GO Magazine 2016 Issue 1

What Do Learners
Really Want to Know?
Transforming
Leadership
Capacity into
Capability
AFROSAI-E and The Swedish National
Audit Office are building stronger leaders
in Africa’s Supreme Audit Institutions.
2016 Vol. 14, No. 1
Great Organizations. Great Leaders.
DDI Announces
Alliance with EY
A High-Resolution
View of Leadership
INSIDE:

Every leader is a work in progress. None is ever really done growing, devel-
oping, or learning his or her craft.
This fact is one of the things I love most about my job—helping leaders to
become better at what they do and realize their true capability, even if they
don’t ever attain a perfect end state. It’s the journey that matters more than
the destination, after all.
In this issue of GO, you can read about leaders who are on their own journey
to become better. In English-speaking Africa, AFROSAI-E and its partner,
The Swedish National Audit Office, are employing a development and men-
toring program, shaped through assessment insights, to help Supreme Audit
Institution executives transform their leadership capacity into capability.
Leading learners on a journey toward improvement is what skilled facilitators
do best. We asked some of DDI’s best facilitators to share the questions they
hear asked most frequently in the classroom. You can read the questions and
their responses in the article on page 18.
Also, here you can see a sampling of findings from DDI’s groundbreaking
new study, High-Resolution Leadership, learn how to assess your entire
pipeline from Eric Hanson, and get author Danny Kalman’s take on the
importance of building your people before building your products.
You will find all this and more is in this issue.
Enjoy the journey!
Barry Stern, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President,
Accelerated Development Solutions, DDI
Volume 14 • Number 1 • 2016
PUBLISHER
Richard S. Wellins, Ph.D.
MANAGING EDITOR
Craig Irons
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Susan Ryan
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Terri Sota
SENIOR GRAPHIC ARTIST
Mike Lawley
EDITORIAL AND CIRCULATION:
GO
c/o Development Dimensions Intl.
1225 Washington Pike
Bridgeville, PA 15017-2838
Telephone: 412-257-0600
ABOUT DDI
DDI is one of the top talent manage-
ment consultancies. Forty-five years
ago, we pioneered the field; today we
remain its chief innovator.
We help companies transform the way
they hire, promote, and develop their
leaders and workforce. The outcome?
People ready to instigate, understand,
and execute business strategy, and
address challenges head-on.
Our clients are some of the most
successful companies on earth.
They’re Fortune 500s and multina-
tionals, doing business across a
vast array of industries. We serve
clients from 42 DDI-owned or
closely affiliated offices.
The principles and skills we teach
don’t just make people better em-
ployees, they are at the heart of what
makes for happier and more fulfilled
human beings—better family mem-
bers, better neighbors, better friends.
©
Development Dimensions
International, Inc., 2016.
All rights reserved.
Quick GOverview.
ReadySet

3© Development Dimensions International, Inc., 2016. All rights reserved.
Contents
GO Volume 14 • Number 1 • 2016
FEATURES
4 A Stick in a Bundle Is Unbreakable
Building leadership skill proficiency in English-speak-
ing Africa’s Supreme Audit Institutions begins with an
international partnership—and an assessment.
9 Leadership in Sharp Focus
A DDI research study of assessment data from more
than 15,000 leaders delivers a wealth of insights.
18 Questions from the Classroom
What training participants really want to know.
22 Wired for Success
To assess your whole pipeline effectively, you need
to have the right assessment architecture.
26 What to Read This Summer
Suggestions from leadership thought leaders.
DEPARTMENTS
13 TrendTracker
A new sub-report from the most recent Global Lead-
ership Forecast explores the unique challenges
multinational companies face.
14 What’s GOing On
Market analyst Kennedy ranks DDI #1 leadership
development provider, a new alliance with EY, and for
the seventh straight year DDI is a Top 20 Leadership
Training Company.
16 Coffee on the GO with Danny Kalman
The co-author of Make Your People Before You
Make Your Products believes people management
is more complicated than rocket science.
27 Information You Can Use!
New DDI research and thought leadership to spark
your thinking about talent management.
4
14
22
18
169

WHEN Nancy Guthungo, director of audit in the Office
of the Auditor General, Kenya, moved into a new role and
began leading a new team in late 2015, she faced many of
the same challenges typical of leaders making transitions.
Leaving a team she knew well, she now led a group she was
unfamiliar with and had to determine their perspectives,
motivations, and expectations of her as their manager.
But Guthungo recognized the importance of approaching
her new role methodically instead of rushing to impose
changes right away.
“When you are moved to a new department you immedi-
ately start working and moving things very fast. But this
time, I stepped back and took time to think about the im-
pact on my team of having a new person leading them. I
also thought about the impact on myself of leaving a job
where I was comfortable and knew I was capable.”
Guthungo attributes her approach to insights she gained
as a participant in an executive leadership development
and mentoring program. The program is a joint partner-
ship between the African Organization of English-Speak-
ing Supreme Audit Institutions (AFROSAI-E), and The
Swedish National Audit Office (NAO), which serves as a
strategic partner to AFROSAI-E. The program is designed
to strengthen executive teams in English-speaking Afri-
can Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI) and help individual
executives like Guthungo grow leadership proficiency.
One defining factor of the program is that Guthungo and
her 23 co-participants, all of whom are senior leaders in
their respective country’s SAI, were selected into the pro-
gram upon completion of an assessment. Including an as-
sessment as part of the selection process not only helped
to determine who was the best fit for the program but also
provided data and insights that informed the program con-
tent and guided each individual executive’s development.
A Need for Strength
The role of a SAI is to act independently to provide as-
surance that government activities are properly carried out
and accounted for (the U.S. federal government equivalent
is the Government Accountability Office). The regulatory,
performance, information systems, and environmental
audits that SAIs conduct are crucial to uncovering and
preventing corruption and ensuring transparency. These
are especially important priorities for developing nations
seeking to build credibility in the international communi-
ty. AFROSAI-E aids its member SAIs in enhancing their
institutional capacity to fulfill their audit mandate mission
successfully by promoting innovation, cooperation, and
adherence to international auditing standards.
While the interventions AFROSAI-E and its institutional
partners implemented have helped to increase audit skills
in English-speaking African nations, the member SAIs
recognized a need for stronger strategic and interpersonal
leadership skills in the upper ranks of the SAIs.
A Stick in a Bundle
Is Unbreakable
Building leadership skill proficiency in English-speaking Africa’s
Supreme Audit Institutions begins with an international
partnership—and an assessment.

