The Leadership Essentials™ Group

The Leadership Essentials™ Group is pleased to announce the availability of assessment support for its individual and organizational clients aimed at executive coaching development. Whether you are interested in creating stronger teams, developing individual employees/managers and leaders or creating a more productive work environment; consider assessments as a part of your Executive Leadership Coaching Program. There is a DISC®, CCL or PCSI© assessment that will work for you and/or your organization!

• The Center for Creative Leadership's Skillscope®
• The Center for Creative Leadership's 360-By Design®
• The Center for Creative Leadership's Keys®
• DISC Managing for Success® Executive Version
• DISC Managing for Success® Employee-Manager™ Version
• DISC Managing for Success® Team Building Version
• DISC Managing for Success® Personal Interests, Attitudes and Values™
• DISC Managing for Success® ... many others available on everything from relationship building to communicating, interviewing and customer service
• PCSI© Personal Coaching Styles Inventory

More About These Assessments

Center for Creative Leadership Assessments

The Center for Creative Leadership
CCL is a globally recognized resource for understanding and expanding the leadership capabilities of individuals and organizations across the public, private, nonprofit, government and education sectors. CCL has a significant impact on some 20,000 leaders and 3,000 organizations each year across all sectors, serving more than two thirds of the Fortune 100; state, local, and national governments and government agencies; nonprofit organizations; and educational institutions and school systems. The Center was ranked as one of the top ten non-degree executive education providers in the world in 2002 in a survey conducted by the Financial Times. In 2001, for the second consecutive time, CCL was ranked #1 for Business Leadership Development in the Business Week Executive Education Survey. We are a qualified provider of feedback for the CCL instruments below:

Skillscope®
This 360-degree assessment is an easy to take (about 20-30 minutes to complete) 98 item questionnaire that provides individuals with feedback on job-related strengths and weaknesses. This can be used with managers at all levels of the organization. The assessment covers 15 key skills that have been shown to be critical for success in a managerial role:

• Information Skills
  • Getting and making sense of information
  • Communicating Information and ideas
• Decision Making
  • Taking Action and making decisions
  • Risk-taking and innovations
  • Administrative/Organizational ability
  • Managing conflict, negotiation
• Interpersonal Skills
  • Relationships
  • Selecting and developing people
  • Influencing, leadership and power
  • Openness to Influence and flexibility
• Personal Resources
  
  • Knowledge of job and business
  • Energy, Drive and ambition
• Effective Use of Self
  • Time management
  • Coping with pressure
  • Self-management and self-insight
  • Self-development

The questionnaires are sent to the participants and then returned to CCL for confidential scoring. CCL then returns the results to your Coach who reviews the results with you. The Manager will also receive a Development Planning Guide which will help summarize the results and focus the coaching work going forward. Each survey set consists of:

• 9 surveys (1 self survey, 1 immediate boss and 7 observer surveys).

For more details on how you can bring Skillscope® into your organization write: Debbie@TheLeadershipEssentialsGroup.com

360 By Design®
This is a fully internet-based 360-degree assessment tool that can be completely customized to match the competencies important to your organization. You may choose from any of the CCL's 70 competencies- a total of more than 350 questions- to create a 360-degree feedback tool that reflects your organization's competencies and developmental requirements. This is a developmental tool and is not meant to be used for selection or promotion purposes.

All participating managers and raters must have access to the internet and be able to receive external email. You construct your own assessment instrument from the 70 competencies and 350 questions. Each competency has between 3-14 questions. You must use the whole competency that you select. As a result, you can design an instrument that best addresses the behaviors and skills important to high performance in your organization. It can be long, short, focused or general.

Once you decide you want to go forward we work with you to complete the competency template for CCL and then submit it to CCL for customization. Raters and managers are identified and then access to the internet is granted for all those participating. The system sends rater invitations and access to surveys via e-mail. Participants and their raters complete the assessment online. Results are sent to your Coach who then provides you with the feedback and coaching plans are developed.

The primary categories are:

• Leadership and Organizational Action
• Problem Solving and Decision Making
• Risk/Innovation/Adaptability and Creativity
• Business Skills and Knowledge
• Communication
• Developing People and Managing Work of Others
• Building and Maintaining Relationships
• Diversity and Difference
• Drive and Purpose
• Integrity and Values
• Management of Self
• Self-Awareness/Development and Learning

If you would like to take the first step in creating a customized 360-degree feedback instrument, that is completely internet-based and will focus on the competencies unique to your organization, contact Debbie@TheLeadershipEssentialsGroup.com to learn more about how to get started.

Keys®
This innovative tool assesses the climate for creativity and innovation that exists in a work group, division or organization and measures management practices that impact the work environment. Keys® compares an organization's creative climate with other top-level organizations in the KEYS database giving the organization benchmarking data and focus for development. Keys® is a paper-based, 78 question survey that takes about 20-30 minutes to complete. Answers are returned to CCL and the results are forwarded to your Coach who provides you with the feedback.

