Leadership Assessment
Better Data. Better Leaders.
At DDI, we’re all about the science of leadership. And we believe that objective data is the key to great leadership. Our competency-based, award-winning leadership assessments give you the confidence to make informed decisions about developing and selecting leaders.
We’ve poured every ounce of our 50+ years of research into building assessments that are accurate, engaging, and deeply insightful. Our assessments can help you:
- Create personalized development plans.
- Reduce bias in hiring and promotion decisions.
- Accurately predict job performance.
- Gain a holistic view of leaders’ skills and readiness for future roles.
From insights to action
Accelerate Development with Data-Driven Insights
Great leadership requires self-awareness and objective insights to support growth. DDI’s assessments for development help leaders discover their unique strengths, uncover critical skill gaps, and take personalized, actionable insights to fuel their progress. Designed to empower leaders at every level, assessments go beyond measuring performance—they ignite meaningful development and accelerate success.
Prepare Leaders with Immersive Simulations
Just as pilots train in a flight simulator, DDI trains leaders by putting them in the action. With our realistic situations, your leaders can show off their skills in real time. Even better? Your leaders become completely engaged. They want to see how their actions affected the fictional company and team.
Naturally, the most important part is the data you get at the end. Our reports offer powerful insight about who’s ready for certain roles, and who needs more development. And if they already have the role? They’ve got everything they need to get started on a personalized development plan.
Our Immersive Assessments
Explore DDI's Manager Ready®, an immersive experience designed for your frontline leaders.
Frontline Leader Assessment
Learn about Leader3 Ready®, an immersive assessment designed for the pivotal moment as leaders make the transition to early executive roles.
Mid-Level and Executive Assessment
DDI's assessment centers for C-suite jobs are the top standard in the industry for your highest risk roles.
C-Suite Assessment
Check Performance with 360 Degree Feedback
The measure of a leader is the impact they have on the people around them. DDI’s 360 degree feedback tool gathers feedback from a leader’s direct reports, peers, and supervisors. With that knowledge in hand, leaders know how their actions are affecting others—for good or for bad.
Whether you need data on just a few leaders or across the company, DDI’s Leadership Mirror offers complete flexibility. You can design your own custom surveys or use our recommended ones. Best of all, our reports are easy to interpret. So your leaders can quickly apply the feedback to their development plan.
Spot Leadership Potential Sooner
Most companies struggle to know who has early leadership potential. Too often, the decisions are left to managers to make their best guess. But that allows bias to enter the process. And it’s one of the reasons that while diversity is often well-represented among frontline employees, it disappears further up the ladder.
With DDI’s Early Identifier, you can quickly and accurately identify leadership potential across your workforce. So you’ll know who’s been overlooked. And you’ll know if your suspected high-potential leaders really have what it takes.
Fast Data to Select and Develop First-Level Leaders
Need a quick yet accurate way to get data on emerging or first-level leaders? A leadership test can provide fast, objective data to help you select or develop leaders for the frontline.
DDI’s Leadership Snapshot℠ test gives you data on two angles essential for high-performing leaders at the frontline: personality and judgement on leadership competencies. The results can quickly identify needs for individual or group development plans. Or you can use as an additional data point to hire or promote first-level leaders.
Have a Question?
Frequently Asked Questions About Leadership Assessment
-
What are leadership assessment tools?
Leadership assessment tools provide objective data and insights that spark growth by helping leaders understand their skills and growth areas while enabling better development and succession decisions. Rather than viewing assessment as something done to leaders, DDI's approach focuses on assessments for leaders—transforming data into actionable insights that guide their growth. These tools help organizations identify emerging talent, map critical competencies, and create targeted development strategies that build stronger leadership pipelines.
-
How can leadership assessment support decision making?
Assessments used for decision making give you clear data to make critical talent decisions, from hiring and promotion to identifying high-potential talent and planning succession. These tools show you exactly which skills your leaders have and where they can grow, making it easier to plan for your company's future leadership needs. Through objective insights, you can spot high-potential talent and build a stronger leadership pipeline.
-
How can leadership assessment support development?
Assessments used for development give leaders insights about their strengths and gaps. For example, DDI’s Leadership Skills Insights℠ assessment spots a leader’s "glow" and "grow" areas, helping them create personalized development plans. Leaders can feel confident taking these assessments because their individual results stay private, while HR teams use group data to spot trends and skill gaps across the organization.
-
Can DDI’s assessments be customized for my organization?
DDI's assessments can be strategically integrated into your decision-making process or learning journeys, allowing you to pair the right assessment with its intended purpose. Whether you need comprehensive data on the readiness of high-potential individuals or a group assessment report on critical competencies, our flexible solutions can be configured to meet your organizational needs.
recommended Resources
-
On-demand Webinar: Learn how Texas Instruments combines assessment and development to build bench strength across the pipeline.
WEBINARHow Texas Instruments Fuels High-Potential Success
60 min
-
AI-based leadership assessments are powerful tools, but can they be trusted to support the decision-making process in the workplace? The answer depends on whether it’s developed and used responsibly.
BLOGCan You Trust AI-Based Leadership Assessments?
13 min
-
Learn which types of executive leadership assessment give you the best data to make the right decisions about executive hiring, promotions, and development.
BLOG3 Types of Executive Leadership Assessment for Making High-Quality Talent Decisions
10 min