Redefining organizational strategy with
leadership development
framework
model
welcome to brighter
Contents
ŧĥ Introduction
Ũĥ Need for new leadership assessment framework
ũĥ Understanding your leadership development goals
Ūĥ Role of online assessments in leadership development
ūĥ Mercer | Mettl’s role in redefining leadership assessment practices
Ŭĥ Introducing Mettl Personality Map
ŭĥ The science behind Mettl Personality Map
Ůĥ Ŀı
ůĥ
Introduction
The world has been witnessing a major Now, leaders must adopt a growth mindset to
transformation in the business landscape over ensure a sustainable and upward business trajectory.
the last few months. However, the change, Meanwhile, companies need to ensure their leaders
perhaps, is not temporary and here to stay. are self-aware and work on their weaknesses to make
‘Work from home’ earlier deemed impossible themselves future-ready, which can be achieved via a
for specific roles has become a part of the new leadership development framework model.
routine with an indefinite extension. While the
workforce continues to stay away from work
physically, organizations remain responsible
for revisiting their employees’ development
practices.
Organizations must realize that the ‘war mode,’
following the disruption, is eventually fading
away as employees adjust to the new way of
life. Therefore, it is an opportune time to focus
on assessing the leaders. But would the older
models enable managing the disruption?
Absolutely not! The new reality demands new
leadership development goals and hence, a
renewed approach.
It is a highly dynamic
and complex work
wherein old leadership
assessment practices
no longer serve
an organization’s
purpose. Several key
assessment areas, such
as resilience, ambiguity
management, critical
decision-making and
others, more on the
emotional management
capabilities, have
gained primacy.
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Need for new leadership
assessment framework
Due to continual business changes, predicting how leaders will adapt and perform, going forward, is becoming
more challenging for organizations. This can be attributed to the growing scope of the current role, which is more
complex and dynamic. Existing frameworks are not equipped enough to compensate for the new business reality.
They fall short in accurately presenting whether individuals can push themselves or expand their skills to adapt to
future demands.
Leaders need to have a prompt response to COVID-19 like situations. It is critical to
have a leadership development framework model that assesses whether your staff
possesses problem-solving abilities that are required as per the current demands.
Zach Reece
Owner, Colony Roofers
Eu Natural CEO Vinay Amin believes that it is critical to reassess your existing leadership development framework
model to determine if it is still applicable in a post-COVID world. He poses an important question by asking business
owners to analyze whether the new framework considers disrupting factors like a pandemic or national civil unrest.
He suggests that the leadership development framework needs to assess one’s ability to respond to various worst-
case scenarios.
A leader’s role is to analyze the impact of a broader socio-economic transformation on the business. This
corresponds to the calculated risks and a detailed action plan undertaken by organizations to drive sustained
results. Evaluating leaders on these parameters serve as new leadership development goals allowing organizations
to assess leaders’ competence for their evolving role.
Connect with an expert
3
Prerequisites for designing
a leadership assessment
framework model
Re-designing or adopting a new leadership
development framework model impresses the need
to seek help from trusted Subject Matter Experts
(SMEs), such as psychologists or HR practitioners.
These SMEs assist businesses by suggesting the best
possible solution after understanding the business
requirements. They are experts in streamlining
your leadership development strategy. The
following need to be considered while designing an
assessment framework:
1) Planning:
Here, the L&D department states the organization’s
requirements and sets the context for analysis by the
SMEs. The experts discuss to present the plausible
outcomes and their business impact.
2) Evidence gathering:
The second step involves evaluating the impact
of leadership assessment by making a qualitative
comparison between the ‘before and after.’ The
analysis depicts changes across the leadership and
organizational levels.
3) Report generation:
The assessment reports must depict various
work-relevant personality traits that influence
on-the-job performance. The report must contain
a summary, strengths, weaknesses, response style
and areas of development.
4
Understanding your leadership
development goals
According to a 2015 Gallup research, leaders’ role in providing an ideal environment to grow,
and directing and motivating their teams, explained the stark difference of 70% in the employee
engagement levels. The role of leaders is critical for an organization’s growth. They not only
select and groom the right talent but create a culture of inclusiveness and knowledge-sharing.