Gorden Kandoro, senior manager, institutional strength-
ening and capacity building, AFROSAI-E, says that while
efforts to develop managers within the SAIs have been
underway since 2009 the development of executives was
a critical missing link.
“To change the SAIs and lead the organization to a new
level that will get the organization the results that we
want—improved audit services that provide greater trans-
parency—we need the top managers to lead their organi-
zations to a new level. We know we have the capacity, but
we need to turn that capacity into capability.”
In fact, “turning leadership from capacity to capability”
was identified as one of the organization’s strategic im-
peratives in its five-year corporate plan spanning 2015 to
2019. The result was the launch in 2015 of a development
and mentoring program that targets teams of executives.
As the program brochure explains, “The aim is to get par-
ticipants from a cross section of disciplines, enabling the
SAIs to create ambitious top executive teams to lead their
organizations in attaining higher levels of proficiency and
effectiveness.” Additionally, the program is intended to
“support the establishment of professional, relevant, and
competent executive teams … to lead their organizations
towards full compliance with international standards for
public sector auditing.”
A document describing the program powerfully summa-
rizes this focus on teams by invoking a Kenyan proverb:
“A stick in a bundle is unbreakable.”
“Focus on Me, As a Leader”
The program targets teams of three to five participants
from the same SAI who hold the rank of deputy auditor
general or director. It runs about nine months and includes
five workshops, with one workshop held in Sweden and
rest in South Africa.
The 24 executives participating in the first year of the pro-
gram hail from Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone,
South Africa and Sudan.
The program content aligns with the Institutional Capa-
bility Building Framework spelled out in AFROSAI-E’s
five-year corporate plan. The framework identifies five
domains across which the participants need to develop
capability—Independence and Legal Framework, Or-
ganization and Management, Human Resources, Audit
Standards and Methodology, and Communication and
Stakeholder Management. Participants develop through
an action learning approach that covers the five domains
through lectures, assignments, and mentoring.
“In the past we have had formal training on things like
how to organize and build a SAI, and around structure and
process, but not where the focus was on me, as a leader,
focusing on interpersonal skills,” says Ingela Ekblom, in-
ternational senior advisor, The Swedish NAO. “This was
a new approach which attracted leaders to apply for this
program.”
One of the program’s most important features is the
opportunity for participants to develop their skills by
working on a strategic project. They also get to draw on
knowledge, expertise, and best practices from the interna-
tional audit community, as each team is provided with a
highly qualified mentor with recognized leadership skills.
These mentors include auditors general or deputy audi-
tors general from the Netherlands, Estonia, Lithuania, and
Sweden.
The Swedish NAO not only partnered on the program de-
sign, but also is taking the lead in delivering the content
together with a South African consultancy group special-
izing in emotional intelligence. The Swedish NAO has
worked closely with AFROSAI-E for a decade, as part
Participants in the first year of the development and
mentoring program.

of a 20-year initiative to support development work in
other countries.
“We have been their closest partner when it comes to
human resources and communication,” says Ekblom,
pointing out that The Swedish NAO is well-positioned to
helpAFROSAI-E, given its international reputation as one
of the pioneers in performance auditing and its long-term
experience and willingness to support other countries.
Impartially Evaluating Candidates
Each SAI could nominate up to eight executives at the
deputy auditor general level or equivalent. A maximum of
five executives from each SAI are admitted to each pro-
gram cohort. Those nominated needed to be at least six
years away from retirement, as the program is intended
to make an immediate impact on the leadership capability
within each SAI (as opposed to addressing the leadership
capability of the next generation of executives).
To be selected for the program, each executive had to
write a letter of application, complete a self-assessment,
and also have his or her country’s auditor general (their
supervisor), assess the executive’s skills and ability.
While the multifaceted process provided a significant
amount of data on each executive, Ekblom says much of it
“was maybe a bit on the positive side.” What was needed
was a way to impartially evaluate each executive. DDI’s
Manager Ready®
assessment proved to be the right tool.
Manager Ready®
is a half-day assessment that provides
opportunities to observe participants in real-world situa-
tions. The online assessment consists of a series of mana-
gerial tasks, such as coaching a direct report on handling
a new project or asking people questions to uncover a
problem. The participants’ performance in the assess-
ment provides data on their strengths and development
needs relative to nine competencies: Coaching for Suc-
cess, Coaching for Improvement, Managing Relation-
ships, Guiding Interactions, Problem Analysis, Judgment,
Delegation Empowerment, Gaining Commitment, and
Planning Organizing. The data is evaluated by a DDI
assessor and the results are provided in detailed feed-
back reports within days. A DDI assessor also conducts a
follow-up discussion with the individual to explain the
results and answer questions.
The competencies measured by Manager Ready®
are typi-
cally those needed for success in a frontline leadership role.
While many of the program participants had benefited from
past training aimed at developing their proficiency in audit-
ing procedures and processes, for many this was the first
time they had taken part in a program that developed their
own proficiency as leaders.
Ekblom also points out that the Manager Ready assess-
ment proved valuable because it provided an efficient and
uniform way to assess people in different countries.
AFROSAI-E and The Swedish NAO used the assessment
results to help select the program participants. The Man-
ager Ready assessment data also served as an individual
and team baseline and provided a scorecard for enhance-
ment of management/leadership skills. Among the group
strengths the assessment identified were delegation and
empowerment, problem/opportunity analysis, and judg-
ment. It also identified development opportunities in the
areas of managing relationships, influencing, and coaching
for success.
“Through the assessment we identified
the gaps and the program responded
to those gaps.”
Sibongile Lubambo, an executive in the Auditor Gener-
al of South Africa and a participant in the program, was
impressed with how the Manager Ready results helped
inform the program content. “It’s tailor-made from the
assessment that we did initially,” she says. “Through
the assessment we identified the gaps and the program
responded to those gaps.”
A “Very Valuable” Program
Nancy Guthungo’s positive view of the program is echoed
by others, who have benefited from both the greater
self-awareness and insights provided by the assessment
and the leadership skills gained through the development
and mentoring program.
Abdalla Hamid, deputy auditor general, Sudan, says the
program has been especially valuable to his development.

8
HOW TO:
Attain Buy-in for
Development
The development and mentoring program
that AFROSAI-E and The Swedish NAO
launched for executives in English-speaking
African SAIs required a major time commit-
ment for participants, as they had to be away
from their jobs for a significant amount of
time during the program’s duration.
“There is a lot of time in the program,” says
Ingela Ekblom. “The first session was 10
days, and the others are five days. For those
at the very, very top of their organizations,
that’s a long time to be away from the office.”
To attain the buy-in and support of the exec-
utives and their SAIs, AFROSAI-E and The
Swedish NAO recognized that the program
needed to be seen as an exclusive develop-
ment opportunity that wouldn’t be available
to all.
Using Manager Ready®
as part of the
selection process underscored the program’s
exclusivity. Fifty-eight executives applied and
went through the Manager Ready assess-
ment, but fewer than half—24 executives—
were accepted into the program.
“Because of the time involved, at first people
were reluctant and then they think, ‘Wow,
due to assessment I can say that I got into
this program through a very hard qualifying
process,’” says Ekblom. “I think that was
really something for all of us.”
“The program was extremely useful as it afforded me the
opportunity to critically look into my own behaviors as a
leader and at the way I interact with my peers, subordi-
nates, and superiors. It gave me valuable insight and guid-
ance as to how I can adjust my behavior to become more
effective.”
Tamba Momoh, deputy auditor general for Audit Service
Sierra Leone, says that he and the two colleagues from his
country’s SAI who have gone through the program togeth-
er have benefited from the program’s focus on managing
others.
“We have learned how to adapt to the situations we are man-
aging. Also, there’s been a focus on developing emotional
intelligence, which really helps in staff management.”
“Most of the topics that have been covered have been things
that we needed,” says Sibongile Lubambo. “I’ve been in
my role for three years and I’ve been doing okay, but there
were leadership areas where I needed to develop, in terms
of people management and finding a more effective way to
get people to deliver results at the right quality and more
efficiently.
“It’s not just a generic program for SAIs. It’s things that you
need to know as a leader.”
To learn more about Manager Ready®
, visit www.ddiworld.com/
products/manager-ready.
© Development Dimensions International, Inc.,
2016. All rights reserved.