KEYS® assesses six management practices that support the work environment:

• Organizational Encouragement: Top management support for creative risk-taking, an open atmosphere for idea exchange and recognition of creative work.
• Supervisory Encouragement: Giving support to direct reports, communicating effectively and setting clear expectations and goals.
• Work Group Supports: Skill diversity, teamwork, mutual trust and support, and commitment to work.
• Sufficient Resources: Access to appropriate facilities, equipment and information.
• Challenging Work: The importance of the work combined with the difficulty of achieving the goal.
• Freedom : The sense of control staff have over developing new ideas, deciding how to accomplish tasks and developing new and effective processes.

Keys® also looks at two management practices that inhibit the work environment:

• Organizational Impediments: Destructive criticism, turfism, rigidity, and resistance to change.
• Workload Pressure: Unrealistic expectations, insufficient time and too many distractions.
  
  If you are anxious to find out more about fostering an innovative workplace and creating a Coaching Plan for you and the organization that will work towards that goal, email us at Debbie@TheLeadershipEssentialsGroup.com to learn more about the Keys® assessment.

The DISC Managing For Success® Assessments
Based on the work and research of psychologist William Moulton Marston, Ph.D. of Harvard University, this assessment series has been used by over 4 million people since 1984 and companies like: Coca Cola, Motorola, GE, IBM and more. Known and respected the world over, DISC is a common tool in today's business world.

At the root of its success, is its simplicity. The DISC Behavioral Report consists of just 24 questions; however it can graph over 19,000 individual/unique responses. Results show up in 384 different behavioral styles (20 times the Myers-Briggs) and can be completed in 20 minutes. The key to the DISC is that it shows your natural behavioral style and also your adapted behavioral style (how you respond to the demands of your environment). This information allows you to see where your strengths are not being leveraged and where there may be underlying causes of stress for you in situations where your natural style and adapted style are completely at opposite ends.

DISC measures only observable behaviors and emotions which provide insight into HOW we act, communicate and our responses. As you become aware of your communication style it becomes easier to show those around you how to effectively communicate with you. It will also help you to learn the communication styles of others and how to best communicate with them.

The following assessments are available through the Managing for Success® Tools:

• Managing for Success® Executive Version
  • This report provides detailed information on personal style, strengths and limitations. The report articulates how others perceive you as well as how to identify and adapt to the styles of others to maximize results in the shortest period of time.
• Managing for Success® Employee-Manager™ Version
  • For those who want to improve their managing skills and maximize the performance of their employees. It is used for new employees or managers, developing employees or managers and improve communication and morale between employees and managers.
• Managing for Success® Team Building Version
  • Looking to develop or support a high performing team? If you want to reduce conflict and get the team moving quickly, this report will help team members identify and leverage their unique styles and appreciate the styles of their team members.
• Managing for Success® Personal Interests, Attitudes and Values™
  • WHY we do what we do impacts our performance on and off the job. The PIA&V Report identifies your values and motivations behind your behaviors. When people learn to align with their values there is no need for external motivation. This is a key factor for performance success.
• And many others
  • We have a host of other Managing for Success® assessments available on everything from relationship building to communicating, interviewing and customer service.

Assessments are delivered on-line. You will be sent a web-link and a unique password for a website where you will complete the report(s) on line. Each report takes a maximum of 20 minutes to complete. Upon completion, you can view your report and you will be emailed a printable copy. Your Coach will then review the results with you. After discussing the results, you will include your goals and actions in the Coaching Plan you develop with your Coach.

If you are not sure which DISC Managing for Success® assessments are right for you or your organization, contact Debbie@TheLeadershipEssentialsGroup.com to learn more about the DISC.
 

PCSI© Assessment
Developed by Dr. Lee Smith and Dr. Jeannine Sandstrom, the Personal Coaching Styles Inventory has been used over the past 8 years with thousands of individuals. Not a psychological or personality tool, it is a self inventory where people designate how they want to give and receive feedback and advice. The value of this instrument is in the recognition of style distinctions in others and yourself. The results can make a major difference in your approach to people.

Today, building relationships, giving and receiving feedback and communicating with people are critical skills in any organization, as well as in life. This self assessment gives you the tools to recognize and leverage your style and those of others. You will learn ways to interact, coach and communicate with others in a way that is more effective for you and them, and more productive for the organization.

This 4 quadrant, paper-based inventory takes less than 10 minutes to complete and the results are evident instantly. Upon completion, it is recommended that you share the outcome with your Coach and debrief about the results. Those results can then be included in any Coaching Plan going forward.

If you are looking for a simple, cost effective style assessment for you, your team and/or entire group, that will support the development of communicating and working together as a team, then this is the assessment for you. Contact Debbie@TheLeadershipEssentialsGroup.com   to learn more about how you can order the PCSI© for you and your team.