However, before assessing your leaders, it is advised to evaluate your organization’s leadership
development goals, such as:
Leading by Building high- Accelerating Leading
example performing teams innovation & change the business
1) Leading by example
When leaders set an example by following a course of action required to conduct business successfully, the team
looks up to them and emulates their traits. Great leaders influence others’ behaviors, set a clear path and encourage
the team to face challenges. These are a few critical aspects that organizations must assess in their leaders. These are
assets to the leadership development framework model.
2) Building high-performing teams
Teamwork is the building block of organizational success, which is why cultivating a high-performing team
is an asset. Employees are the bricks who possess the characteristics to build a wall, while leaders act as the
mortar that holds the bricks together, enabling them to do their job efficiently. High-performing teams are
critical in driving the company’s performance and fulfill the organization’s leadership development goals, thus
providing a substantial edge over competitors
3) Accelerating innovation & change
Innovation is the key driver for any business to flourish. Consequently, in a continually evolving world where change
is the only constant, organizations need leaders with an innovative bend of mind. Effective leaders remain calm
amidst the change and provide comfort to their teams. A continual engagement amidst the transformation and
ensuring that the team gets ample time to adjust to the change is the desired leadership trait among organizations.
They evaluate what won’t work in existing processes and devise new approaches to drive business results. Having a
leadership development strategy that encompasses this goal is crucial.
4) Leading by business
A company’s growth and sustainability are dependent on leaders. Their ability to work cross-functionally by
addressing critical business problems enables them to formulate new business strategies. Staying calm amidst
ambiguity and making informed decisions allows achieving long-term business results. It acts as a cornerstone for a
stellar leadership development strategy.
5
How leaders
drive businesses
Analyze the
environment
Formulate
winning strategies
Execute the
plan well
Evaluate the
progress
Improve everyone’s
capabilities
Connect with an expert
6
Role of online assessments in
leadership development
As per Mercer | Mettl’s Talent Assessment Practices Report, 73% of companies shared that leadership development
was their key focus area. This matches our findings in the Mercer 2019 Global Talent Trends survey, in which one
of the top concerns for high-growth companies was the thin leadership pipeline. A majority of respondents
emphasized the effectiveness of assessment tools.
Most survey participants say assessments tools have been effective
Very effective Not effective
12% 37% 29% 8% 14%
Effective Moderately effective Unsure
The findings in our latest study correspond to the Talent Assessment Study, based on our internal assessment data,
which represented the use of online assessments growing by 116% in L&D from 2016-2017. The study was based on
the data collected as part of talent acquisition and L&D programs run by various organizations globally.
Growth in assessment usage across use cases
1,292,946
assessment
Number of
116%
114%
605,118
301,269
139,401
L&D Talent acquisition
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A similar report
also exhibited an increase in the use of
psychometric assessments by
49%
leading to a surge in L&D processes.
The use of online assessments witnessed a
massive growth of
780%
in L&D, accounting for 15% of the total
psychometric assessment usage.
The survey results prove the increased
adoption of psychometric assessments in
employee development.
The statistics point at the urgency of revamping
leadership development framework models to stay
relevant.
Information derived through online assessments acts
akin to leaders’ feedback mechanisms, prompting
companies to suggest individual development plans.
Assessments efficiently identify the competency
gaps and further equip leaders, enabling companies
to prepare for an unforeseen change. The areas of
improvement and development plans act as a growth
opportunity for leaders. They are integral to achieving
leadership development goals.
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Mercer | Mettl’s role in
redefining leadership
assessment practices
We, at Mercer | Mettl, understand organizations’ leadership development strategy and goals. Hence, based on
extensive research on our new personality tool, we have curated a leadership assessment framework that will help
organizations thrive amidst the change. The traits have been segregated into four buckets, further divided into ten
critical leadership competencies.
1 2
Leading by example Building high-performing teams
Learning orientation Developing teams
Resilience Fostering diversity and collaboration
The tendency to continually learn new things, The tendency to promote diversity and
being open to feedback, remain focused in the collaboration and develop team members by
face of adversity and effectively manage coaching and mentoring them to help them
one’s emotions. grow, develop and become future leaders.
3 4
Acceleration innovation and change Leading the business
Fostering innovation Strategic thinking
Navigation ambiguity Leveraging networks
Change management Critical decision-making
The ability to manage change, think innovatively The ability to set a vision for the future, work
and always work toward building a culture of across boundaries to develop a strategic
experimentation and innovation. relationship and make critical decisions to adapt
and handle business challenges.
