

• Teamwork
• Integrity
• Innovation
• Accountability
• Self-drive

By testing for these values, you can find leaders who will promote the right culture and lead by example. Here are some methods to use during potential leader identification:

• Role-playing exercises
• Situational questions
• Interviews

Apply these methods during leadership potential assessment to see how candidates apply their principles in different situations. Further, do group evaluations to understand their alignment with your company’s core values.

• How did you handle a time when things changed unexpectedly at work?
• Can you describe a situation where you had to adapt quickly to a new role?
• What do you do when a project doesn’t go as planned?

Testing for AQ lets you identify potential leaders who can handle the constant changes in the workplace. You’ll hire people who inspire your team to stay flexible and positive, even during tough times.

Take notes about their responses so you can refer to them later. Additionally, pay attention to how the candidate describes their actions and how they solve problems.

Focus on their responses to questions about teamwork and management since you’d want to create a cohesive workplace.

Using structured interviews organizes the hiring process and helps you make better decisions when picking a leader. It ensures you consider all candidates equally and focus on the most important qualities.

• Their peers
• Subordinates
• Managers

It’s an effective leadership testing method because it gives you more insights into what others think of the candidate. Moreover, it highlights their strengths and weaknesses and fills interview gaps. 360-degree feedback is also a way to find blind spots the candidate might not know about.

Doing so will give you a complete picture of someone’s leadership potential. It ensures you don’t overlook any important leadership aspect or assessment test.

Success Performance Solutions has offered recruiting tools exceeding industry standards since 1996. We have a 90% customer retention rate, so you can trust us to support your hiring process. Contact us for exceptional services.