THROUGH years of working with leading organi-
zations around the world, DDI has amassed a large pro-
prietary database of assessment data from thousands of
leaders. Recently, we undertook the task of analyzing
this huge trove of data with the aim of creating insights
to help raise the bar on the quality of leadership around
the globe.
Our motivation for undertaking this research is that,
while intelligence derived from assessment has been in-
valuable at the individual and company levels, little has
been done to dive into the collective data across leaders
and the organization, until now!
This research drew on assessment data from over
15,000 candidates for five leadership levels: frontline,
mid-level, operational, strategic executive, and C-suite
executive. The full dataset includes more than 300
organizations and spans more than 20 industries and
18 countries.
We captured our findings in the recently published study
report, High-Resolution Leadership: A Synthesis of
15,000 Assessments into How Leaders Shape the Busi-
ness Landscape.
You can download the full study and also explore
the individual study findings at www.ddiworld.com/
hirezleadership.
What follows are summaries of three of the study’s
18 findings.
LEADERSHIP IN
SHARP FOCUSA DDI research study of assessment data from more
than 15,000 leaders delivers a wealth of insights.
By Evan Sinar, Ph.D., and Rich Wellins, Ph.D.

The Money Skills: Senior Executive
Competencies that Drive Profitable Growth
When it comes to driving organizational growth and prof-
it, there are business leadership competencies that add up
to a leader who drives revenue growth and profit. These
are the Money Skills.
We conducted two studies—one aimed at revenue growth,
the other at profit. Both studies included assessment center
data from senior-level executives with titles such as EVP,
CFO, and CEO. They represented large organizations
from the U.S., Asia, Europe, and Australia. While each or-
ganization had its own list of competencies, skill domains
measured across all organizations were:
+ Business Management
+ Leadership of People
+ Communicating a Compelling Vision
+ Influencing Stakeholders
We looked at 1,028 senior executives from 33 large orga-
nizations (on average, 26 per company). The results were
compelling: When all four skill domains were combined
into a composite index of leadership competence, there
was a strong relationship to revenue growth over a six-
year period (see “Overall Competence” graphic below).
But as shareholders will tell you, the top line doesn’t mat-
ter if there’s nothing left at the bottom line. Our profit anal-
ysis, focusing on net profit and return on assets (ROA),
included assessment data from 2,077 senior-level execu-
tives from 44 organizations (on average, 47 per company).
These findings identified a smaller set of skills associated
with driving margin. Five skills in particular (see “Specif-
ic Business and Leadership Competencies Drive Profit”
graphic) were dominant in their links to bottom-line re-
turns, both net profit and ROA. When an organization cul-
tivates top-level leaders who combine judgment with the
ability to execute, the impact shows up in financial gains.
Taken together, these studies suggest that you’ll need se-
nior executives with the full range of skills to generate
growth, but to make it profitable, they will need to have
laser-sharp business minds and be capable of engaging
people and mobilizing them behind their ideas.
Leadership Competencies Drive Organizational Growth and Profit
Revenue growth from 2009 - 2014 Competencies most predictive of four-year profit average
Overall Competence Drives
Revenue Growth
Highly
Competent
ExecutivesLess Competent
Executives
Competent
Executives
45%
20%
- 4%Average
Company
Performance
Specific Business and Leadership
Competencies Drive Profit
Entrepreneurship
BusinessSavvy
DrivingExecution
DecisionMaking
LeadingChange
©Development Dimensions International, Inc., 2015. All rights reserved.

Execution and Engagement: Can
Leaders Be Ambidextrous?
Whether it’s completing a major project or setting the stra-
tegic course for an entire organization, leaders must rely
on two essential clusters of behaviors: engagement and
execution. Execution is about getting something done or
driving a course of action; engagement concerns ensuring
that people are fully absorbed in their work and inherently
committed to the organization’s purpose and values.
The question we set out to answer is this: Do leaders have
the skills to do either and/or both well?Answer: It depends.
We started by comparing leadership indexes for both en-
gagement and execution that were based on a subset of
competencies and actions included in our assessment pro-
cess. We designated the leaders who had high assessment
scores in execution or engagement.
The results are startlingly disappointing. Of the leaders we
sampled, 17 percent were highly capable in the execution
composite, and only 1 in 10 in the engagement composite.
Worse, few leaders were truly ambidextrous at both.
Is there a difference by level? The “Shifting Balance” fig-
ure below shows a clear trend. At the lowest leader level,
31 percent scored higher on the engagement composite,
while 21 percent were higher on the execution side. They
had equal scores 48 percent of the time. At the more senior
levels, the majority of leaders scored higher on execution
and lower on engagement; furthermore, balance almost
disappears. For instance, at the strategic/executive leader
levels, two out of three leaders scored higher in the ability
to execute, while not even one in five scored equally.
How Education Both Informs and Misleads
About Leader Skills
Our research answers two questions about the educational
background of leaders:
+ How do skill profiles vary by highest educational degree?
+ What skill advantages do MBA graduates exhibit?
The trends in the “Top- and Bottom-Ranked” graphic
illustrate skill gaps and untapped potential in many pools.
Among the largest skill discrepancies are leaders with
engineering degrees who face a heavy disadvantage: they
© Development Dimensions International, Inc., 2016. All rights reserved. 11
Strategic
18%
23%
28%
31%
65%
46%
36%
21%
17%
31%
36%
48%
C-suite
Operational
Mid-level
[Higher] Engagement [Higher] ExecutionAbout
the same
The Shifting Balance of Execution vs. Engagement as Leaders Ascend
Percentage of leaders higher in engagement, higher in execution, or equal

Those with law degrees, nearly all with advanced degrees,
showed strong financial acumen and business savvy. How-
ever, they were weaker than the other graduates in three
skills reflecting a passionate pursuit of outcomes: driving
for execution, driving for results, and inspiring excellence.
Natural science, social science, and IT graduates were near
average in most leadership skills, though in a different
pattern from each other. Notably, IT was top among all
degrees for driving execution.
To explore all 18 findings from the High-Resolution Leadership study, or
download the entire report, visit www.ddiworld.com/hirezleadership.
Evan Sinar, Ph.D., is chief scientist and vice president,
research/CABER, for DDI.

