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Why measure management effectiveness?

Measure and Evaluate

Because it matters, of course. You’re probably familiar with a business management cliché first uttered by Peter Drucker – ‘What gets measured gets managed’ – but how to measure? The question of management effectiveness becomes more burning when you consider it in the contact of training: while a basic question – “Was is worth it, and what did it achieve?” – should matter to every organisation, few know or attempt to discover the answer.

When it comes to training evaluation, organisations hunger for evidence of two often elusive factors: return on investment (ROI), to prove that their expenditure was not wasted, and increases in productivity. Training and learning that doesn’t increase performance wastes not just money but time, energy and optimism. Despite this, many organisations limit evaluation to satisfaction scores: a record that the training took place and was ‘enjoyed’, but its impact remains elusive.

One reason that more meaning evaluation is rarely undertaken is the perception that it is difficult to do. Management performance, after all, is typically assessed using not one but a number of yardsticks: ASK’s own Management Development 360 Degree Feedback tool includes sixty individual competences. No training programme could aspire to address and improve managers’ performance in all of these, and we typically gather and facilitate feedback on the 6 – 10 competences most relevant to the scope of the training.

How 360 degree feedback can help make a difference

We use this 360 degree instrument at the beginning of our programmes as a diagnostic tool, identifying areas for personal development and providing insights that can drive self-awareness. Re-deploying it after training allows us to measure how far participants have travelled and supports future development activity, but it is also another starting point: the beginning of a measure of their effectiveness.

This is not a simple matter of statistical analysis. Effectiveness in one industry or function may have a very different profile from effectiveness in another – even within the same organisation. Our facilitated consultation process profiles the relative impact of different competences as they relate to the training cohort, and the relevance of different categories of responses. In assessing a manager’s ability to delegate and to set objectives, for example, the most valuable insights will come from those that they directly manage.

Linking evaluation directly with specific, organisationally-aligned objectives allows us to produce an easily-understood overall effectiveness score, and more detailed reports against each component. These scores can be used to measure changes in management productivity during and following the programme, and to inform future strategy and development by targeting effort where effectiveness can be most increased. But our approach is also inclusive: by actively involving those affected in designing and validating the evaluation process, the feedback that it produces is not only more meaningful but is delivered in a setting where those receiving it can readily understand and act on to drive effectiveness in exactly the areas where it is most needed.

To find our more about our Management Development programmes and our unique approach to evaluating behavioural change and management effectiveness, call us on 01234 757575 or use to button below to schedule a conversation with one of our consultants.

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