Connect with an expert
9
Introducing Mettl
Personality Map
Leveraging over eight years of experience in providing state-of-
the-art leadership development strategies and solutions for varied
talent assessments to Indian and global organizations, Mercer | Mettl
pioneered a new personality assessment tool, specifically catering to
organizational needs. This new tool is an amalgamation of rigorous and
evidence-based psychological science and industry-relevant, client-
focused applications.
The Mettl Personality Map (MPM) is a contemporary, evidence-based
personality assessment that seeks an in-depth measurement of
critical, work-relevant personality traits and behavioral tendencies. It
is designed to be used across employees’ life-cycles, from personnel
selection to training and development, and help employers gain access
to otherwise hidden information about a person, critical in influencing
their behavior at work.
This tool was specially curated to be more in-depth than previous
personality measures and includes contemporary work-relevant
personality traits that have been found useful by industry experts and
practitioners. These allow for a more comprehensive understanding of
personality at work, notably more relevant at the mid and senior level.
The science behind Mettl
Personality Map
MPM measures 28 work-relevant personality traits. Our team of psychometricians went beyond the well-established
“Big Five” model of personality, which uses five factors or broad personality trait categories to describe people.
While the five-factor model of personality was well-researched and extremely relevant in the field of assessment,
including contemporary work-relevant facets of personality to provide a more in-depth analysis of personnel at
work was needed. MPM does not discard the old model of personality but goes beyond it. It measures personality
via a unique and innovative 28 facet and a four-factor structure of personality.
MPM, an important tool in the leadership development strategy, can help identify an individual’s relative strengths
or weaknesses within a job setting. Information about intrapersonal and interpersonal variables interfering
with one’s desired performance would help organizations design the most effective training programs. It is
recommended that MPM is used along with other measures to achieve the best results in this setting.
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The assessment is more comprehensive and in-depth and measures new-age traits, some of
which are especially relevant in higher-order competencies. Therefore, it would be beneficial
to use this measure to assess senior-level employees.
An overview of Mettl Personality Map
No. of items 175
No. of facets 28
Average time-taken 30 minutes
Scaling Likert
Facet level: 0.75
Reliability (Median)
Factor level: 0.90
Convergent validity: 0.30-0.51
Validity
Criterion-related validity: 0.25-0.51
Standardization sample size 3000+
Norms Global
Asia, Africa, Europe, United
Standardization
Kingdom, North America,
geographies
Australia & New Zealand
No significant adverse impact
Adverse impact found based on age, gender,
native language & ethnicity
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Mercer | Mettl’s offerings
In addition to our new inventory, Mercer | Mettl has other tools for leadership assessment. Our personality profiler
is based on the well-established ‘Big Five’ model of personality traits. The tool can be mapped to any job role, using
the Mettl Competency Framework or the company’s internal framework.
Openness to experience
(inventive/curious vs. consistent/cautious)
Conscientiousness
(efficient/organized vs. easy-going/careless)
Extraversion Explore more resources
(outgoing/energetic vs. solitary/reserved)
on psychometric
Agreeableness
(friendly/compassionate vs. cold/unkind)
Neuroticism
(secure/confident vs. sensitive/nervous)
Tool rigor
Validity (convergent): 0.4 - 0.7
Reliability (Cronbach alpha): 0.63 - 0.88
Additionally, our Assessment and Development Center includes real-life business challenges for leaders. Assessment
centers employ multiple tools. Our team of experts helps you select the essential competencies for each role and
map them to the right tools, activities, and assessments.
Connect with an expert
12
Conclusion
Change requires leaders with learning orientation who possess the resilience to handle ambiguous situations,
devise strategic plans, and lead their teams through any transition. To evaluate whether your leaders possess the
grit to face the dynamic world, companies need to adopt new and relevant methodologies.
Organizations must continually gauge new tools and technologies
and recreate their leadership development strategy to stay ahead of
the competition.
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About us
At Mercer | Mettl, our mission is to enable organizations to make
better people decisions across two key areas: acquisition and
development. Since our inception in 2010, we have partnered with
more than 4,000 corporates, 31 sector skills councils/government
departments and 500+ educational institutions across more than
90 countries.
mettlcontact@[Link]
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Be sure to carefully read and understand all of the disclaimers,
limitations and restrictions before using the assessment services,
reports, products, psychometric tools or the company systems or
website.
Read the complete disclaimer here:
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