Rich Wellins, Ph.D., is senior vice president, DDI.
were near the bottom in proficiency for six of the eight
assessed competencies.
Business majors—the most common degree across all
senior leaders assessed—outperformed other degrees on
five of eight skill areas. However, a follow-up analysis
comparing undergraduate and graduate (e.g., MBA)
business degree holders showed that they diverged on sev-
eral leader skills.
Humanities graduates struggled with business savvy and
financial acumen but outperformed other degrees in many
skills, and did so through strengths not only in interper-
sonal competencies (such as influence), but also in strong
performance in results orientation and entrepreneurship.
Many humanities programs incorporate debating, commu-
nicating, and critical thinking, which would contribute to
well-rounded graduates in these fields.
FinancialAcumenBusinessSavvy
CompellingCommunication
DrivingExecutionDrivingforResultsEntrepreneurshipInfluence
InspiringExcellence
Engineering
Law
Humanities
Education
Business
Information Technology (IT)
Natural Sciences
Social Sciences
Strength WeaknessMid-range
Top- and Bottom-Ranked Educational Degrees Across Leader Skills
Skill profiles, comparing educational degrees
(based on highest degrees completed) and 8 leader skills.
@RichWellins
@EvanSinar

arehighlyconfident
leveragingtechnologyto
improvetheirworkforce
viewsocialnetwork-based
developmentasmost
effective
5in
10
feeltechnology
makesiteasierto
developasaleader
12%
viewself-studyonline
learningasmosteffective
5%
viewmobile-based
developmentas
mosteffective
66%
arehighlyconfident
usingdatatoguide
businessdecisions
60%
11%
Leadership development initiatives that are
too diverse and inconsistent across the organization 40%
Lack of skills/experience with the HR/talent
management leadership team to operate globally 27%
Leadership development initiatives that are too
controlled by corporate 13%
Poor understanding of cultural differences in the
implementation of global leadership development programs 11%
Poor understanding of cultural differences in the
design of global leadership development programs 9%
TRENDTRACKER
Multinational Companies
Face Their Own Challenges
As part of our most recent Global Leadership Forecast study, we
produced a sub-report highlighting findings on the current state of
leadership and leadership practices in multinational companies
(MNCs). The findings are based on responses from 2,972 leaders
and 383 human resource executives in multinational organizations.
Take a deeper dive into the Global Leadership Forecast 2014|2015 Multinational Sub-report.
Telling Number:
18Percent of MNCs reporting a
strong bench of capable leaders
to fill critical leadership roles.
Source: Global Leadership Forecast
2014|2015 Multinational Sub-report
We asked 370 MNC HR profes-
sionals to pick the single barrier
that most damages the success
of their organization’s leadership
development programs. The
top reason? Leadership devel-
opment initiatives that are too
diverse and inconsistent across
the organization.
Multinational corporations see
technology as a critical enabler
for extending global connectivity
and for generating operational
scalability. But, when it comes to
technology supporting leadership
development and workforce im-
provement, MNC leaders aren’t
seeing the full benefits. Only 60
percent of MNC leaders are highly
confident leveraging technology
to improve their workforce.
MNC leaders struggle more than most with technology.
Why aren’t MNC
leadership development
programs more effective?
© Development Dimensions International, Inc., 2016. All rights reserved. 13
MNC Leader views on technology
Most damaging barriers to leadership development success for MNCs

DDI Announces
Alliance with EY
DDI and EY have announced a strategic alliance
to offer professional services for building a stron-
ger cadre of business leaders.
The alliance combines DDI’s deep knowledge
and experience in leadership consulting, assess-
ment, and development solutions with EY’s focus
on business and organizational performance and
leadership effectiveness. As a result, the two
organizations will be able to create a differentiated
set of services and solutions helping a company’s
leaders to drive their business strategy in a rapidly
changing work environment.
“The combination of DDI’s solid portfolio of intel-
lectual property and thought leadership with EY’s
People Advisory Services creates a fully inte-
grated service offering that addresses all stages
and requirements of the leadership development
continuum, said Liz DeVito, associate director and
lead for HR consulting research, ALM Intelligence.
“With this alliance, EY and DDI join the handful
of consultancies capable of delivering truly global
leadership development consulting services.”
Learn more about the DDI/EY alliance
For 7th Year Running DDI
Named Top 20 Leadership
Training Company
TrainingIndustry.com has named the Top 20 Leadership Training
Companies for 2016 and once again DDI is among them. This
marks the seventh consecutive year DDI has made the list.
Selection of the Top 20 list was based on several criteria,
including thought leadership and influence, industry recognition
and innovation, breadth of programs and range of audiences
served, delivery methods offered, company size and growth
potential, strength of clients, geographic reach, and experience
serving the market.
Learn more about the TrainingIndustry.com Top 20 Leadership Training
Companies list
WHAT’S GOING ON
DDI Malaysia Named Best
Succession Planning Consultant
DDI was awarded the Gold award for The Best Succession
Planning Consultant at Human Resources magazine’s inau-
gural Malaysia Vendors of the Year awards. DDI’s leadership
development expertise was also recognized by the Malaysia
market with a Silver award as The Best Leadership Develop-
ment Consultant.
The ranking was based on a two-tiered selection process.
Category finalists were identified through an extensive online
survey of HR managers in Malaysia, which queried them on
their vendor preferences. These finalists were validated by a
panel of HR leaders from some of Malaysia’s largest employers
including Astro, CIMB Bank, Citibank, Hewlett-Packard, and
Volvo.
To see the full list of winners, visit www.ddiworld.com/GOmagazine
+

Market Analyst Kennedy
Ranks DDI #1 Leadership
Development Provider
Kennedy Consulting Research
Advisory, the world’s leading
source of consulting market
analysis, gave DDI top ranking
as the number one leadership
development provider on its
The Kennedy VanguardTM
Matrix based on the breadth and depth of DDI’s solutions.
In its analysis of companies that are focused on leader-
ship acceleration, Kennedy determined placement on
the Matrix using a comprehensive evaluation process. It
included in-depth reviews of materials, business models,
and services of DDI and its competitors, interviews with
clients, and an objective rating across seven major capa-
bilities where DDI ranked very strong in six of the seven
reviewed including: Leadership Assessment, Leadership
Competency Modeling, Leadership Learning Design,
Leadership Capability Development, Leadership Perfor-
mance Management, and Change Management.
Detailed results and commentary on industry trends were
reported in Kennedy’s Leadership Development Consult-
ing competitive landscape analysis (released December
2015). The report identifies a number of additional DDI
strengths that include:
• Always continually challenges itself to deepen its
understanding of leadership with a rigorous, scientific
approach to research.
• Extensive thought leadership that translates the sci-
ence of leadership development into a management
strategy for driving organizational effectiveness.
• An alliance with EY [that] will strengthen its consulting
capabilities and fuel further innovations through bun-
dled service delivery and data analytics.
DDI was also identified as having the ability to serve ma-
jor markets globally with strong positions across all four
of the major geographic business regions identified in the
report including: Asia Pacific, EMEA, Latin America, and
North America.
Learn more about DDI’s #1 ranking by Kennedy.

COFFEE
ON THE
GO WITH
DANNY
KALMAN
The co-author of Make Your People
Before You Make Your Products
believes people management is
more complicated than rocket science.
No matter its business, to have a business an organization
must make its people a priority. That’s one of the main
points of the book Make Your People Before You Make
Your Products: Using Talent Management to Achieve
Competitive Advantage in Global Organizations by Paul
Turner and Danny Kalman. Kalman, formerly director of
global talent at Panasonic, spoke with GO about why
organizations need to be both exclusive and inclusive
when it comes to talent, the evolution of Talent 4.0, and
what it takes to recognize talent everywhere.
GO: How did you and Paul Turner come to title
the book Make Your People Before You Make
Your Products?
Kalman: Paul and I were sitting at a pub somewhere in
West London. We’d gotten the publishing contract and I
was telling this story about the founder of Panasonic, Ko-
nosuke Matsushita. In Japan, he’s known as a leadership
guru. He was visiting one of the company’s many factories
and asked the general manager, “What do you make in
your factory?” Surprised, the general manager answered,
“We make radios, Mr. Matsushita.” The founder shook his
head and said, “No, no, no. What do you make in your
factory?” The general manager thought that maybe he
hadn’t heard him over the noise in the room. He respond-
ed again, “We make radios, Mr. Matsushita.” The found-
er asked him a third time and was starting to get a little
angry. “No, no, no! What do you make in your factory?”
Of course, the general manager couldn’t say radios again
so he replied, “I’m not sure what we make in our factory.”
And the founder said, “You make people because without
people, you have no product.” So I told Paul that story and
he immediately had a lightbulb moment. He said, “Well,
Danny, that’s the title of our book.”
GO: A great line in the book is, “People management
is more complicated than rocket science.” Can you
explain that?
Kalman: We all have unique characters, with individual
talents and needs—especially in terms of what we’re look-
ing for in a job and the kind of support we require. So,
when we’re managing people, it’s the furthest thing from a
one-size-fits-all proposition. This presents a terribly com-
plex challenge that many organizations face when consid-
ering how to bring out the best in their people. That’s why
managing people is so difficult.

GO: In the book you talk about organizations having
to be both inclusive and exclusive in their approaches
to talent. What do you mean by that?
Kalman: A lot of organizations have taken quite an exclu-
sive approach to talent. Typically, they create a high-po-
tential pool, consisting of maybe two to five percent of
their workforce. That pool receives all of their focus and
development investment. That’s where the exclusivity
comes into it. The danger, and what many organizations
have found, is that what they’ve done is to somehow dis-
enfranchise and demotivate the other 95 to 98 percent of
their workforce. They’re almost sending a message as if to
say, “The people in this pool are the ones that are key to
our organization.” Of course, they’re not overtly saying to
others that they aren’t important, but that’s the inference.
In the book, we advocate for a more inclusive approach
to talent—making everyone feeling valued, making people
feel appreciated for their contributions, and recognizing
that not everybody wants to be fast-tracked or become a
future VP. It’s recognizing that unique talents exist every-
where within an organization, at different levels and ex-
pressed in different ways.
GO: You framed this duality of exclusivity and inclusiv-
ity as “Talent 4.0.” Can you describe its evolution from
Talent 1.0?
Kalman: We wanted to show some kind of progression
of the talent story over the years. Our starting point, Tal-
ent 1.0, was always looking at how future presidents and
CEOs could be identified. The whole focus of succession
planning was just on the very top. Then, the discussion
broadened to looking at succession planning not just for
the very top but for other key roles. That led into what we
call Talent 2.0. Next, there was a greater recognition that
we really ought to look at a broader range of roles or key
levels within the company, so there was more of a focus on
graduate intake and developing high potentials throughout
the organization. This was paired with the realization that
we better have tracks in addition to our leadership track.
That’s what we call Talent 3.0. This has now shifted to
what we call Talent 4.0. It’s an inclusive strategy, looking
at all the different generations, cultures, and roles across
the organization. At the same time, we’re not saying that
some kind of talent pool for those VP and managing di-
rector roles isn’t still necessary. This is why we advocate
for a talent approach that is both inclusive and exclusive,
instead of the typical exclusive-only strategy.
GO: One other phrase from the book that resonates is
“Good management is good talent management.”
Can you elaborate on that?
Kalman: Something I’ve often said at conferences is that
people don’t leave organizations, they leave their manag-
ers. No one has a greater impact on an employee than his
or her direct-line boss. If we look back on when we’ve had
long tenures with employers, the reason we stayed was
because we had bosses who encouraged us, motivated
us, gave us opportunities, and took a genuine, authentic
interest in us. Leaders are the stewards of the talent that
exists in the organization. They have to recognize that
they have this incredibly important responsibility in the tal-
ent space.
GO: What do leaders need to do to become better
talent stewards?
Kalman: In the book, we talk about the age of transparency.
One of the Japanese words that we use quite a lot is “sun-
ao,” meaning uncluttered. I talk a lot about the sunao mind
and being open-minded. One of the points we wanted to get
across in the book and something I feel strongly about is that
when you’re looking at talent, you need a new lens—an un-
biased way of seeing. You need to look at people as people,
irrespective of age or gender or ethnicity or whatever. We
tend to pigeonhole people into various boxes based on our
own prejudices or our own experiences. When, instead, you
look at the talent around you with a sunao mind, you recog-
nize that talent is everywhere. You won’t get distracted by the
table-bangers who draw attention to themselves and you’ll
glimpse the wonderful, unassuming quiet talents, who get
on with their jobs, head down, not shouting from the rooftops
about how good they are. By keeping an open mind you’ll
appreciate the richness of your entire workforce, which I think
is vital when it comes to talent issues.
Danny Kalman’s book, Make Your People Before You Make Your Prod-
ucts: Using Talent Management to Achieve Competitive Advantage in
Global Organizations, co-authored with Paul Turner, is available through
bookstores and major online booksellers. His second book, Inclusive
Talent Management: How Business Can Thrive in an Age of Diversity,
will be published in July.

THE difference between a facilitator and a lecturer?
Answer: Interaction with the audience, especially fielding
questions. Facilitators welcome and encourage learner
questions—and the more the merrier. A high level of par-
ticipant engagement is critical for a successful facilitation.
While some of the most commonly asked questions are
client- or course-specific, many are independent of leader
level, training content, or geography; these are the “uni-
versals.” Sure, some are not worth discussing—What
time is lunch? Can I take a conference call later this after-
noon? Would it be okay if I continue to check my emails?
Others, however, offer insight into what participants care
most about, and reveal how skillfully crafted facilitators’
responses must be.
So what are the learning-relevant questions facilitators
hear most? And what are the best ways to address them?
To get answers, we interviewed expert DDI facilitators
from around the world. Here’s what they had to say:
“Will this be worth my time?”
AllweinterviewedagreethatthisisTHEbiggie—thenum-
ber one question preoccupying the minds of participants.
It may remain the unacknowledged elephant in the room,
but it crowds the classroom nonetheless.
“I can picture little talk bubbles floating around their
heads,” says Diana Powell, senior consultant, DDI learn-
ing systems. “They’re thinking, ‘Why am I here? What
value does this bring to my job? How is this going to
make my life easier?’”
“As facilitators, we understand that they’re staffed lean
and busy as heck,” says John Verdone, manager, global
facilitation excellence. “We understand that what they’re
thinking is ‘I’ve got a million other things to do, so why
is this guy stealing my time?’”
More often than not facilitators are greeted by a “cap-
tive” audience, but not the hanging-on-every-word kind
of crowd. Instead, it’s a somewhat skeptical group that is
attending training because it’s mandatory.
Michael Rafferty, general manager, DDI Australia sales,
muses that, “Leadership development events are like
a trip to the dentist; even if everyone understands the im-
What Participants Really Want to Know
By Terri Sota
Questions
from the
Classroom
?
?
??
?
?

portance, still, no one wants to go. I think early on the
questions are not really questions but statements to let the
facilitator know who’s really in charge.”
So how do facilitators captivate their captives and combat
their palpable impatience?
“I think it’s the way we facilitate that answers the why am
I here question,” says Powell. “We take before-class time
to make the content specific to their jobs, and we bring in-
dustry- and organization-specific examples to share, while
also asking them to share what’s going on—that’s a real
icebreaker. Another really good thing is that participants
are usually given pre-work for almost all of our courses.
This helps them start thinking about how they are going to
be able to apply what they’ll be learning.”
“Is my manager receiving this training?”
“This is a perennial favorite that is inevitably asked early
on,” says Rafferty. “And, it’s usually raised after one of
two ‘aha’ moments,” adds Bill Akins, senior consultant,
DDI learning systems. “The first is when they grasp the
power of what I’m teaching. They’re thinking ‘Oh, man,
this is great!’ They are really excited to share the knowl-
edge with their managers and arm them with the same
skills. The second happens when they grasp that the cul-
ture they work in really stinks. Once they get a glimpse of
what could be, they suddenly realize how far from ideal
their leadership really is.”
In raising this question, participants are also inquiring—
and expressing concern—about support. They want to
know if their managers, as well as senior management,
will truly get behind their organization’s investment in de-
velopment. They want reassurance that their newly learned
behaviors will be recognized (favorably) when applied,
and that they will receive additional, constructive coach-
ing so they can continue to hone their behaviors over time.
This is why DDI facilitators always advocate for partici-
pant-manager meetings both before and after training. The
initial get-together is a chance for both parties to begin
thinking about application opportunities. The follow-up
discussion converts the theoretical into the practical. The
pair jointly creates a plan for executing the participant’s
newly acquired skills.
“Participants routinely ask for suggestions about how to
talk to their managers after they have finished a course.
When they anticipate being ignored (or worse) for break-
ing with the status quo, my response is real simple,” says
Akins. “You can’t hold people accountable for something
they don’t know they’re being held accountable for. So
you’re making an assumption that they’re going to blow
you off, even though you can’t know that until you talk
to them. I also guide them through sample conversations.
I show them how to use a discussion planner to prepare.”
“How can I make a difference?”
This question is closely related to the one above; its subtext
is also about learning in isolation, but extends beyond the
participant-manager relationship to the corporate culture.
“When I hear ‘My manager doesn’t do these things,’” says
MeaganAaron, senior consultant, DDI learning systems, “I
talk a lot about becoming agents of change. I say to partic-
ipants that you can either think about where you have in-
fluence or just continue to do things the same way. And, by
the way, how’s that working for you? I tell them, you’re in
a leadership position, so lean in and start to make changes.
And, when they ask me why their managers never do any
of the things I’m teaching them, I will say something like,
‘Maybe that’s why you’re here. You’re the future culture.’”
Many of our facilitators speak of taking a similar tack.
They take what participants see as overwhelming—trans-
formational culture change—and break it down into bite-
size, individual improvement efforts.
“Quite honestly,” says Akins, “if you look at every major
organization—civic organizations, churches, manufactur-
ing—where there are more than 30 or 40 employees, you
have to ask yourself, ‘How many people are in my direct
level of influence?’And the truth is that that number does
not change a lot. Generally it is somewhere between 12
and 20. So I look at these folks and acknowledge that they
can’t change the entire organization but what they can do
is change the culture for their own realm of influence.”
“Our participants are so overwhelmed with so many things
and they don’t initially understand that the tools and the
development provide the way to get what they want ac-
complished,” says Aaron. “I spend a lot of time knocking
down that wall. I think a lot of facilitators realize the key is
just to ensure learners continue to think about how they’re
getting things done, who they’re getting it done through,
and the really important pieces around involvement and
accountability.”
?
?

“How do I find time to implement
what I’ve learned?”
Time on the back end is also an issue. Facilitators receive
a variety of questions related to scheduling concerns: “I’m
already working a zillion hours, how can I meet more regular-
ly with my reports?” “How will I have time to plan coaching
conversations or apply the Key Principles?
“Most of my clients, regardless of industry―healthcare, fi-
nancial services, manufacturing, etc.―are incredibly over-
whelmed when it comes to managing their time and focusing
on multiple priorities,” says Powell. “I can understand how
they feel when we bring in a new skill and want to apply it.
When you think about it, the real difficulty with coaching is
finding the time to do it; likewise, the difficulty with executing
strategy is finding the time to sit down and plan. When we fill
out a discussion planner in class, it’s not only a preparatory
step for having a quality conversation, it’s also a practice ses-
sion with the planner that demonstrates how little time it really
takes to improve the effectiveness of an important interaction.”
Lessons Learned
While they know to expect these questions, expert facilitators
never rely on canned answers. Experience, yes, but one-size-
fits-all responses? No.
And, when they can’t give a knowledgeable answer, they
say so. Bluffing isn’t an option and participants are eager,
when prompted, to offer more detail about what and why
they’re asking.
What’s more, good facilitators convey the passion they
possess for the training. “Probably the most difficult question
and the one that gets the facilitator going is ‘Do you really be-
lieve all this development makes a difference?’ I want to say,
‘Heck yeah!’” says Rafferty. “I tell them there are countless
case studies, research reports, and examples of measurable
shifts in behavior. The jury is full-in on this one. But, then I
say, to put the onus back on them, ‘It only works if you…’”
At the end of the day (or days), all of the facilitators we
spoke with agree it’s about impact—facilitating those “aha”
moments for participants, generating growth through insight,
and building better leaders.
View a video on the value that trainers and facilitators provide. Learn
more about DDI’s Development Accelerators for reinforcing leadership
development with sustainability tools.
? FOLLOW @DDIworld
on TWITTER
Thought Leadership Delivered Daily

#LEARNINGGEEK
FRESH FROM OUR LEADERSHIP LAB
Put your learners in charge with our latest
“just-for-me” development experiences. The
learning geeks at DDI bring you powerful
new ways to turn your leaders’ learning into
performing.
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Microcourses
Experiment with short
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icrocourse
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Predict leadership
readiness of your
frontline and mid-level.

22© Development Dimensions International, Inc., 2016. All rights reserved. 22© Development Dimensions International, Inc., 2016. All rights reserved.
A few years ago when I was shopping for a house, I
sought the assistance of a professional home inspector.
I was looking at an older home that had been added
on to over the years. When the inspector pulled off the
electrical panel he found a jumbled mess of wires going
every which way, like a pile of spaghetti. It was clear that
the workmanship was questionable, which raised some
serious concerns about the quality and safety of the wir-
ing throughout the house. Needless to say, armed with
this information, I opted not to move forward with buying
the house.
Think for a moment about how you evaluate leader-
ship talent in your organization. What assessment tools
do you use, and for what purposes? Chances are you
use tests and assessments to evaluate candidates for
selection into the organization. You may also use as-
sessments for evaluating internal promotion candidates
and participants in succession management programs,
and as components of your learning and development
programs. When you multiply these tools and combi-
nations of tools by the number of organizational levels,
divisions, and geographic locations, you begin to see a
potentially complex picture.
Ideally, these assessments will be part of a larger, formu-
lated strategy to assess talent across your entire pipeline,
in which each tool is employed in a purposeful way to
gather the data and insights you need about each popula-
tion—from candidates for entry-level positions to senior
executives who need highly targeted development.
What does your assessment architecture look like? Is it an
efficient, well-organized system or does it resemble the
spaghetti-wire electrical panel I encountered in that home
inspection? In my experience working with a variety of
organizations, I’ve found talent management profession-
To assess your whole pipeline effectively, you
need to have the right assessment architecture.
By Eric Hanson, Ph.D.
WIRED FOR
SUCCESS

23© Development Dimensions International, Inc., 2016. All rights reserved. 23© Development Dimensions International, Inc., 2016. All rights reserved.
als often struggle to make sense of their assessment ar-
chitecture. Due to misaligned targets, inconsistencies, and
inefficiencies, the complexity they face is accompanied
by a nagging uncertainty about whether the investment in
assessment is paying off for the business in terms of data
insights for making the best talent decisions.
Considering Business Impact
Let’s first examine the issue of business impact. In most
cases, assessments need to help us make better decisions
about talent. These decisions may involve selecting some-
one for a new assignment, moving a leader into a more se-
nior-level role, or identifying high-payoff development pri-
orities and actions. Gathering objective high-quality data is
vital for making these decisions as wisely as possible.
To attain high-quality data, it’s critical to have the right as-
sessment targets—the right criteria upon which the assess-
ment is based (e.g., competencies, attributes). Too often,
the assessment targets are widely varied (even for similar
roles) and they may or may not align with what the busi-
ness really needs from its talent.Acritical consideration: If
you are not assessing the capabilities that are most relevant
to business needs, you are taking big risks with the deci-
sions that rely on the assessments.
When you think about your assessment strategy, do you
have an image of “spaghetti wires” forming in your mind?
Ask yourself these questions: What is the cumulative
impact of all of these assessments? How does the orga-
nization’s HR/generalist community feel about the com-
plexity? And, what about the perceptions of your internal
customers (managers, assessment participants) and senior
stakeholders? Are they confused, or can they see a clear
picture of how each assessment is delivering value (and
consistently providing the information they need to make
better talent decisions)?
What you are likely to find if your assessment architecture
is chaotic or overly complex is that it is marked by in-
efficiencies and inconsistencies. These challenges will, in
turn, generate push-back from stakeholders. For instance,
think about the time people need to spend getting re-fa-
miliarized with a range of assessment tools that they only
encounter on an occasional basis. Or, consider the admin-
istrative time needed to keep track of which assessments
are used where, and the time needed to manage a wide
range of vendor relationships, billing, etc. Inefficiencies
can breed discontent and a lack of buy-in for your assess-
ment initiatives.
This is where the need for a whole-pipeline assessment
strategy becomes critical. When you have such a strategy,
not only does your assessment architecture become logical
and orderly, but, more importantly, assessment becomes a
critical organizational function that helps support the di-
rection of the business, its strategic priorities, and its need
for the right talent—at all levels—with the right skills.
Here’s some advice for creating both a strategy and an ar-
chitecture for better assessment across your whole pipeline.
Ensure that assessment targets are relevant both
to the role and to the broader business context.
A fundamental requirement for assessment is determining
what exactly you are assessing. If you are assessing irrele-
vant or less-important criteria, the assessments will not de-
liver sufficient returns for the business. Say, for example,
that your company is expanding rapidly into new global
markets. You would probably want to know how strong
your senior leadership candidates are when it comes to
having market insight and operating in a global environ-
ment. If the assessment does not deliver data related to
these critical business priorities, its value to the business
will be minimal, regardless of how “cool” the assessment
tool is or the amount of other data it provides.
Impact becomes an even thornier issue if you take inven-
tory of all the assessment processes you use across your
whole organization. When you do, you may find that the
picture becomes very complex very quickly—different as-
sessments used for different purposes, across different lev-
els, across different functions, and across different regions.
If these assessments and their outputs are not aligned to
business requirements, there may be some serious con-
cerns about the ROI on your assessment spend, and ques-
tions about how the organization can make accurate deci-
sions quickly and consistently with so much variation in
the decision-making inputs.
Strive to create alignment of assessment targets across
functions, locations, and business areas. Aside from
unique technical and functional skill requirements, there
are common competencies and capabilities that transcend
functional areas, especially for leadership roles. For ex-

ample, most first-level leaders need to plan, make good
decisions, influence others, collaborate, and communicate.
Leaders at higher organizational levels, meanwhile, will
have their own sets of capability requirements that will be
shared across business functional areas. Creating common
competency frameworks that represent current and future
business needs, and identifying consistent assessment pro-
cesses by leader level, will create efficiency and simplifi-
cation in your assessment architecture.
Establish and manage assessment tools and
processes by organizational level and purpose.
Once you have created competency frameworks by orga-
nizational level that can effectively be leveraged across
functions and business areas, you can begin to build a sim-
plified assessment architecture. Such an architecture can
guard against the aforementioned chaos and inefficiency
that often arise when assessment tools run amok.
It’s been my experience that a growing number of orga-
nizations are moving toward aligned global assessment
strategies and “toolkits” to create efficiency and simplifi-
cation. This is a smart move because it catalogues the go-
to assessment solutions for specific purposes and for each
organizational level. The graphic below helps to illustrate
this concept.
Each cell represents a placeholder for the assessment tools
and solutions appropriate for the purpose and level. Hav-
ing a consistent toolkit helps talent management centers
of excellence to manage a simplified and efficient frame-
work, as well as leverage analytics built on consistent
tools. Likewise, HR business partners and business areas
can become more time-efficient and compare results more
easily across the organization.
Nevertheless, some organizations struggle to implement
common assessment platforms. The reasons vary but one
common challenge is achieving buy-in from regional/glob-
al or business unit stakeholders who may have entrenched
legacy processes they want to preserve and continue using.
Resistance to change can be strong, and it takes a well-
formed influence strategy to gain the buy-in needed to
implement common processes. It’s important that the as-
sessment strategy balances scalability with an eye toward
how the assessments address or accommodate regional and
cultural considerations. Involvement from global partners
in the design process is critical for success in this area.
ALIGNED GLOBAL
ASSESSMENT
STRATEGY TOOLKIT
Each square represents the
assessment tools and solu-
tions needed for the purpose
and leader level.

Create a consistent assessment strategy—
not only for efficiency, but also for quality.
A challenge related to the efficiency and complexity is-
sues that arise with fragmented assessment processes is
the “apples to oranges” comparison of assessment results.
To illustrate this point, consider the following example:
Imagine you need to support filling a senior global oper-
ations role. Through your succession planning tools, you
have been able to identify five strong internal candidates.
However, because regional offices utilize different assess-
ment processes and vendors, it is difficult to compare can-
didates adequately and objectively. (What’s more, even in
situations where similar competencies are evaluated, as-
sessment processes and rigor can vary dramatically.)
As talent management becomes more global, and with tal-
ent increasingly moving across organizational boundaries
(e.g., regions, functions, business units), the need for com-
mon assessment metrics grows. You’ll also need to make
sure you align your assessments so that HR and line lead-
ers can evaluate the health of your talent pipeline without
having to apply different “measuring sticks” for each pop-
ulation you assess.
Depending upon what assessment approach is utilized,
variability in quality and calibration can cause problems
when interpreting and using the results. Assessments like
tests and inventories are based on norms, which can min-
imize problems, but global and cultural factors can still
influence interpretation. Assessments that rely on gather-
ing data on, observing, and evaluating behaviors or per-
formance (e.g., interviews, assessment centers) should be
designed and managed to ensure calibration and reliabil-
ity. Even though the same type of process is used across
different parts or regions of the organization, evaluators
may not necessarily be delivering reliable and valid rat-
ings. This can be true for organizations that use internal
processes as well as those that rely on external providers
for assessment.
You should strive to achieve an equivalent measurement
discipline across all of your assessments, whether you
rely on an internal process or if you utilize external as-
sessment providers. You also need to be mindful of the
fact that assessments that rely on evaluators’ observations
and judgments inherently can, over time, fall prey to drift
and idiosyncratic variations. Ongoing due diligence and
quality control in evaluator education and calibration can
result in a sustainable level of high quality and consistency
in your assessments.
Putting It All Together
The graphic on the previous page describes a straightfor-
ward architecture for assessment. It depicts a prescription
for unifying competency models within levels, and utiliz-
ing a standard, consistent set of assessment tools across
different talent management purposes. You can use this
model as a starting point to bring order, alignment, and
greater efficiency and effectiveness to your assessments.
Remember, simplifying your assessment architecture and
toolbox will help to create consistency, but only active
management of assessment practices, including calibration
across regions, business areas, and so forth, will ensure
consistent quality and confidence that you are measuring
according to the same metrics.
Do these things and you can avoid the equivalent of a con-
fusing pile of “spaghetti wires.” You’ll also get the infor-
mation you need to make your critical talent decisions.
Learn more about DDI’s solutions for predicting readiness to execute
strategy.

Eric Hanson, Ph.D., is director, assessment
and succession solutions, for DDI.
Make a Difference with Your Favorite Nonprofit Organization
Through DDI Training! Learn More about DDI’s U-Spark! program
and Apply for a Grant.

Beverly Kaye, author of Hello Stay
Interviews, Goodbye Talent Loss
The Whole Brain Business
Book by Ned Herrmann and Ann
Herrmann-Nehdi. “Ann has been
teaching and consulting in the
power of Whole Brain Thinking for
decades. She makes the area easy
to understand and put to use!”
Danny Rubin, author of Wait! How
Do I Write This Email?
How to Win Friends Influence
People by Dale Carnegie. “It’s an
essential guide to understanding
the power of interpersonal skills
and what it takes to build lasting
business relationships.”
Julie Winkle-Giuliani, author of Help
Them Grow or Watch Them Go
A More Beautiful Question by
Warren Berger. “In today’s sound-
bitten, answer-oriented world,
questioning is under-valued and
rarely taught. Berger provides a
framework and countless (indexed!)
questions to drive dialogue deeper
and cultivate the kinds of conversa-
tions that can contribute to powerful
outcomes.”
Richard Fagerlin, author
of Trustology
Essentialism by Greg McKeown.
“This book outlines the mindset and
impact of an essentialist. Instead
of the undisciplined pursuit of more,
McKeown teaches how to have
more impact by living the disciplined
pursuit of less but better.”
Jennifer Kahnweiler, author of
The Genius of Opposites
The Originals by Adam Grant.
“This is such a compelling read. It
gets at the root of creative thinking
by drawing compelling examples of
disrupters from the arts, history, and
technology. Research comes alive
when Adam Grant teaches it!”
Janice Kobelsky, FCPA, FCMA |
Think Anew! Series | Millennial
Minds Inc.
O Great One! A Little Story
about the Awesome Power of
Recognition by David Novak and
Christa Bourg. “It’s a wonderfully
told story to address head-on the
business challenges of energizing
engagement and high performance.
It’s a powerful take-away of 10 in-
terwoven Guiding Principles to hone
the skill of giving recognition where
recognition is due—and needed.
The outcome? Performance and
potential: rewarded, rekindled, and
unleashed.”
Tim Mulligan, author of Roar: How
to Build a Resilient Organization the
World Famous San Diego Zoo Way
The Next Level: What Insiders
Know About Executive Success,
by Scott Elbin. “While geared to
leaders on the brink of bigger posi-
tions (i.e., C-suite), the concepts in
this book can also be very helpful for
leaders at any level, whether they
are planning on moving up or not. I
personally have made many changes
in my style, schedule, and priorities
because of this book, and have rec-
ommended it to many others.”
Becky Robinson, founder and
CEO of Weaving Influence and
Hometown Reads
Under New Management by David
Burkus. “Burkus highlights 13 ways
some organizations are changing
practices to become more effective,
including outlawing email and ditching
performance appraisals. This well-
researched and thoughtful book will
challenge your thinking and create
new ideas and energy for your work.”
Tanveer Naseer, award-winning
leadership writer and keynote speaker
No One Understands You and
What to do About It by Heidi Grant
Halvorson. “This book distills years
of psychology and behavioral sci-
ences research to help leaders bet-
ter understand why sometimes what
we’re saying is not leading to the
outcomes we’re after. A fascinating
read that will help you better under-
stand those you lead—and yourself.”
Marcia Conner, co-author of The
New Social Learning: Connect,
Collaborate, Work
Organizing Genius: The Secrets
of Creative Collaboration by
Warren Bennis. “My all-time favorite
leadership book. Bennis chronicles
the amazing stories and critical
collaborations of six ad-hoc teams,
growing great under unlikely circum-
stances, pulling together to make
the world both better and smarter,
just in time.”
See recommendations from DDI leadership
experts.
WHAT TO READ
THIS SUMMERSuggestions for Your Summer Reading from Leadership Thought Leaders.

High-Resolution Leadership
High-Resolution Leadership is a
landmark report that examines how
leaders drive business performance
and what makes leaders excel in
their roles. In the most powerful
synthesis of data of its kind, this
landmark report includes 15,000
DDI leadership assessment partici-
pants ranging from frontline to
the C-suite.
Leading Forward in Health
Insurance: The New Mandate
for Industry Leaders
With the introduction of public and
private exchanges, healthcare lead-
ership is challenged to manage many
new industry imperatives. This article
explores what health care insurance
leaders must do differently to manage
the new industry imperatives and
achieve organizational goals.
Stop Wasting Potential: Build
Your Future Leadership Pool
Learn what you need in a robust
high-potential program. In this record-
ed webinar, you’ll learn what insights
you need about your future leaders
and how to create a program that
accelerates future leaders for your
organization.
3 Keys to a Manufacturing
4.0 Workforce
As this article explores, automation,
digitization, new technologies, and
new customer requirements stem-
ming from Manufacturing 4.0 are
changing not just the pace, but the
very nature of work on the plant floor.
As the focus shifts in the industry,
manufacturers must rethink the
skill sets they require of production
employees and their plant leaders.
Empire Southwest
Learn how Empire Southwest
developed more than 250 prospec-
tive, new, and experienced leaders
to support a new culture and give
them the full range of skills they
need to be effective.
Leadership Analytics: The
EQ Factor, the Role of Gender
When Empathy Drives
Performance
This recorded webinar examines
how the skill and personality profiles
of women leaders compare to their
male counterparts; which skill mus-
cles become stronger as leaders
rise up the ranks, and which atrophy;
and the defining characteristics of
an ambidextrous leader, and why
they’re so rare.
Information
You CanUse!
Visit www.ddiworld.com/GOmagazine

NEW BOOK
FROM DDI
Strategies to Accelerate
the Growth of Your Leaders
Learn More
www.ddiworld.com/leaders-ready-now
#LeadersReadyNow

GO Magazine 2016 Issue 1

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